Cory Richards
Cory Richards is a National Geographic photographer, record-setting mountaineer, and mental-health advocate who proves that what others call “disability” can become your greatest strength — inspiring audiences to reframe fear, unlock resilience, and pursue the impossible.
Climbing Legend
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Mental Health Advocate
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Global Raconteur
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Climbing Legend • Mental Health Advocate • Global Raconteur •
More about Cory
Cory Richards is a keynote speaker, former professional athlete, author, and National Geographic photography fellow. He helps audiences reframe their stories, amplify their progress, and create a life where the once impossible isn’t.
Growing up in Utah, Cory Richards was surrounded by mountains. His father spent years teaching Cory and his brother how to ski, climb, and survive in the wild. Yet Cory’s early life was fraught with violence, grief, and mental illness.
After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and dropping out of high school, Cory found solace in photography and climbing, escaping to the farthest reaches of the world. As he describes it, he lived madly to keep from going mad.
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Cory’s advanced skills enabled him to shoot stories out of reach to others. He is the first and only American to climb one of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in winter, summiting Gasherbrum II in the Karakoram Himalaya of Pakistan, in 2011. On the descent, Cory and his team were swept away by an avalanche. His documentation of the experience became the award-winning documentary, COLD. His self-portrait moments after climbing out appeared on the cover of National Geographic’s 125th anniversary issue. The experience prompted Cory to confront past trauma and evaluate his mental health.
In 2016, Cory and Adrian Ballinger climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen, sharing it in real-time through Snapchat—garnering over two billion media impressions. Cory’s 12 National Geographic feature stories document expeditions to Antarctica, Myanmar, and the Okavango Delta. He is a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, a Photography Fellow, and a two-time recipient of the Explorer’s Grant.
He hit pause in 2024 to share his story in a raw and beautifully written memoir, The Color of Everything (Random House, 2024). A companion photography book, Bi-Polar (Ten Speed Press, 2024) showcases his first solo collection.
Today, he uses the power of storytelling to help individuals and organizations move through life with resilience, meaning, and agency — transforming lives, leadership, culture, and performance.
Speaking Topics
Reinvention
Resilience
Health & Wellness
Exploration
Adventure
Overcoming Obstacles
Watch Cory in action
Presentations
The Color of Everything
Climbing legend, mental health advocate, and global raconteur, Cory Richards has photographed for National Geographic in the most remote corners of the globe. This epic tale of risk and adventure is told by a man who lives madly to avoid going mad.
The Edge is Where We Begin
Resilience isn’t about gripping harder. It’s about letting go smarter. In this keynote, Cory shows how adaptation, creative thinking, and radical honesty become the engine of real transformation. This keynote is ideal for: All-hands meetings, company off-sites, leadership retreats, mental health, or performance-focused events
Building Resilient Teams
Elite mountain climbing is rarely a solo success. Cory explores how trust, communication, and self-mastery build teams that thrive, even under pressure. This keynote is ideal for: Cross-functional teams, executive teams, high-growth orgs, change management events
“Impossible isn’t.”
– Cory richards