Supported by Jeep, they told their epic story of their winter ascent of the 8035M Gasherbrum II.

The 'Jeep People' concept is all about finding souls who walk the Earth with a passion for their natural surroundings and want to face new boundaries, to never stop exploring, and above all to push themselves to the limits and conquer their goals within the sports they love.
There was not one person in the audience at the Speaker Series last night that would have denied that Cory Richards, Simone Moro and Denis Urubko were not Jeep People.

Experiencing extremely cold temperatures, reaching -51C in parts, and with winds beating them at 110MPH, they made their way to the summit with a sheer and gruelling route that pushed them physically and mentally to their limits. The team made the ascent without oxygen, which kept them lighter and also set a tougher challenge for others to beat.

Interestingly, the audience found out that reaching the summit, which had never been done before, was seen as exhilarating but viewed by the crew as only half of the expedition. The descent, a time when typically things go wrong, was true to form and together, making their way down the mountainside, the team, now fully bonded as brothers, overcame crevasses and narrowly survived an avalanche.

Mesmerised spectators were also treated to the award nominated short film made by Cory Richards whilst climbing. 'Cold' transported viewers straight to the mountain, the sheer slopes and deafening sound of the relentless wind. It illustrated beautifully the emotions that the crew experienced on their expedition.

Simone Moro ended the inspirational evening with this powerful comment, so true to the Jeep ethos that we had to share it with you:

"You only find out how truly committed and strong you really are when you overcome the worst that could possibly happen. These mountains can strip you of everything you own and leave you only with your thoughts. Finding the strength to keep going forward when everything, including gravity, is holding you back gives you an overwhelming sense of achievement. This is a life lesson that we all should learn. If people are inspired after tonight to do the thing that they love most in the world, even though they are afraid, we will know that what we have done has been worthwhile."

When we arrived at the location, the “Künstlerhaus”, there were already tons of people waiting for the show to begin. The atrium of the Künstlerhaus (in English "house of artists") was pretty impressive. Next to Jeep's booth there was a Jeep Wrangler parked in front of a big picture wall and a hostess providing Jeep goodies, the whole atrium was full of art sculptures.

The doors finally opened and everybody found a seat in the beautiful old-school room which reminded on an old ballroom, with big oil-paintings on the walls and big chandeliers hanging of the ceilings. They finally dimmed the lights and the event was about to begin. Simone and the moderator, a friend of Simone, entered the stage and began the show. Simone, who learned German as a child, was even able to answer a few questions in German, which was really nice for the crowd. Cory and Denis joined just a few minutes later to talk about their personal experience climbing Gasherbrum II.

After I saw the posters of the event, I expected three exhausted mountaineers, but it seemed that the first winter ascent to Gasherbrum II didn’t do them any harm. Three healthy men spoke in a really passionately about their winter ascent, the adventures, their fears and their greatest achievement: the Gasherbrum II. A winter ascent nobody has ever done before. By listening to them you could tell how serious and dangerous this kind of an expedition can be, but they always had jokes up their sleeves, ready to keep the crowd entertained. They told about the growing friendship of three strangers and their love for the mountains.

The highlight was definitely the screening of the movie in which Cory tells the struggle he went through during this difficult expedition. Impressive pictures showed the freezing cold they had talked about and what they had to go through to get to the summit and more importantly back to the basecamp.

At the end Simone told us a secret: their next project will be the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat. We are looking forward for their upcoming adventures and wish them all the very best for their future projects.

However Simone and Denis did extremely well and the event turned out to be a total success.

When speaking about success I should of course mention the venue chosen for the presentation: the Skolkovo Russian school of management, situated in a modern building with fantastic architecture. The beautiful building and a Jeep Wrangler near the entrance helped to create the right kind of atmosphere – exploration, discovery and friendship.

Russians admire heroes and are always willing to listen to their stories. That is why today there were so many passionate and attentive listeners who had the chance to listen to a very personal and sincere story. The story of an adventure only a few people in the world are ready to face. A story about friendship, where your friend can't afford to fail because failure means tragedy. A story about a man's successful attempt to challenge extreme nature, to overcome incredible difficulties, to survive in an unbearable environment.

There was one very special moment today during the event. Right after the film on the GII ascent there was a minute of total silence in the hall. Everyone was just so charged with the alpinists’ energy, so full of emotions and thoughts that they all needed some time just to digest it. And after that a big applause came and plenty of questions was asked.

The film was really an exciting experience, a chance to get in touch with mountaineering in winter with an ascent of over eight thousand meters. That was a whole new world for me as I reallt don’t know much about alpinism. The one thing I noticed both from the presentation and the film is Simone's incredible enthusiasm and sense of humor. He was joking all the time, even in the tent at 7,000 meters altitude. I’m sure that this enthusiasm played a crucial role in the expedition's success.
Good luck to the guys in all their future undertakings!

Tonight was a special night, because we had the chance to take part in the The North Face Speaker Series with Jeep in a wonderful venue, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. The crowd gathered at the gates waiting to enter and see the three heroes up close. Before the doors opened, a colossus kept them safe, the new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. We were all excited to see where it will take us. Once inside, we talked to one of the climbers, the italian Simone, the Latin background is evident in his gestures and is part of his fun personality, his explanations are always accompanied by a smile despite the hardships.

For Simone it was a Challenge to surpass the excellent Polish climbers who crowned the highest and dangerous summits 7 times. As he smiled he told us that in 1980 he reached the first peak. Since then, everything became a challenge to overcome. But the "Himalayanism", as he calls it, is a difficult world. Although it was the Poles who started it, Simone was always looking for partners to join him in his climbing adventures. He had several, but it was on December 25th, 1997 when he lost his faithful companion, Anatoli, in an avalanche.

Even after this terrible loss he didn´t gave up, he continued fighting, until one day he met Denis Urubko, a expert military climber from Kazakhstan. Denis told us that the climbing adventure was freezing cold, but that everything was OK, because life is harmony. Here we have an army lieutenant that you would imagine to be "tough" when talking about harmony, no matter how rough things get, everything can be seen from a different perspective with different shades and colors.

Harmony...! What a beautiful word! Looking at those icing landscapes, huge mountains covered with snow... and yet... harmony! These guys are real explorers, adventurers without fear.

But we have a very important piece missing, Cory Richards. He is the youngest of the group, yet a professional, photographer, climber, and the soul of the recording and creator of the winner short film of the most important Climbing Film Festival. Imagine climbing, photographing and recording at 45 degrees below zero... I guess the Americans just have it in them. The three climbers love Jeep.They see in this vehicle a way to reach the top.

Their friendship is worth mentioning, the smiles, the mix of languages, and The North Face Book Story Teller .. of which they kindly gave us a signed copy. Now the movie they made is on my mind, their achievement, and just outside the door a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, still guarding the entrance, winking at us and saying .. until the next adventure!

I would say Jeep Wrangler’s energy and The North Face’s endurance.

I savored an incredible landscape and had intense feelings when I met Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and the young Cory Richards; after such a challenging project. Climbing the Gasherbrum 8035m, in Pakistan is an important mission. Three climbers had to tackle wild nature, avalanches, themselves and even God. Man going above and beyond his limits, an incredible endeavor, climbing all the way up to a peak that has never been reached before.

My personal experience with Jeep People and The North Face in Turin was a pleasant and fun afternoon under an incessant rain. We got the chance to follow the athletes around town during their photo shoot. It all seemed like a great, big party, with high expectations for the presentation of the winter ascent documentary, prepared by Cory Richards, a young film-maker and photographer, during his ascent with the other 2 climbers.

The location was perfect for such a big event. In fact the Mole Antonelliana (one of Turin’s symbols) houses the Cinema museum, giving the party a unique atmosphere. To top it all off, the glass elevator in the middle of the building catapults visitors into the roof, 85 meters high, where you can admire Turin and its beautiful lights. What can I say, I’m a romantic.

The evening was really interesting with the three atletes that told us about their experience in Pakistan from a very human point of view, putting aside their “superhuman” side. The multi award-winning video shows 3 men, battling against storms and sidereal temperatures, suffering and bearing the unbearable to reach the summit, to catch a glimpse of God, shake his hand for a second, and then come back down with the rest of us mortals.

In order to share their experience with mountain climbing fans, they will go on a European tour with Jeep®, and tell about their winter ascent of Pakistan’s GASHERBRUM II, one of the world’s highest peaks.

A feat that perfectly embodies the values we’ve always treasured. An extraordinary adventure. A challenge to nature and to human limits. An authentic passion. 3 unique athletes.

You can tell from their first few words. “It was a monumental and very personal exploration of what climbing can be,” says Cory Richards highlighting the personal side of his adventure. “I could not accept that the Karakorum was considered impossible to climb during winter,” continues Simone Moro, who’s used to seeing roads where others see impassable walls. “I kept going up, stopping to breathe every 10-15 steps,” recalls Denis Urubko as he remembers the thin air that made everything more complicated.

If you’re curious about the rest of the story, follow us on our social channels: we'll meet the NorthFace team on November 8th at the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, Italy. We’ll be there. Don't miss it!