Even Couch Potatoes Can Play 'Experience Everest: The Razors Edge'

Climb the world's tallest mountain while playing this game with your friends

I turned on the Discovery Channel while getting my morning java fix and saw a team climbing Mount Everest. As each of the heavy-breathing climbers gasped out their concerns and fears about not reaching the summit of the world’s tallest mountain, a trailer flashed across the screen: Play Experience Everest: The Razor’s Edge. It’s an interactive game the Discovery Channel created for couch potatoes who want to climb the world’s tallest mountain without the cold, the angst and the danger.

I took the bait, went online and learned how to play. If you want to get the sense of climbing Mount Everest – and turn it into a competition with some of your friends, check out this interactive game for solo or multiple players. It’s more fun than Monopoly and doesn’t involve zapping down aliens on a video screen.

How The Game Works

Sign on and you’ll get a screen with pennants: Guides and Gear, Communications, Mess Tent, Expeditions and Prayer Flags. Click on any of them for a more complete explanation of what a climber needs, and what a climber can expect during his trek to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain. In the Guides and Gear section, for example, you can browse the field guide, learn some of the climbing regulations you’ll need to know to play and even look at old Tabloid headlines such as "Yetti Spotted on Mount Everest." You also can take a virtual climb of Everest’s Southern Route via the Flyover videos, which the Discovery Channel created with Meteor Studios, an animation house in Montreal.

How to Win?

You need to reach the summit of Mount Everest with the most points. Start by walking through the constantly changing icy maze (using arrows on your keyboard) to get your team to the top of the Khumbu Icefall as fast as safely possible. You get other points by answering series of questions while climbing through five zones on your way up the Southern Route. You’ll go up the Khumbu Icefall, the Western CWM and the Lhotse Face to Camp 4 and finally the Death Zone. During the “trek” you can find tips to answer the questions in the various sections (such as Guides and Gear) or by asking your Sherpas. But, your time to act and answer questions is limited, so smart players review sections of the website that are chock-full of information about Mount Everest before starting the game.

Where to Play?

Visit Experience Everest: The Razor’s Edge.