A British daredevil set a new Guinness World Record by skiing off an 18,753-foot cliff and parachuting safely to the ground.
According to Guinness World Records, Joshua Bregmen, 34, performed the world's highest altitude ski jump by skiing off a 5,716-meter-high cliff (18,753 feet) and parachuting to the ground. He far surpassed the previous record of 4,359 m (14,301 ft), set by Frenchman Matthias Giraud in 2019.
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The British reference book noted that, as the name suggests, ski-base jumping combines the sports of skiing and base jumping. Josh, an adventurer who lives full-time in his van, spent over two weeks preparing for the attempt with his team, including hiking and skiing to the jump spot, camping at extreme altitude, and clearing the course of debris. They took on this challenge to raise money for charity and raise awareness about the human trafficking problem in Nepal, where thousands of children are trafficked each year.
The record attempt nearly faltered when the team encountered a rocky slope at their first jump site. Despite initial doubts, they quickly found an ideal slope, cleared a runway by moving boulders, and added snow to proceed.
"It took most of the next day until we had nothing left in the tank," Josh said.
"We all worked so hard, and the lack of oxygen, constant headaches, and sleeping at around 6,000 m added to the body's degradation. One of the guys even said this was harder than when he climbed Everest."
Exhausted, they slept another night at altitude before attempting to break the record the next day.
"That night we were blessed with a 2 cm dusting of snow-not much, but it helped," Josh recalled.
"The dream was to do several nice S-turns and ski eloquently off the cliff, but in reality, all we had was just a humble rock-filled runway at an exit height of nearly 6,000 meters," he told Guinness World Records. "I did some nice, heavy breathing before the jump through exhaustion and lack of oxygen, but this just added to the exhilaration, especially with Everest in the backdrop."
