Brit Joshua Bregmen, 34, has set a new world record after skiing off Mera Peak in the Himalayas to complete the world’s highest altitude ski-BASE jump.
Josh took off a 5,716-metre high cliff (18,753 ft) and parachuting to the ground, easily breaking the old record of 4,359 m (14,301 ft), set by Frenchman Matthias Giraud in 2019.
Josh and his team spent two weeks acclimatising and searching for the right spot to make the jump and in the end had to move boulders and shovel snow at the high altitude to clear and create a runway for the jump.
“The dream was to do several nice S-turns and ski elegantly off the cliff, but in reality, all we had was just a humble rock-filled runway at an exit height of nearly 6,000 m,” he said, adding that 2cm of fresh snowfall on the morning of the jump helped a little.
Josh, who lives full-time in his van, made the jump without any corporate sponsorship to fund his effort and used borrowed skis, but he did raise funds for charity and aimed to highlight the issue of child trafficking in Nepal.
“We all worked so hard, and the lack of oxygen, constant headaches and sleeping at around 6,000 m added to the body degrading. One of the guys even said this was harder than when he climbed Everest,” he said, adding, “I did some nice, heavy breathing before the jump through exhaustion and lack of oxygen, but this just added to the exhilaration, especially with Everest in the backdrop. You don’t need all the fancy glitz; you just need a can-do attitude with a sense of adventure, some dogged persistence and a good team.”
