3D Video Journey Through Nepal

Erik created a video map of our treks!

Remember way back in October and November when we hiked all over Nepal? Well now you can see it on video! My very cool friend Erik made a very cool 3D map video of our four treks.

Just to recap, we first spent over two weeks in the Everest region (Sagarmatha National Park), doing the Three Passes Trek, including Everest Basecamp. After Everest, we flew back to Kathmandu and took a car to Soti Khola to start the Manaslu Circuit Trek. From Manaslu, we connected straight into the Annapurna Circuit Trek. The Annapurna Circuit finished in Jomsom, and from there we took a short bus ride to Tadapani to start the final trek: Poon Hill + Annapurna Basecamp.

Over the course of two months in Nepal, we hiked 339 miles and 151,660 feet of elevation gain (not even including day hikes!). Picture Mount Everest, 29,031 feet above sea level. We basically walked up it from the beach (as if that were possible) 5.22 times.

A note from Erik

Like many of the people subscribed to this newsletter, I've been living vicariously through Mollie and Chris' journey around the world. I'm completely blown away by their energy and curiosity as they bound from one trip of a lifetime to another. I consider myself someone who hikes sometimes, so naturally I was struck by the trekking through Nepal.

Granted, most of my recent hikes have been much shorter, with much less elevation gain, and feature a small, poorly behaved dog. Regardless, I never fail to track my hikes and upload them to the internet for the approval of strangers (and some friends). I think it's really fun to be able to see the hikes, bike rides, and runs that my friends are all doing all over the world, but Mollie, Chris, and Bonnie's trekking was on a completely different level.

I became interested in making this video because it was one of the only ways for me to truly understand the scale of their treks. I love reading books about the Himalayas but, alas, I've never been able to go myself. It's such a huge amount of distance and elevation to cover and I wanted to try to demonstrate the scale of their accomplishment visually.

Plus, I'd been wanting to make a video that used data in creative ways and this seemed like the perfect project. So I messaged Mollie and offered to create a visual recreation of her hike, even though I wasn't quite sure at the time what that meant or how I would do it. Like the trusting person she is, she shared GPS data of their hikes with me, as well as the names of the towns that they stayed in along the way and said "Sure, whatever." And so it began. [Mollie note: I think I expressed more enthusiasm than that!]

After a couple of ill-fated attempts, a very angry laptop, and some decompression hikes with my small, poorly behaved dog, I settled on a combination of programs that would allow me to use GPS data from their hikes with motion graphics and video editing software to trace their path through the Himalayas. 

In a nutshell, I tracked their trekking paths along a map using a combination of GPS, satellite imagery, and elevation data (it's actually much easier than it sounds), and then created a secondary path that the camera would follow along. I had initially planned to create four separate videos, but eventually came around to the idea of merging all four into a single video. That way, it would be easier to move through the whole trek almost as fast as Mollie, Chris, and Bonnie. 

I hope that you all enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed making it.

-Erik