Not long after 39-year-old Joby Ogwyn climbs to the summit of Mount Everest this May, he's going to strap on a wingsuit and jump right off it. He will fall for 10 minutes traveling at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour before he reaches his final destination at Everest base camp — unless he miscalculates and hits a rock face or a rogue wind gust blows him into China. Fortunately, Ogwyn is bringing his passport.
"It's like a shuttle mission ... This is something I dreamed about as a little kid."
"There's a lot more to this than a crazy person jumping," Ogwyn told The Telegraph. "It will be very well executed, it's like a shuttle mission in some ways. This is something I dreamed about as a little kid." The event will be broadcast live by The Discovery Channel, which is quickly earning a reputation as the daredevil's network of choice, having broadcast Felix Baumgartner's space jump and Nik Wallenda's tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon.
Ogwyn will be accompanied by four cameramen as he climbs Everest over the course of three days, which is a trudge compared to the 9.5 hours it took him in 2008. Ogwyn is considered a legend in both the climbing and skydiving communities. In preparation for the jump, he has flown his wingsuit around the Matterhorn and Switzerland's Eiger. Ogwyn oddly won't be employing a parachute for landing, and has instead opted for a top secret landing mechanism that hasn't been publicized. "I will visualize the jump in my mind a thousand times before I do it," Ogwyn told The Telegraph. "The last thing I will say is probably 'A little help God, that'd be great.' Five to ten steps and then I'll be out of there. It will be a running jump."