Mont Blanc is a French national treasure, an iconic site, and the highest mountain in Western Europe. Climbing to the peak is a dream for many, with very few making it to the summit in their lifetime. The long, steep hike and the sheer access to the summit means only athletes or well-trained experts with experienced guides can ever crown the rooftop of Europe.

Using the latest 360º technology and immersive storytelling, we created the first guided virtual reality hike to the rooftop of Europe, allowing everyone to experience the climb through 5 stages of the famous Goûter route in the company of a real High Mountain Guide.

We combined 360º panoramas, and specialist athlete photography, across the entire Goûter Route with Google Street View technology and then brought it to life with a layer of storytelling and rich sound effects. Guided by the voice of High Mountain Guide, Patrick Gabarrou, users can navigate the 5 key steps along the famous Goûter route, as well as run, climb, and rope up the cathedral-like peaks alongside local heroes. To add even more contextual information, we customized Google Cardboard to look like a set of smart ski goggles that provide users with information about their position, altitude and temperature via a heads-up display. Lastly, the experience is built entirely in the web browser rather than a native app, and optimized across iOS and Android devices, either with or without Google Cardboard.

After a 4-day launch event in the centre of Paris replicating stages of the Goûter route (with featured appearances of the local Mont Blanc athletes themselves) and 40,000 Google Cardboards distributed across Paris and Saint Gervais, positive results started spreading. Since launch, average time spent on the climbing VR experience is 5 minutes and 24 seconds, with 32% of users returning to climb again.