Skydiving from the highest peak-world record set
by High and Wild
KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Three skydivers in Nepal- Holly
Budge, Wendy Smith andNeil Jones-made
the first ever parachute jump over Mount Everest-setting the
world record for the skydiving from the highest peak
and for landing on the world's highest drop zone at
12,350ft (3,764m).
Photo: An Everest Skydive team member leaps
from an aircraft / AFP (enlarge
photo)
The daring adventurers -- Britain's Holly
Budge, New Zealand's Wendy Smith and Canada's Neil
Jones -- took 10 minutes to land on Syangboche, the world's
highest drop zone at 12,870 feet (3,761 metres). "To be on top of the world was simply stunning,"
Smith said.
The adventurers set a skydiving world
record by making the freefall from a Pilatis Porter that was
flying at nearly 29,500 ft (8,900 metres) to the northwest
of 27,000ft (8,848-metre) Everest, Krishna Aryal, an official
at Explore
Himalaya, was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
The skydivers faced sub zero temperatures and
changing weather when they jumped in front of Everest to touch
down in the foothills of the mountain.
Organizers say the jumpers are using oxygen masks,
along with parachutes that are much larger than normal to
help them cruise and descend through the thin, freezing air.
The daredevil adventurers -- from Britain,
New Zealand and Canada -- said they had magnificent views
as they rocketed past the world's highest peak.
Photo: An Everest Skydive team member prepares
to land at Shyangboche airport / AFP
"It was amazing, just spectacular," Holly Budge
told AFP by telephone after making a safe landing at 3,900
metres (12,870 feet).
"We had one minute of freefall and while we were
above the clouds you could see Everest and the other high
mountains popping out of the top."
The skydivers faced sub zero temperatures and
fast changing weather when they jumped in front of Everest
to touch down in the foothills of the mountain.
The trip, organised by British adventure travel
company High
and Wild, has cost 32 clients around 24,000 dollars
each.
"It was worth the money. It is something that
has never been done before," said Budge, a 29-year-old British
camerawoman who has completed 2,500 skydives and who jumped
to raise money for charities in Britain and Nepal.
The skydivers experience nearly a minute of free-fall
before opening their chutes and landing at a flat drop zone.
Due to the thin air, their parachutes were three
times the size of regular ones, and the jumpers used oxygen
tanks strapped to their waists.
They also wore neoprene undersuits and thermal
gear to keep out the freezing temperatures as they leapt out
at about 8,940 metres (29,500 feet).
Photo: Canadian skydiver Neil Jones plummets
to earth during a parachute jump over Mount Everest this week.
Pic: courtesy of Neil Jones (enlarge
photo)
The suits worn by the skydivers during the Everest
Skydive was locally made by a young Thamel based Nepali entrepreneur,
Rajen Dulal.
"The organisers have brought a plane over from
Switzerland, and the permits have been very expensive, as
has getting everyone to the jump site," said Budge.
The oldest client slated to make the jump in the
coming days is Alan Walton, a 72-year-old British partner
in a bioscience company, organiser Nigel Gifford said.
"Although many are very experienced, others are
making their first ever skydive and will be going in tandem
with experts," said Gifford, whose company has permission
to operate in the area for another 13 days.
The "Everest Skydive" is an event that has been
15 years in the making for Gifford. "It came about because
I have been a Himalayan mountaineer and took up skydiving.
I love doing both and I thought it would be good to marry
the two," he said.
New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing
Norgay were the first to successfully climb Mount Everest's
8,850-meter peak 55 years ago.