Mountain Dew's DareScore grades Nepal's peaks by real risk, not altitude

Everest had become Nepal's only mountaineering story: in spring 2023 more than 470 climbers attempted it, almost all on the same South Col route within a three-week window. Meanwhile dozens of equally demanding peaks, and the local guides and villages around them, stayed invisible to the world's adventurers.

Mountain Dew's 'Peaks of Courage' set out to fix that. In partnership with the Nepal Tourism Board and amplified by Discovery Channel, Leo India aggregated more than 20 years of expedition records, fatality data, rescue infrastructure, terrain maps, seasonal weather hazards and first-hand Sherpa knowledge into a single engine.

The result was DARESCORE, described as the world's first multi-variable mountain grading system: each peak received a 1–10 toughness score based on real risk factors rather than altitude. Every bottle carried a QR code into a hub where climbers could compare peaks, study routes and see real-time conditions — making the bottle itself a portal into genuine expedition planning.

The message was that height does not equal danger, and the effect spread beyond marketing: 400,000 microsite interactions, more than 100 confirmed expeditions to non-Everest peaks, and over 2,000 new seasonal livelihoods in areas previously bypassed by the climbing economy.