Paragliding from the Summit of Everest

Two young Nepali men, on a shoestring budget follow a dream to fly from the tallest mountain in the world Mount Everest, then Kayak to the ocean.
This expedition won them the honor of being Nat Geo's Adventurers of the Year 2012.
For most people, climbing Mount Everest is the ultimate life adventure and reaching the summit would be the journey's goal, but for two unexpected friends, Sanobabu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tshiri Sherpa, it was only the beginning of their epic voyage together.
In a never before attempted feat, the two Nepali men set their sights on paragliding from Everest's summit and then taking a near 500-mile kayaking trip on the Ganges River to the Indian Ocean in 2011. It was an excursion that would take months.
Only four people have ever glided off the top of Everest, and the story of Sunuwar and Sherpa is just as remarkable as their journey.
The two men tackled some of the most dangerous terrain and powerful rivers in the world without sponsors and without permits. Their story won the 2012 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year award.
On average, an Everest climb could cost a traveler usually tens of thousands of dollars to cover mountain permits and the brigade of sherpas -- porters, cooks and guides -- needed to get to the top.
Despite not having any high-altitude climbing experience nor deep pockets, Sunuwar was committed to climbing and then paragliding off Everest, without any permits if he had to.
Kimberly Phinney, an experienced climber and paragliding pilot in California, was one of the mission's few early believers and remembered Sunuwar's enthusiasm for the voyage. She said he told her, "We're going to Everest, we have no sponsors, we have no equipment, but we're going."
With luck, Sunuwar met the perfect accomplice for this plan, Lakpa Tshiri Sherpa. Sherpa, a veteran mountaineer, decided to join his epic journey. While Sherpa was well trained for climbing Everest, he had never kayaked before and did not know how to swim.
Phinney recalled that, "the agreement was Lakpa would take Babu up Everest, and Babu would take Lakpa to the ocean. Lakpa knew everybody on Everest, all of the sherpas. They were able to kind of go in and utilize the cook's camps."
The duo slapped a basic plan together, and began their ascent of Everest, while borrowing food, supplies and cramped shelter from other expeditions.
Five days into their ascent, with dwindling supplies, Sunuwar and Sherpa began the climb into Everest's death zone -- above 26,000 feet. As they approached the summit, the men were in short supply of oxygen. At that point, turning back was not an option. The only way home was the paraglider.
The turmoil of climbing Everest dissipated once the men launched their paraglider. In just 42 minutes, the two pilots glided 15 miles to an airstrip in Namche, Nepal, which would have been an almost a two-week hike away by foot. However, their celebrations were brief.
Once they touched down, Phinney said the men heard that the army was after them for their renegade adventure and they were only half-way through their expedition.
Their soaring flight was not exactly legal, but easy compared to what lay ahead. Sunuwar and Sherpa had to cross Sun Kosi River's grade five rapids, which Sunuwar called "dead man area." When their boat capsized, a life jacket let Sherpa float down the river to safety.
They survived, but their trials continued. After the currents of the Himalayan River reached the Ganges River, the men were robbed.
From then on, Sunuwa and Sherpa hid in the reeds. Thanks to a nearby town with a Western Union, Phinney was able to transfer emergency funds to the men quickly. Once replenished, they continued on, surviving on fruit from trees.
Two months after jumping from the peak of Mount Everest, Sunuwar and Sherpa finally ran out of land to explore, and became the first people ever to complete the descent from Everest's summit to the Indian Ocean.
"None of them had ever been to the ocean before, so this was kind of a whole new experience for them," Phinney said. "I never doubted them, not for one single minute."
As for their trouble with the law, Phinney said the men did face repercussions from the Nepali government for climbing Everest without permits, but "as much as the army was after them, all of the army guys were just like 'That's awesome,'" she said.
Although Everest has lured generations of international climbers, Sunuwar and Sherpa wanted to capture some glory for their native Nepal. For them, the adventure was a dream realized -- an ultimate descent.
🎥Directed By Hamilton Pevec
www.babuadventure.com
Please Subscribe: / @fauxreelfilms
www.fauxreelfilms.com
Start your high-altitude adventures by climbing Kilimanjaro with us! www.ClimbKili.com
#ParaglidingEverest #Everest

[@m118lr]

THIS...this is absolutely a remarkable history-making moment for the Nepalese people! I had NO idea this even took place. GREAT for them!

[@alethastevens6151]

I had no idea they did this too! Amen Napalese Sherpa You bad!!!!! Amazing for them to accomplish! Thank you for helping sherpa the right way to paraglide down Everest and gave them more to their lives to share w/ sherpas in Naples!♥️🌺☮️Hawaii

[@mainemade300]

For the hole human race ,what a remarkable feat

[@florianbenkel213]

no idea too. Astonishing :)

[@corkycobon1481]

These two men are simply LEGENDARY!! I hope that they are able to complete the whole trek.

[@curtnelson8337]

Can you imagine standing at the top knowing you have 3 days of risking death walking back down and then you see these guys take off and glide down in 45 minutes?

[@entropybear5847]

And you hear over the wind the distant shout of "see you at the bottom, chumps!"

[@EagleOzz]

Amazing, WOW ! Why is this achivement so under the radar. They deserve more fame for this expedition.

[@matthewwright3930]

Honestly this is probably safer than trying to climb back down 🤷‍♂️

[@mareewalker1096]

Great observation!!

[@SilverIceDragon]

I don’t think so, the winds on the summit are unpredictable and can either end up being slammed into the rocks, or flying too far out that can cause losing control of the glider and falling to death.

[@michaelbing8991]

@@SilverIceDragon They are literally saying in this video that flying down is safer than climbing down.

[@tigergelb6560]

At least it's faster. :)

[@Hermanos22]

@@SilverIceDragon another useless KZbin “expert” typing some nonsense, feel important now?

[@jashaejoseph3752]

The coverage and publicity of these men is simply underwhelming. What a remarkable feat and men to say the least!

[@markbrown-us4xe]

I flew Power Paragliding for 10 years. Using a camera while flying is harder than one might think. Glad his shots showed the amount of brake inputs to add stability to the glider and increase sink rate. The weight of the 2nd passenger was probably a must. The winds that could sneak up on these two shows how much courage this took. How cool to get to breathable air and hit your landing target without (walking it in). Two Brave Men with a story of a lifetime. Thanks.

[@calthorp]

Yes they were super lucky to get conditions good enough for launch. I bet the sink rate was high at times with the air so thin.

[@sergeig685]

It's a tandem wing.

[@MTrekker2001]

Sounds like they needed the ballast, since they took off vertically without needing a running start.

[@calthorp]

@@MTrekker2001 That was because there was more wind than they needed.

[@sergeig685]

@@MTrekker2001 You don't need a running start if you have favorable wind on launch.

[@oliveroz2705]

An innocuous documentary that should have 5 M views. This is quiet an achievement and technically not easy. Yet they succeeded. Humble and heroes, I guess. Little known story, despite NatGeo, they should be world famous.

[@zimzambambangbang4802]

TWO absolute bloody LEGENDS!!!!!!! FANTASTIC and two more kindered spirits - I dont think exist. WELL DONE

[@rashminperla2]

They are so loveable and infectious - totally deserved the National geographic award - probably the craziest adventurers out there . Amazing.

[@megazone128]

I cannot think of many other feats of adventure that could ever top this.

[@nerblebun]

I'm 70 years old, still skydive, fly my powered para-glider trike, and can truly say I've never seen two happier & confident fellas in my entire life. What they've achieved is nothing less than monumental. Their confidence & happy go lucky charm is actually contagious... too a certain point. The thought of climbing, then flying off the summit of Mt.Everest brings only five words to mind. No... NO... OH HELL NO!

[@themidcentrist]

You are a badass!

[@296romy]

I had thought once, how it would be like to paraglide off the Everest summit, but now I know :) Hats off to both these wonderful chaps...

[@criticalmass6249]

This is one of the most positive experiences I have ever heard regarding the sherpa people. Thank you for teaching this young man how to paraglide. A little bit of help can go a long way!!! God bless.

[@SignatureStagers]

This honestly made me tear. I loved these guys so much.

[@007vsMagua]

Stealing a canister of oxygen on Everest is like stealing a man's horse in the desert. Sounds like a hanging offence to me.

[@benGL8113]

Just give em a nudge 😂

[@nerblebun]

@007vsMagua: At least a severe thrashing by everyone in camp.

[@rushnready]

where they not all sharpas as well?

[@johndoe-fd7rd]

8:56 dude crosses long ladder in ice field with no safety rope, when asks if he is not scared he just chuckles. legend!!

[@sidmanandhar8311]

you didnt mention my sherpa brother was straight up running aswell, im sherpa myself and i was sweating watching that 😂

[@adv536]

17:33 best hug I've ever seen. These dudes are happy.

[@tantawan6]

You guys are really awesome, it happened 10 years ago and myself and my wife have only just heard about it,wow you are both rockstars, good luck in the future our thoughts and prayers are with you Ewan N' Doi (Australia)

[@Seawolfaka]

Crabs 🦀!!!! You boys just made me tear up !!!! Truly beautiful!

[@blackzombie149]

The craziest thing I ever did see! Legends!

[@vivek00]

If you say you are not scared then you are either lying or you are a Gorkha. Ayo Gorkhali..battle cry of the best soldiers in the world.🤗🙏😍

[@HRM.H]

Beautiful story. True passion

[@leonchx]

Wonderful, wonderful you are beautiful people, thank you a thousand times for all this happiness. well done

[@debasishsen9397]

What an adventure. Amazing. Thanx for sharing the video. Jai Shree Ram. Jai Hanuman.👍

[@ryanbaker7404]

Thank you for sharing this remarkable piece of history! What a remarkable people and a mind blowing feat! I’m in awe of the Sherpa as a culture and I appreciate any footage that documents their achievements!

[@NeilTurnbull007]

Incredible ! absolutely incredible !! Didn't know about this , thanks for uploading .

[@farukfidan4061]

Truely inspiring! Why didnt we heard about it before!! All respect and admire!!

[@patrickchang-leng1073]

Why did this not get the deserved Global media coverage that it truly deserved for such a gigantic feat. I am sure that if this was done by Westerners it would have gone global.

[@davidhn2364]

Salute guys ur great achievement .summit paragliding. Its amazing....

[@danielbakke421]

I wish I could like this twice

[@jungleperry]

what an amazing story and footage wow!!!! this is awesome!

[@dudemang1353]

Amazing story- Thank you for sharing it.

[@BlueSun1157]

Wonderful! WONDERFUL! Our big brother Hanuman is greatly pleased!!

[@hanafitalib]

One of the best documentary on Everest surely!

[@teachr1]

EPIC!!!!!! very inspiring!!! thank you!!

[@suniltmg637]

Finally Documentary is here... I heard about these guys in India from River rafting guide's that two Gorkahali guys Paraglide from Sagarmatha(Mount Everest ) ......and kayak from Nepal to the Indian Ocean .......awesome..

[@dboff]

Wow! This was 10 years ago, hoping someone will do it again with multiple mounted HD GoPro’s.

[@DavidSnowClimbing]

When we summited Everest in 2018, my climbing buddy (who's a paraglider) packed his chute all the way to the top. Winds were blowing toward Tibet/China (we climbed via Nepal/South side) so he couldn't take the jump. That's the breaks 🤷‍♀️

[@doposud]

@@DavidSnowClimbing i always wondered , there are so many climbers and till now i never heard about paragliding down from sumit of sotcha high mountains , why is everyone bothering to get down that looong way again ? instead of gliding down and you say that borders are one of the reasons ? damn

[@DavidSnowClimbing]

@@doposud for that day, it was wind direction. Also, permits to do so are very difficult now.

[@Drymarro]

@@DavidSnowClimbing screw permits then lol, say it was life or death

[@BrendenConway]

A terrific achievement, but I was indeed expecting a bit better video of the takeoff and flying. I guess standards were a little bit different 10 years ago.

[@lovableharry1]

Breathtaking.. Huge respect to them!!!!

[@diva444d]

Absolute courage. Thanks for this!

[@DavidSnowClimbing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@anthonymauger9388]

Top that , 45 minutes of outstanding pushing the limit

[@ontheedge33371]

Ok I’ve never climbed big mountains but have always thought that paragliding off the top would be the best way back down 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@yougeshadhikari6146]

One of the best documentary i have seen.

[@SteveJones379]

Excellent message. Thank you!

[@redneckReno]

awesome.....hearing of this 10 yrs later...better late than never

[@julyanjohns1237]

this is amazing. mad respect to both of them.

[@ardijan5724]

Wow !!!!, this guys are heros!! Bravo ❤

[@gustavoscheffer4644]

Excellent! Fantastic!

[@Nik_flick_ride]

What a lovely video, a big salute to all of them specially sherpa 🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵

[@jmy7622]

Wow! That was exciting, and I wasn't even there. Congrats, what a fine climb and flight. What a view they had! That was fantastic.

[@bcbradley2359]

Wow, just wow!

[@jonathanrascol]

✨✨✨ Bravo! Beautiful! Homages! ✨✨ JAR

[@safranpollen]

sympatic guys and a real bigggggg aaaadveeenture, yeahhhhhHHH:-)

[@joohara1985]

mind blowingly incredible astonishing film!! How fantastic!!!! : D : )

[@garettanderson6772]

Talk about epic. Wow!

[@redemption8980]

That was Epic💯

[@carioca56]

Wow!!! That was great!!!!!!

[@E1N101]

This is my favourite one yet and I have watched probably >000 hours of Everest Dokus. I remember my own childish thinking the first time that I heard of the dangers of the Descent: Why don't they just parachute down?! Hahaha!! The dream is alive !! (In my next Life I want to be a paragliding Sherpa)

[@PetraKann]

>000 hours????

[@koolkoo111]

Top3 favorite docs pls? :)

[@haveawonderfulday279]

*paraglide

[@littlejool5]

This is the spirit of adventure.

[@azafi7554]

wow amazing. and it's very dangerous at that altitude. Storm can brew very quickly and take you much higher. There is an interesting read or video about "Ewa Wiśnierska" although she was at a very low altitude when storm picked her up. i always imagine this paragliding from K2's summit when looking at the statistics of people died during descent after summiting.

[@llgoldstein2710]

They should run a zipline from the summit back to town. Imagine climbing that whole way and then coming back down in a matter of minutes?

[@picassopete3766]

The air is so thin up there that even with hitting the winds just right, I didn't know this was possible for one much less the weight of a tandem. Bravo!!

[@percyfaith11]

A helicopter has actually landed on the summit of Everest.

[@missewe]

This is really awesome!

[@wsgray]

Amazing!

[@jimharley6660]

Awesome!

[@bdjm8595]

Epic story!!!

[@samueljohnson3989]

U gotta respect and luv these guys 💯

[@miarena111]

OMG wow !!! just a huge pitty that they didnt film it all to the end, when they saw the crabs for the first time hehehehe. these guys are amaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiing ! no miracle that david lama was the best climber of his time, because the nepalesi blood can do just about anything. i have to watch this again now.

[@danielgrissom7231]

They did, this is someone else's documentary footage that was narrated over.

[@TheBenBen253]

This is the stuff of legends. The fact they didn't kill themselves is a miracle, even with them being Sherpas. What a freaking send.

[@nak4651]

Gigantic balls of steel! Kudos!!

[@owddroner7124]

Just absolute quality

[@floridadog7773]

That is a Awesome Way down

[@jimdoyel5044]

AMAZING!!!!!

[@El.Duder-ino]

Incredible...

[@Rosstc88]

Wonderful!

[@fugley100]

One of mans greatest achievements.

[@SuperHyee]

Magnificent !

[@Rosstc88]

Incredible!

[@autodocs7363]

Insane @david ❄🏔....outstanding!!!!....sherpas...@respect...love....one day I will summit.....

[@computername]

No words to describe the respect for this exceptional achievement. How can such a genuine act be illegal? Absolute legend. Godspeed guys.

[@mayankdabral1035]

Wow Hanuman chalisa in the background. Awesome

[@richardlopez7805]

This is major controlled insanity!!! Many thanks to a God who looked over these beyond brave men and helped them safely home!

[@copleutrepaul2057]

Bravo les gars magnifique aventure 👍

[@hudayikaya1442]

Great video. Thank you...

[@DavidSnowClimbing]

Glad you liked it!

[@saucejohnson9862]

As the decent is where the most fatalities happen, paragliding seems the safest route. 🤓

[@jurgenblick5491]

Wow!

[@nandkumarbirajdar772]

Wonderful experience

[@judymotto7338]

Love your channel!

[@nandkumarbirajdar772]

Great efforts and experience 👏 👍

[@VenturiLife]

That is so cool.

[@ellierfromthebronx4531]

These two guys have more nerve than a bum tooth! More power to them...congrats!

[@loopforwhile]

This is phenomenal. Although I can't help but wonder, if hauling all the gear over the death zone worth it if the weather turns and you can't climb down. You either have to haul it all back down or dump it over the Kangshung face.

[@anthonyburnham6670]

I always wondered why no one had tried this before. Bear Grills rode a powered paraglider over the summit some years ago so I knew it could work. This will change everything!

[@NelsonDellis]

Oh nice, this is the 2011 Everest season, I'd recognize that massive ladder bridge @10:30 in the video anywhere!

[@Cromwellbear333]

That looked cavernous. Such control in a person's emotion it must take.

[@superyamagucci]

@@Cromwellbear333 Yoda! Disguise yourself on the internet you cannot.

[@Cromwellbear333]

@@superyamagucci 😂🐻Laugh hard I did.

[@percyfaith11]

That might be enough to make me turn back.

[@superyamagucci]

@@percyfaith11 Don’t let Yoda frighten you. He’s ok once you get to know him.

[@nemmmjuuk7989]

What a great achievement! Also kudos to the soundtrack. Any suggestions where to find the music?

[@TerraDolphin]

All hail Sherpas!!

[@spritelyheat]

Absolutely Awe inspiring! When i fly high i feel close to god! But That was hanging out with angels! These men have spirit!!!!

[@dimitrisc8749]

wow!!!

[@davidbolduc828]

Mad skills. Climb everest and fly down with just thin gloves on. Superhuman people.

[@yggdrasil9039]

This is the way to descend Everest.

[@brycemorgan3357]

Where is the red bull and GoPro sponsorship for these heroes! Awesome adventure lads!