Thursday, May 17, 2007

Bear Grylls Sets New Paragliding Altitude Record


The Telegraph has the lowdown on a new paragliding record set yesterday by Bear Grylls, as he soared over Mount Everest in a gas powered paraglider.

Grylls, who is also an Everest Summiter, took off from 11,600 feet from his base camp in Eastern Nepal. The flight lasted four hours, and he manged to climb to a height of 29,500 feet before turning back and returning to Earth in his paraglider that was powered by a small, four stroke, gas engine.

Gryllis smashed the old record for paragliding altitude by more than 10,000 feet. However, he vows that his days as a daredevil are over, saying this was the scariest thing that he has ever done, and that he just wanted to return to his wife and children. His record still needs to be verified by an independent source, but he feels confident that will stand. Besides, it's not like he beat the old record by a few feet or anything.

Thanks to The Piton for this one.

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