Himalaya base jump record attempt cut short by severe storm

A man planning to use a wingsuit to break the world record for the world’s highest-ever base jump has been thwarted by a severe storm.

Tim Howell, from Martock in Somerset, planned to jump and fly down from 8,300 metres (27,230ft) on Lhotse, a neighbouring peak to Mount Everest in the Himalayas.

However, after reaching the peak, a storm set in and Mr Howell and his support team were forced to walk back down the mountain.

He said: “The end result was disappointing, we didn’t get the jump. We were waiting on this tiny little ledge for about three hours in pretty stormy conditions until it wasn’t feasible to wait any longer.”

Mr Howell had attempted the challenge in 2024, but it was cut short due to bad weather.

He said the weather for the most recent attempt on Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world, “wasn’t like anything I’ve experienced before”.

Visibility was so bad, he said, that the team had to resort to basic methods to judge the conditions and distance.

“We throw a rock off and count how many seconds it takes to impact [at the bottom of the slope] and from there we have a general idea how big [the drop] it is.

Base jumping is an extreme sport that involves jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute or wingsuit.

Base is an acronym that stands for Buildings, Antennas, Spans (such as bridges) and Earth (such as cliffs) – the four recognised categories of objects people can jump from.

Mr Howell said the year had been a “pretty bad season” for forecasting weather accurately, with lots of storms.

“We were unfortunate but we did our best to pull it off,” Mr Howell added.

“You have to look at the forecast four or five days in advance because that’s how long it takes you to get from the base camp to the exit point and things change, so it’s a lot harder to organise the logistics.

“Third time is the charm.”

The current record for the highest base jump was set by the late Valery Rozov, who jumped 7,700m (25,300ft) from Cho Oyu, also in the Himalayas, in 2016.

He later died in a base jumping accident in 2017.