| The majority of Everest's visitors reach Everest Base | | | | having to avoid the glaciers, crevasses and ridges |
| Camp by trekking along the classic trails through | | | | around Everest Base Camp. Leo Dickinson confirmed |
| Nepal. This month however, there was an | | | | that it was a dangerous landing, suggesting that |
| unconventional approach to the mountain from the | | | | overshooting the plateau could mean death or ending |
| sky, as part of a bid for the high-altitude parachute | | | | up 'with something important broken.' |
| landing world record. | | | | They were rewarded for their nerve with a |
| The world's highest mountain was the setting for a | | | | perspective of the Everest Base Camp trekking |
| dramatic record-breaking attempt in September 2009 | | | | landscape that few people have seen before now. "It |
| as three men jumped from a helicopter at an altitude | | | | was not just Everest" said Dickinson, "I could see the |
| of 6,154m, which is twice the exit altitude of an | | | | whole panorama of fantastic mountains and it was |
| average recreational jump. Their aim was to land on a | | | | just amazing." He added: "The view of the mountain |
| plateau called Gorak Shep (5,164m), a narrow, sandy | | | | range was beyond my wildest dreams." |
| area of open ground close to Everest Base Camp. | | | | An outdoor adventure cameraman, Leo Dickinson is |
| To do this they were in free-fall for only four | | | | no stranger to Mount Everest (8,848 m), having |
| seconds, during which they fell more than a thousand | | | | filmed Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler's trek to |
| metres; they had this brief time to steady | | | | the summit without supplementary oxygen. He has |
| themselves before opening their chutes, after which | | | | made a film about a team of canoeists who started |
| they had to steer to safety. The whole event was | | | | 800 metres below Everest Base Camp and rode a |
| over in three minutes. | | | | freezing river down the mountain. Leo has also had |
| It was not a feat to be attempted by the | | | | airborne adventures around Everest prior to this |
| inexperienced, but the trio have accumulated more | | | | record bid. In October 1991 he filmed the first |
| than 13,000 jumps between them. Two of the sky | | | | successful balloon ride over the summit of Mount |
| divers are British; veteran sky diver and cameraman | | | | Everest, propelled over the peak by the powerful |
| Leo Dickinson and skydiving instructor Ralph Mitchell, | | | | and volatile jet stream. |
| and they were joined by Air Commodore Ramesh | | | | The three skydivers are waiting for confirmation |
| Tripathi from the Indian Air Force. | | | | from Guinness that they have beaten the existing |
| Ramesh commented on how the jump was | | | | the high-altitude landing world record. Last year, sky |
| challenging because of the high winds and freezing | | | | divers successfully landed on a drop zone near |
| temperatures. At one point he was taken away on | | | | Everest at 3,765 metres, way below the altitude of |
| the wind. Their landing was also a risky prospect, | | | | this month's jump. |
