Sydneysiders jump into history with highest BASE jump
Australian couple Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan have broken the world record for the highest BASE jump in history, after jumping from a 6,604 metre precipice in northern India last month.
The record breaking two minute jump took place on Meru Peak on May 23, Fairfax reports.
Their leap broke Singleman’s own BASE jumping record of 6,258 metres, set with Nic Feteris at the Great Tango Tower in Pakistan in 1992.
Singleman, a doctor, and Swan, a former businesswoman (both in their 40s), had tried to break the record several years ago but were stopped by bad weather.
Their expedition was made up of six climbers and nine porters, who endured minus 20 degree temperatures as they inched their way as little as 50 metres a day up 80-degree ice slopes.
The Jump
Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan – both wearing sugar glider-style “wing suits” – launched themselves off a 6604-metre high precipice on Meru Peak in northern India.
The pair looked like tiny rocks as they hurtled down the perfectly vertical eastern cliff face of Meru Peak, with their wing suits hitting horizontal speeds of almost 200kmh and vertical speeds of 50 kmh.
On day 22, after several weather delays, Singleman and Swan launched themselves off the top of the cliff face at 2.04pm on May 23.
Jimmy Freeman (an experienced Australian BASE jumper) was to be part of the team started vomiting blood nine days into the climb and succumbed to the high altitude, freezing conditions and rigorous workload. But rather than heading back down the mountain, Freeman donned a parachute and launched himself off the edge to paraglide down to a safer altitude.
Jimmy Freeman said from base camp… “I saw them jump and they disappeared into a cloud for a while. They were tiny. You could just make out something moving down the wall.
“Then after about 30 or 40 seconds you could see them flying out across the glacier. At first they were just black dots. Honestly, at first it looked like someone had thrown a rock off.” Freeman said.
“Then, after about one minute 20 seconds, they opened their parachutes and Glenn landed in the middle of the glacier and Heather landed a bit further up towards the wall on the south side of the glacier.”
The pair touched down at the 4850-metre high landing zone after almost two minutes of flight.
Wing Suits – A new technology
Instead of just a straight BASEjump Glenn and Heather dreamed of making the jump in ‘wingsuits’, relatively new skydiving technology that allows a skilled pilot to fly forward at around 2.8 times the speed he or she decends. Using wingsuits will not only lengthen the flight from the world’s highest vertical cliff, it will dramatically reduce the risk of cliff strike as the pair will be a long way from the wall when they open their canopies.
Find out more about this amazing jump at their website: BASEClimb 3 http://www.baseclimb.com/