His father, Court (George Lowe's mountain partner), taught him to climb when he was a child as young as 5.
[5] In January 2009, together with Ines Papert, Richards established a new route on the north face of Kwangde Shar (6093 m) in Nepal.
[6] A year later, in January 2010, he made the first ascent of the Central South Buttress of Tawoche (6495 m) in Nepal's Khumbu Valley, along with Renan Öztürk.
They reached the summit at 11:30 am on February 2, 2011, without supplemental oxygen or porters and Richards became the first American to climb an eight-thousander in winter.
[3] During the descent, they were caught up in an avalanche, but eventually managed to reach their base-camp without major injuries.