BASE Jumping
World Record BASE Jump Set From 25,250 Feet
Another milestone for Valery Rozov, with his latest jump from a sky-high altitude in the Himalayas.
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Valery Rozov breaks a world record once more
Valery Rozov broke the highest BASE jump record on Mount Cho Oyu at 7700m.
There are people who like the comfort of their living room — and then there are those who just can't help but break world records over and over again. Skydiving and BASE jump legend Valery Rozov would definitely fall into the second category.
A world record for the Russian legend
On October 5, 2016, after a 21-day expedition on the sixth-highest peak in the world — Mount Cho Oyu on the Chinese/Nepalese border — Rozov stood on the edge of his chosen exit spot at 25,250 feet and leapt into thin air, breaking his own record from 2013 by 1,600 feet.
It was my dream and my goal for the last three years.
Climbing Cho Oyu is no small accomplishment on its own, let alone BASE jumping from the top of the southwest wall. But the expedition itself wasn’t exactly easy for the group of climbers.
A recent dumping of fresh snow and a few days of harsh weather kept the group from reaching the launch spot on their first attempt. They had to wait a full week before making another attempt. But once they saw the weather clearing and snow melting, they knew it was go time.
Just getting there is a huge part of the challenge
© Nika Lebanidze/Red Bull Content Pool
Valery Rozov about to jump into thin air
© Nika Lebanidze/Red Bull Content Pool
That's what we call living on the edge
© Nika Lebanidze/Red Bull Content Pool
After 90 seconds of pure freefall, Rozov opened his parachute and kept flying for another two minutes before landing safely on the glacier below, at 20,000 feet above sea level.
Valery Rozov, the limitless man
For the Russian legend, boundaries are there to be pushed as nothing seems to be too much of a challenge for him.
With his combined experience in mountaineering and BASE jumping, the 51-year-old athlete is no stranger to breaking records. In early May 2013, he set the previous world record for the highest BASE jump by leaping from an altitude of 23,680 feet from Changtse in the Everest Massif.
Watch Rozov's previous record
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Altitude B.A.S.E. Jump - Valery Rozov
Valery Rozov flew off the north face of Mount Everest – world’s highest BASE jump ever (7220 meters)
Rozov surely has one of the most impressive resumes of high-altitude jumps out of any BASE jumper. But the Everest mountain range isn’t his only conquest and jumps like these only come with decades of experience and training.
Rozov's seven favorite BASE jumps up to 2013
Valery Rozov's seven favourite jumps up to 2013
© Khalil Jeremias Emede
In 2009, he became the first person to skydive into a volcano crater at the Mutnovsky Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East.
Then in 2010, he leapt from Ulvetanna in Antarctica, and also became the first person to BASE jump from the Matterhorn in the Pennine Alps.
In 2012, he jumped from 21,000 feet on Shivling in the Indian Himalayas, before going for the first BASE jump from Grandes Jorasses's South Wall at 13,000 feet in the Mont Blanc massif in 2013 — the same year he set the record for the world's highest BASE jump.
His most recent feat (before Cho Oyu) was to become the first man to BASE jump from Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, at an altitude of 17,900 feet.
Clearly, age is never an excuse to stop pushing limits.
