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On May 6, 1970, Yuichiro Miura, a Japanese professional skier & alpinist, did the unthinkable in an attempt to ski down Mount Everest. No stranger to Everest, Miura has summited the mountain on multiple occasions. He became the oldest man to summit Everest at the age of 80 in 2013.
With a parachute strapped to his back, Miura started at an altitude of 26,000 feet at the South Col. His descent took only two and a half minutes, totaling 4,200 vertical feet. In addition to the speed at which he descended, Muira was exposed to other elements. Most notably, the wind was constantly changing in both strength and direction. A combination of speed and wind led to his slide and made it difficult for Miura to keep his balance.
Miura was at the mercy of physics once he fell. With his skis detached, his parachute essentially became useless, and he had no way of controlling his slide. Fortunately, a soft patch of snow slowed his pace and saved his life. Although the video doesn’t show his stopping point, Miura’s slide ended only 250 feet from a large crevasse.
As if the idea to ski Mount Everest wasn’t stressful enough.
