In May, Devon Levesque performed a backflip on the summit of Mount Everest — a feat that might have gone unnoticed if not for his status as a fitness influencer. With a million followers on Instagram, his “Highest Altitude Backflip” video quickly spread across social media and even made headlines in print newspapers.

The high mountain peaks have hosted unusual waterfalls over the years. In 2016, two climbers played chess just 20 meters below the summit of Annapurna (8,091 metres), while another climber took his trombone to the summit of Cho Oyu (8,188 metres) in 2013 to play the Bavarian anthem. Yet few people paid attention to these performances.

Lévesque, however, climbed the world’s highest peak – Mount Everest, at 8,848 meters – expressly for performance reasons. He is not alone. More and more influencers are using Everest and other high-altitude giants as their stage, including Victoria Bonya. Born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in 1979 and now based in Monaco, Bonya, known for her affinity for cosmetic enhancements and selfie-ready poses, is an ardent Putin supporter and war propagandist. She made headlines when she ripped up a Chanel handbag in protest against the brand.

Chanel previously closed all of its stores in Russia in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine, announcing that it would no longer sell to Russian customers. Bonya is also a model, TV starlet and influencer with 11.3 million followers on Instagram. While she has mastered the art of being impeccable on social media, she is by no means a seasoned climber.

All grain?

In 2022, his attempt to climb Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world at 8,163 meters, failed. This summer, his training for the Himalayas consisted of a few days in Chamonix. A few weeks later, she celebrated her arrival at the top, but not without first posting selfies featuring her famous full lips. Her outspoken complaints about the grueling nature of mountaineering have only deepened the admiration of her supporters, but she deliberately downplays the overall support provided by local Sherpas.

Influencers like Lévesque or Bonya are driven by one thing: business. For them, every experience can become content. The Instagram community also flocked to picturesque mountain locations in the Alps, such as the Three Peaks in South Tyrol, the suspension bridge near the Olpererhütte in Tyrol and the Seealpsee in Appenzellerland. And of course, the imposing Himalayan peaks promise captivating photos and stories against a backdrop of rock and ice.

“Adventure” influencers can create compelling content for their social media almost as an afterthought – content that racks up views, comments, likes and, ideally, new followers, says Christian Rudeloff, a professor at the University of Science applied Macromedia from Hamburg. “This broadens their reach and opens new avenues for monetization,” he notes. In fact, a single summit photo can bring in tens of thousands of dollars.

But that’s not all. Influencers use these rugged settings to spread values ​​like “growth” and “success as a matter of will,” says Rudeloff. “Such themes resonate with followers and foster a stronger sense of identification with the influencer. They are also relevant to potential sponsors, who typically check values ​​alignment before signing a deal,” he says – not to mention product placements, which generate additional revenue.

This strategy distinguishes influencers from real climbers who simply use social media to share their experiences. In the past, mountaineers expressed the importance of their feats through books or in-depth magazine interviews. Today, serious climbers need a lot of online following – sponsors insist on it. Take Jackson Groves, with 445,000 Instagram followers, Simone Moro (320,000) and Dani Arnold (237,000), all examples of climbers who have turned their adventures into significant social media influence.

On the other hand, influencers like Lévesque and Bonya arrive in the mountains accompanied by their followers. Anja Blacha, Germany’s most accomplished high-altitude mountaineer, knows firsthand the changing demographics of peaks. On his first ascent above 8,000 meters – Everest in 2017 – the typical expedition member was “a man in his forties, in the throes of a mid-life crisis”. This is no longer the case. “There were a lot of young women in Manaslu this fall with full lips, botoxed eyebrows and breast implants.” The Manaslu is often considered the beginner’s eight-thousander.

Everest – the zenith of self-promotion

Lukas Furtenbach knows the influencer phenomenon only too well. His company, Furtenbach Adventures, is the largest provider of Western expeditions to Himalayan and Karakoram peaks over 8,000 meters. He regularly fields requests from influencers hoping to leverage their follower numbers for discounted or even free Everest expeditions. “We did it twice. But it hasn’t paid off for us,” he says, adding that his target customers are different. Taking someone like Victoria Bonya would be out of the question. “Our customers demand a higher standard,” says Furtenbach.

Mount Everest is the ultimate platform for self-promotion. Known globally as the highest peak on the planet, it resonates even with those who have never set foot on a mountain trail – an irresistible draw for influencers. This spring, French gamer and YouTuber Inoxtag joined the ranks by releasing a two-and-a-half hour documentary about his journey to Everest. In the first 24 hours, the film garnered 11 million views; a month later, it had soared to 36 million views, even securing screenings in cinemas and television. The underlying message? Find your own peak.

Unlike many influencers who practice extreme sports, Inoxtag approached the climb with respect, spending a year training with a mountain guide to master navigation on rocks and glaciers, as well as the safe use of climbing equipment. Despite this, the documentary received negative reactions.

Legendary mountaineer Marc Batard, famous for climbing Everest in less than 24 hours without supplemental oxygen in the 1980s, told BFM TV: “Inoxtag has clearly brought positive attention to mountaineering, particularly among the young audience. But there is a risk that his videos will encourage other people to attempt the climb without preparation.

Critics wonder if influencers like Inoxtag are taking away from Everest its mystery. Lukas Furtenbach, organizer of the expedition, however, sees no reason for alarm. Before influencers, it was wealthy celebrities who sought glory on high peaks, he notes. Influencers would only be a concern if they endanger other climbers on other expeditions.

For Inoxtag, Everest has certainly paid off. His YouTube subscribers, which stood at eight million in mid-September, rose sharply after the film’s release, climbing as quickly as the final push to the summit of Everest. It now stands at 8.7 million.

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