A Russian extreme sportsman famed for his record-breaking free-falling stunts has died in a base jumping accident in the Himalayas, expedition organisers in Nepal said Sunday.
Valery Rozov, 52, an acclaimed daredevil, was pursuing a “seven summits” quest – base jumping from the highest mountains on all seven continents.
He was jumping from Ama Dablam, a 6,812-metre (22,349-foot) mountain in the Everest region on Saturday when the incident occurred.
“He jumped but crashed into the mountainside and did not survive,” Mingma Gelu Sherpa, from the Seven Summits Club that organised his expedition, told AFP.
“His body was airlifted to Kathmandu today.”
Rozov set a new world record in 2013 for the highest-ever base jump when he leapt from Changstse, a 7,220-metre peak in the Everest massif, in a specially-designed wingsuit.
He broke his own record three years later by jumping from a height of 7,700 metres on Mount Cho Oyu, also in the Himalayas.
Base jumping is an extreme sport that involves free-falling off a cliff, bridge or other platform before activating a parachute or wingsuit.