Not to be flippant about it, but this guy would probably think that the weekend you spent climbing Snowdon without a wingsuit was a waste of effort. Supported by Red Bull and two team mates Valery Rozov jumped from a mountain in the Himalayas from a height of 6420m above sea level wearing a wingsuit. He then made a 90 second descent through the air to the valley floor below and waited for his teammates to catch up with him. They took three full days to climb down the mountain to join him.
This is a special type of madness that should not be emulated by anyone at home. Rozov is a fully paid up member of the extreme BASE jumping club with a number of incredible leaps already under his belt. These include jumping into a live volcano in Kamtschatka, Russia, and an insane leap in Antarctica where temperatures hovered at -30°C. Calling himself a BASE climber rather than a jumper, Rozov specialises in climbing up things to jump off. This separates him from the regular crew of jumpers who are happy to get a lift up to the top of a mountain, cliff or skyscraper.
This jump was made after a six day ascent of the peak Shivling which lies in the Indian part of the Himalayas. This was at the end of a 30 day expedition in the region solely to make this jump. This level of dedication is just incredible and is certainly something to be celebrated. Unfortunately this isn’t the record for a BASE jump, which currently stands at 6604m from Mt. Meru and was made a few years ago by the husband and wife team of Heather Swan and Glen Singleman. For the wingsuit pioneer Rozov though this isn’t too important. He’s all about the jump rather than the numbers.
