One of the world’s top BASE jumpers has died in Nepal. Russian daredevil Valery Rozov – whose exploits we covered numerous times here on The Adventure Blog – has perished in an accident on Ama Dablam this past Saturday. He was 52 years old.
According to reports, Rozov was in Nepal to train for a potential BASE jump from the summit of Mt. Everest. He had been working on a project in which he would leap off each of the Seven Summits and glide back to Earth using a wingsuit. To accomplish his goal of flying from the world’s tallest mountain, he was first training on Ama Dablam, a 6812 meter (22,349 ft) peak in the Khumbu Valley.
Exactly what went wrong on this jump is not yet clear. Rozov did climb the mountain, and made his leap, but something went terribly wrong on the descent and he crashed into the side of the mountain, striking a cliff, and losing his life instantly. His body was later recovered and airlifted back to Kathmandu. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Rozov was known in the wingsuit community as someone who pushed the envelope in terms of high altitude flights. He had made record setting jumps from Changtse and Cho Oyu as he worked towards his goal of summiting Everest and flying from the highest point on the planet. He was an inspiration to many fellow BASE jumpers, and yet remained humble and modest about his accomplishments. He held the honor of making the highest wingsuit flights, as well as becoming the first to fly into an active volcano.
My condolences go out to Valery’s friends and family during this difficult time.
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