Mountaineer and photographer Cory Richards, highly regarded in climbing circles for his ascent of a mountain called Gasherbrum II in Pakistan during the 2011 winter, is in New Zealand as guest speaker for the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival this week. He speaks to Leith Huffadine in Wanaka about his life, experiences and mountaineering.
Cory Richards has become known for a photo of a man who looks 60, haggard, exhausted, his face worn and pinched, a beard of ice, his eyes staring into the viewer.
It is intense.
It is a photo of himself.
Here and now, he is a healthy, youthful and energetic man aged 32, from Boulder, Colorado.
The photo, taken during one of his many mountain climbs, is a result of what happens when a person is exhausted - they start to lose pretence, and in abandoning that they allow themselves to be seen as completely human, he says.
''They look like they have been through a battle.''
Mr Richards, a renowned mountain climber and photographer, is in Wanaka and Queenstown as the premier guest speaker for the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival, which starts its Queenstown leg today.
Two years ago, his film Cold - the story of his winter ascent of a mountain called Gasherbrum II, in Pakistan during February 2011 - won the Mountain Film Festival grand prize.
The festival's organiser, Mark Sedon, contacted Mr Richards about coming to New Zealand at the time. After some effort it was organised for this year's festival.
Between duties for the festival, Mr Richards has been experiencing the Wanaka region, Having never been to New Zealand, he has been continually amazed by the people and the scenery.
''I flew into Queenstown and I was like, really? This place is beautiful, it's snowy mountains to tundra to water. It is incredible.''
High accolades from a man who has explored the world, climbed mountains in the Himalayas, braved Antarctic cold, swum in Indonesian waters, grew up in the mountains of Colorado and Utah, and was a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2012.
Mr Richards is predominantly a mountaineer and a photographer, putting his skills to use in climbing and research projects and as a photographer for National Geographic.
Highlights of his career include climbing Gasherbrum II, plus numerous mountain ascents in South America, the Himalayas, and the Canadian Rockies, helping researchers access cliff dwellings in Tibet's Mustang region, filming documentaries on sea gypsies in Indonesia, and taking photos in the Antarctic.
His father was active in the Utah climbing community, with friends at the forefront of American climbing, and his family valued outdoor pursuits such as skiing.
However, he says his teenage years were ''tumultuous''.
''I dropped out of school at 14 and went to rehab. There were so many people telling me what to do that I would go the other way.
''People love to define what your life should be. Maybe because they don't have the courage to do what they want to.''
When he learnt his reaction was to do the opposite of what he was told, it was one of the most important lessons of his life.
He could understand why he did things, and could use it as motivation to achieve.
''When people start to tell me not to do something, that's when I start to think: this is what I should do, I can do this.''
His love for climbing developed before he became interested in photography, but says he was always a visual person.
Photography also fills another role, a need for more instant gratification.
''I thought I would be an illustrator, but I'm too impatient,'' he says.
''It [photography] tells that beautiful story of human struggle, what it is like to be human, and what the human experience looks like.''
When it comes to climbing, motivation is not a challenge - it is hard-wired into him.
''It's that experience of waking up early, hearing your breath, your crampons on the snow, watching your vision go from a very small area of your headlamp, then as the sun goes up, seeing you are thousands of feet up and the world is underneath you, and sharing that with another person.''
Failing is a large part of it as well.
''It makes you go back and try harder and work harder.''
Mr Richards has not been very active in alpine climbing for the past two years, something he says is a part of the natural ebb and flow of climbing.
You can get burnt out, he says, but he is starting to get excited about climbing mountains again; seeing the Southern Alps has helped inspire him.
Does he get scared climbing?
Well yes, horrified in fact, every time he climbs, Mr Richards says.
However, if you are doing something you are passionate about, it is amazing how much you can do, he says.
''You can do way more than you think you can. That's what makes great athletes.''
At the same time, he points out he has had great partners, and climbing is a team sport in which you must work with others.
Many people would think the high point of climbing a mountain would be reaching the summit, but not necessarily Mr Richards.
In his eyes, the success has always been returning safely to base camp.
The feeling of reaching the summit is hollow and subtle, the definition of anticlimactic, because he knows the most dangerous part of the expedition, the return journey, is yet to come.
''When I get to the top I am the most scared. It's intense and that's where there is the most pressure.''
To Mr Richards it is about achieving the summit, of course, but much more about the endeavour and human experience involved rather than conquering a mountain.
So what is it that has shaped Cory Richards the most?In many ways, his climbing and photography are a lot less defining than relationships which he has formed throughout his life, and his other hobbies such as skiing, film and reading, he says.
Mr Richard's best advice is: ''Always to do.''
''It is so easy to talk and so easy to get caught up in dreams and aspirations and not take the step out of your door.
''It is one's own responsibility to take action, to keep doing what it takes to get there,'' he says.
''Put in your time, and more than anything, commit to your passion.''
See him
Cory Richards, a renowned mountain climber and photographer, is in Wanaka and Queenstown as the premier guest speaker for the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival, which begins its Queenstown leg today. He will speak at 8pm tonight at the Queenstown Memorial Hall.
