South African Pierre Carter has defied death, after becoming the first person to paraglide down Mount Everest. 9News
But South African Pierre Carter has come up with a breathtaking, death-defying workaround: hang gliding his way back to the bottom.
The 55-year-old Johannesburg native doesn't have corporate sponsors or a financial backer. He earns the money to support his climbing-and-gliding habit through his contracting job. The permit came through just in time. Carter was already in Nepal acclimatising when it was confirmed. In all, it took him a total of seven and a half weeks to travel to Nepal and climb the world's tallest peak. It took him 20 minutes to get down.
A Sherpa guide met him there with a change of footwear so that he could hike back to base camp in regular hiking shoes, not the snow boots he'd glided down in. There was no celebratory party or welcoming committee – just the way that Carter, who thinks of himself as a normal guy with expensive hobbies, wanted it.Carter's goal is to climb up and paraglide down all seven of the world's highest mountains.
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