Today, I am going to talk about two daring Nepalese adventurers who did something that no one has ever dared to do. They did something that was considered impossible. Their adventure got them the award “People’s choice Adventurer of the Year 2012”, which is a prestigious title awarded by National Geographic. Yes, their journey involves climbing world’s highest peak: Mount Everest. Many have already climbed to reach its peak and just climbing it doesn’t make their journey extra special. So, the journey of our two adventurers doesn’t end at the peak. It is how they descended from the “Roof of the World” to reach the nearest Sea.

Remember the Name: Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa
What did they do: Went from 8848 meters (around 29000 feet) to 0 meters in just one trip.
Their Trip in Short: They climbed Mount Everest and flew down the summit using a parachute to reach Namche Bazaar’s airstrip. Then they continued on hiking and kayaking through the wild landscape and rivers of Nepal, reaching India and then finally reaching the nearest Ocean: The Indian Ocean.

Their Adventure in Detail

Sanu Babu Sunuwar along with his accomplish Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa are two adventurers from Nepal. They were looking to do something that no one else has ever done before. They wanted to go up to Everest and then descend down in style to the nearest sea.

These two adventurers climbed the world’s highest peak which was standing at 8848 meters. It should be noted that climbing Everest requires a permit, high-fi gear, and tons of money. But they didn’t care about those. They weren’t afraid of jail time when they could complete a daring adventure.

Lakpa knew his way around Everest and knew a lot of the locals. Babu did not have any high altitude climbing experience. It was up to Lakpa Tsheri to take Sanu Babu up to the peak. They reached the summit successfully at around 8 in the morning. They were running out of oxygen in the summit. It was now Babu’s turn to take Lakpa down. So they strapped themselves up to a single parachute and jumped from the highest place on earth.

They flew down the summit and landed on the nearest airstrip in Namche Bazaar, which was at a distance of 24 kilometers (15 miles). Their journey was still not complete. They began their hiking trip reaching one of the wildest rivers in Nepal. The next thing for them to do, was to Kayak down the rivers with rapids that can throw us out of the way, with ease. It should also be noted that Lakpa did not know how to swim. In the rapids, their kayaks flipped, they fell and they lost paddles multiple times, but nothing could stop them.

These two continued their Kayaking and Hiking through the dangerous rivers and forests, on to the Ganges river in India. They were robbed off of their money. They slept out in the open, they ate fruits from the trees. After around 800 kilometers (500 miles) of hiking and kayaking, they reached the Indian Ocean. It took them 2 months to descend from the highest place on earth (8848 meters/29000 feet approx.) to 0 meters/feet.

They did what was thought to be humanly impossible. They were awarded one of the highest titles that an adventurer could win. Hats off to these two!!

International Media Coverage

News Coverage of Their Video in ABC News

Not to be confused with the Nepali ABC channel. ABC = American Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Company in this case.