EVEREST SKYDIVE 2018
Everest Skydive, world’s most adventurous aerial event has been organized in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal since 2008. Continuing its successful history, this year also the event organized its 13th edition on 16th and 17th November 2018 at Syangboche (3780m/12400ft), a small plateau at the base of Mt. Khumbila. The two days’ event that had two solo and two tandem jumpers from Indonesia, UK and Nepal was backed up by the crew team of Tom Noonan (Chief Technical Director), Wendy Smith (Chief Advisor and Videographer), Paul Henry (Videographer), Omar Alhegelan (Videographer) and Ryan Jackson (Tandem Master and Expedition Doctor); and the expert team of Explore Himalaya. All the flights were executed by our exclusive partner Summit Heli.
The first day’s jump started with clear blue skies at scheduled time. The first lift took place at 10:00 am local time by AS350 B3 chopper flown by Captain Eric Ridington (Canada) from Summit Heli. The lift had two solo jumpers Christopher David Ings (Britain) and Naila Novaranti (Indonesia); and two camera flyers Wendy Smith (New Zealand) and Paul Henry (France). After reaching the height of 19000ft, the members had their jump with Everest and other beautiful neighboring peaks in the backdrop. After one of the most exhilarating free falls, the jump concluded with a perfect landing on Syangboche airstrip at 10:23 am local time. After the first lift, the jumps had to be pulled off due to poor weather condition.
The next day, the jump started at 7:35 local time with the same crew and jump members but this time they had high-jump from the altitude of 20000ft. Both jumpers had spectacular touchdown at 8:00 am. Due to inclement weather on the second day also, rest of the jumps including tandem jumps, wing suit jumps and Amadablam jumps were cancelled which brought the event to a close for this year. To sum up, this year’s Everest Skydive had two lifts on 16th and 17th November with two solo jumpers making four solo jumps in total. Both skydivers Christopher David Ings and Naila Novaranti expressed their whole experience as the one nothing can beat!