Indian, two others skydive to world record near Everest

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Sept 23 (PTI) Three skydivers including an
Indian Air Force officer claimed to have made the highest
parachute landing at the foot of the world's tallest peak
8,848 metre high Mount Everest.

Air Commodore Ramesh Chandra Tripathi and two Britons --
Leo Dickinson and Ralph Mitchell-- jumped from over 6,000
metres in the shadow of the Mt Everest from a helicopter to
land at a frozen lake at the Everest base camp, Gorak Shep,
according to S Sapkota, chief of Nepal's mountaineering
department.

Gorak Shep where the skydivers landed is situated at the
height of 5,167 metres.

The three skydivers battered the previous record made
last year in the same area of the Everest region when
skydivers jumped to a drop zone situated at 3,764 metres. This
is the first year that the Nepal tourism has opened the
Everest zone to skydiving.

Earlier in May this year, Indian Army's Col Niraj Rana
set another record by landing above the camp II of Mt Makalu,
situated above 7,000 metre on a para glider.

This was the highest place a para glider has ever landed.

"With a free fall timing of around five to six seconds,
all touched the snow of Gorak Shep in four minutes. All three
have returned to Kathmandu and are physically fit," the
organisers said in a statement.

Dickinson and Mitchell have done over 4,000 jumps so far,
while Tripathi has done over 3,000 jumps. PTI