Having put VR headset on, a viewer is carried away to an altogether new place, which aesthetic expressive features play rather more important role in 360 films than in classic ones. We learnt this fact and were willing to film a truly fascinating video with unique high-quality separate identity, at that we realized, that using technology of spherical panoramas was absolutely worth it as a necessary means of expression.

Elbrus is the highest peak in Europe, annually luring hundreds of climbers, eager to outbrave the mountain. Alpine climbing is a spectacular but quite dangerous sport, full of exciting moments and vivid emotions. Having a certain experience of living in mountains, we decided that climbing Elbrus is a good VR film idea, capable to soar the viewers high up into unforgettable atmosphere. Filming in mountains is quite an extreme action in rough environment. Weather is constantly changing; acclimatization makes all physical activities difficult to endure, and even walking becomes harder. Certainly, aside from filmmaking tasks you are always getting side-tracked by cooking, packing things up, camping, experiencing limited time and power supply for equipment. Our team consisted of 8 people, including 3 videomaking specialists – Alecander Lyasnikov, a drone pilot, Maxim Nikonov – film director, and Oleg Hohlov – the 2^nd film director. Azamat Aturbaev were making photo report about our trip. The rest team members were the people who came here to conquer the mountain top and made no filming. Basically, they were friends of mine who had been eager to climb the Elbrus peak for a while.