Skydivers reach new highs in Nepal
Explore Himalaya Travel & Adventure, a Nepal based adventure company, organized the highest skydiving event in the Everest region of Nepal on 28th October.
Three skydivers Wendy Smith from New Zealand, Tom Noonan from USA and Jai Kishan - Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force leaped from a height of 21,000 feet landing at the Gorak Shep, Kala Patthar plateau (17,192 feet / 5,242m) of Mt. Everest. This skydiving stunt was performed at the highest drop zone in the world. The operation was carried out from Fishtail Air's AS 350 B3 helicopter flown by Capt. Sabin Basnet and Capt. Deepak Rana.
Prior to this event, seven skydivers from the Explore Himalaya skydiving team had performed solo and tandem jumps at Shyangboche (12,350 feet) on 16th and 17th October, 2009.
On 16th October, five members skydived from a height of 25,000 feet. Tom Noonan, Ian Bishop (Australia), Jai Kishan, Wendy Smith jumped solo, while Ganesh Pandey (Nepal) made a tandem jump with tandem master Tom Noonan.
On 17th October, Wendy Smith, Jai Kishan and Mery Noonan (USA) made solo jumps from a height of 27,500ft, while Everest summitter, Pujan Acharya (Nepal) made a tandem jump from a height of 29,300 feet, with tandem master Tom Noonan.The jumps over Shyangboche were made from Tara Air's Pilatus Porter aircraft, flown by Capt Jack Sparrow (UK) and Praful Baidya (Nepal).
As a continuation of the Everest Skydive 2008, the Everest Skydive 2009 program was organized by Explore Himalaya with the help of Nepal Tourism Board to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011.During the event all the skydivers sported the logo of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 on their jumpsuits. After the success of Everest Skydive 2009, Explore Himalaya is planning to establish Skydiving as a prominent tourism product of Nepal. Very soon, skydiving tests and commercial operations will be performed in Pokhara. With due support from all concerned, we are planning to organize a team of Nepalese Civilian Skydivers for aerial events to be held in 2011's Nepal Tourism Year.
For more information visit everest-skydive.com and explorehimalaya.com.
