Thaindian News

London, September 23 (ANI): An Indian, along with two British skydivers, jumped from an altitude of 20,000 ft to land at the world’s highest drop zone, near Mount Everest.

According to a report in the Telegraph, the daredevil adventurers were Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, Leo Dickinson and Ralph Mitchell.

They jumped from an altitude of 6,154 metres (20,000 feet) on the early morning of September 22 and landed at Gorak Shep, a sandy plateau 5,165 metres above sea level.

“It was not just Everest. I could see the whole panorama of fantastic mountains and it was just amazing,” said Dickinson.

“You have got the mountains rushing past you. I just didn’t want it to end. I had a freefall for four seconds and in the next three minutes I was already landing,” he added.

Dickinson, a British documentary filmmaker, became the first person to fly over Everest in a balloon, in 1991. He said he would begin the process to register the feat after getting back home.

“I have never heard anyone landing at that height so far. I will claim for world’s highest parachute jump landing with Guinness World Records,” he said.

“I haven’t done anything like this before. It was just stunning,” said Mitchell, a skydive instructor.

The skydivers said they faced sub-zero temperatures and fast-changing weather when they jumped.

“It was thrilling and exhilarating to be so close to Everest,” said Tripathi, who is a parajump instructor for the Indian Air Force, who climbed Everest in 2005.

“It offers a totally different challenge in terms of high winds and freezing temperatures. The wind was drifting me away. The chances of falling into crevasses or hitting the ridges and glaciers was high but it is worth fighting against the odds of nature,” he added. (ANI)