Mount Everest base jump

Russian daredevil Valery Rozov sets new world record

Russian extreme sports star Valery Rozov successfully carries out the world’s highest base jump, leaping off the north face of Mount Everest.

The extreme sports enthusiast leaped off Mount Everest to mark 60 years since Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay conquered the world’s highest mountain.

Valery Rozov, 48, spent more than two years preparing for the jump, including considerable time devoted to developing a special new wingsuit.

Rozov and his team, which included four sherpas as well as photographers and camera crew, spent nearly three weeks in the Himalayas before the jump on May 5.

The ascent began on the Chinese side on the famous north route. It took Rozov four days to climb from the base camp to the jumping location, which was at an altitude of 7,220 meters.

The initial moments of the leap were the most critical phase as Rozov needed more time than usual in the freezing, thin high-altitude air to transition from freefall to flying.

But after falling for a few seconds, he flew for nearly a full minute at speeds of around 125mph along the north face before landing safely on the Rongbuk glacier – at an altitude of 5,950 meters.

Rozov has made it into headlines around the world in recent years for his spectacular leaps. In 2009 he jumped into an active volcano in the Far East on the Kamchatka Peninsula, in 2010 he leaped from the Ulvetanna in the Antarctic and in 2012 he jumped from the Shivling mountain in the Himalayas.