Everest: The First Ascent in Barcelona – a virtual reality experience to climb the world’s highest peak

Everest: The First Ascent is a new immersive virtual reality experience that allows visitors in Barcelona to relive one of the great expeditions in the history of mountaineering. Created by Eclipso, the experience takes visitors to the Himalayas in 1953 to join Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and the rest of the expedition on their journey to the summit of Everest.

Lasting around 45 minutes, participants move freely through a specially prepared space while, using a virtual reality headset, they make their way through the landscapes of the Himalayas. The journey begins in Nepal and continues into the high mountains, passing through glaciers, icefalls and other settings connected with the expedition. No previous experience with virtual reality or mountaineering is required.

Tickets for Everest: The First Ascent can be booked online for the sessions available at Eclipso Barcelona. The standard price is €25 per person, although reduced rates and group discounts are available.

The currently available schedule includes sessions throughout October, November and December 2026. Eclipso is releasing additional dates progressively, so no definitive end date for the experience has been announced at this stage.

What exactly is Everest: The First Ascent?

The experience recreates the expedition that reached the summit of Everest for the first time in 1953. Visitors virtually join the team and follow the expedition’s route alongside Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer who, together with Edmund Hillary, reached the summit on 29 May 1953.

The journey begins in Nepal before gradually moving deeper into the Himalayan landscape. The experience also explores local culture and traditions and the important role played by Sherpas in expeditions to the mountain.

As the adventure unfolds, the landscape changes and the conditions become increasingly demanding. Cold, altitude, lack of oxygen, glaciers and huge ice formations are all part of a journey designed to convey not only the spectacular nature of Everest, but also some of the difficulties faced by members of those expeditions.

A free-roaming virtual reality experience

One of the defining features of Everest: The First Ascent is that it is not a virtual reality experience in which visitors simply sit and watch a screen. Eclipso’s system allows participants to move freely around the space, standing up and without cables or handheld controllers.

Each participant wears a virtual reality headset and follows the route through an area specially designed for the activity. The rest of the group takes part at the same time, so the adventure can be shared with family or friends.

Before the experience begins, there is a briefing and participants are given the equipment they need. For this reason, although the immersive experience itself lasts around 45 minutes, Eclipso recommends allowing approximately one hour in total for the visit.

From Kathmandu to the summit of Everest

The journey begins in Nepal and introduces different aspects of the expedition before the ascent gets underway. The recreation combines Himalayan landscapes with the story of those who took part in the adventure, with particular attention to the relationship between the expedition members and the Sherpas.

The most demanding part of the journey comes later, as the expedition moves into the higher elevations. Visitors make their way through icy landscapes and glaciers and virtually encounter some of the obstacles involved in an ascent of Everest.

The aim is not to turn the activity into a mountaineering course, but to bring visitors closer to an expedition that was, at the time, one of the great challenges of exploration. The technology makes it possible to experience it from Barcelona, without any specific physical preparation for high-altitude mountaineering.

The 1953 Everest expedition

On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest for the first time. They were part of a British expedition led by John Hunt, which brought together mountaineers, Sherpas and other members of the team in an attempt to reach the mountain’s 8,849-metre summit.

The expedition was about much more than Hillary and Norgay’s final ascent. Their arrival at the summit followed weeks of preparation, the transportation of equipment, the setting up of camps and several attempts to make progress on a mountain that had never been climbed before.

This collective dimension of the adventure is also reflected in Eclipso’s experience, which uses Tenzing Norgay as a guide throughout the journey and combines the historical recreation with elements linked to Himalayan culture.

What is the Everest immersive experience in Barcelona like?

The activity is designed to give visitors an active role. Rather than simply watching images of Everest, participants move physically through the space while viewing the virtual environment. This gives the journey a greater sense of climbing and movement.

The different recreated settings show how the expedition develops and the difficulties that arise as the altitude increases. Visitors move from the landscapes and traditions of Nepal to the mountain’s more extreme environments, where ice and weather conditions become increasingly important.

The experience has been developed with expert input relating to the history of mountaineering, Tibetan culture and the Sherpa world, with the aim of combining the adventure with the historical and cultural context of the expedition.

Practical information for Everest: The First Ascent

Where does the Everest: The First Ascent experience take place?

The experience takes place at Eclipso Barcelona, on the fourth floor of the former bullring, now home to the Las Arenas shopping centre, next to Plaça d’Espanya.

Address: Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 385, 4th floor, 08015 Barcelona.

Eclipso’s centre is not directly visible from the street. Once inside the Las Arenas shopping centre, head to the fourth floor, where the space dedicated to immersive virtual reality experiences is located.

Map of Eclipso Barcelona at Las Arenas

Thanks to its central location and excellent public transport connections, there are several ways to get there, and it is easy to travel by metro, bus or train (RENFE and FGC).

How to get to Eclipso Barcelona