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Everything You Need to Know about Skydiving Everest (Podcast Show Notes)
I interviewed an old friend from my skydiving days, Tom Noonan about skydiving Everest. We knew each other from our time in Lake Wales and Skydive Deland. He works for UPT, and I used to work for UPT when I lived in Florida.
Tom Noonan has over 3,500 skydives and has been skydiving Everest since 2008. He also along with Wendy Smith hold the world record for the highest parachute landing at 17,192 feet. If you have questions about Skydive Everest or want to Skydive Everest, Tom can help make that dream come true.
Listen above to the interview with Tom or listen to Experiences You Should Have where you listen to podcasts to hear the full interview and the experience of skydiving Everest!
What is the Most Adventurous Thing You can Do in Life?
Skydiving Everest is definitely one of the most extreme things you could do. Skydiving in a remote and scenic location, and place that skydiving experience in the remote Himalaya, while integrating HALO, makes skydiving Everest the ultimate experience.
What is a HALO Jump?
A HALO jump is High Altitude Low Opening skydive. Low opening means you have taken a long delay and open at a normal opening altitude or lower. Many times HALO jumps are used in military skydiving, however, there are many licensed skydivers who aren’t military who do HALO jumps and you can skydive Everest with a tandem instructor and partake in a HALO jump.
Why Go Skydiving at Mt. Everest?
You will leave Nepal a changed person. There is something about Nepal. The universe makes more sense there than anywhere else in the world. It’s impossible to describe the experience that people have, but it is life changing.
The power of that part of the world, being immersed in that environment is like nothing else in the world. Tom has always said that he has left part of his soul in the Himalaya and everytime he returns, he feels like he is coming home.
How do you get to Mount Everest to go Skydiving?
Getting to Everest is a long trip. From the US it’s a 21-hour flight (quicker flights). Once you arrive in Katmandu, it’s like NYC. It’s busy, bustling, there’s people, activity everywhere. The following day they take a flight to Lukla, which is 9,000 feet above sea level and is the world’s most dangerous airport. You can only land one direction, no matter what the winds are doing. The pilots there are extraordinarily talented. It’s the equivalent of landing on an aircraft carrier without landing on an aircraft carrier.
Once in Lukla, you are at the entryway to the Himalaya. They then start a trek for 2 days. They walk 8-12 miles in those 2 days and ascend from 9,000 feet to 11,000 feet, then they spend 2 days acclimating to 11,500 feet. For most people, being at 5,000 feet will wind people. The higher you go, the more you need to work on climatizing. Your heart will increase, and their breath will increase, so they take their time with their trek.
During the time of acclimating they stay at tea houses, a big house with 30 rooms or so with a common kitchen and common area. They feed you and is a nice place to rest.
Is there a city or town in the Himalayas?
There is a little town called, Namche (population 1,600), and it actually has a coffee shop, bars, pizza, and more. Cafe 8848 is a great place to rest and work on climatizing. In Namche, they have pizzas, restaurants and some of highest bar tabs are had up there. Tom doesn’t consume any alcohol up there because one beer has the effect of 2-3 beers. It’s easier to get dehydrated, so Tom recommends using a level of caution when drinking at high altitudes.
Where is the Airport to Skydive Next to Everest?
700 feet above Namche is a 1200 foot dirt runway, the Syangboche airport, one of the highest airports in the world. This is the setup for the dropzone where you can skydive Everest! It’s very difficult getting aircraft there, so the operation for Skydive Everest uses AS 350 B3 Eurocopter Helicopter.
What Type of Equipment Do You need to Skydive Everest & How Cold Is it?
The Everest team provides everything, which includes jumpsuits, helmets, gloves, etc. They provide puffy jackets and provide special jumpsuits that are made out of heavy-duty, fleece-lined jumpsuits to keep people warm in freefall.
You exit the aircraft at -48 F, so it’s cold, to say the least. The thing is people’s adrenaline and excitement takes over and people actually feel fine jumping from 30,000 feet. Mostly the cold that people feel are when they deploy the parachute. In the past, people’s hands would get hold, but now they have revamped their gloves to keep people’s hands warm. They only thing they don’t provide are shoes.
How High is the Dropzone and What Height Do You Jump From?
Their primary dropzone is 12,050 feet. Mt. Everest is 29,029 feet. They exit their helicopters around 23,000-24,000 feet. To take it any higher is compromising the flight envelope. They are able to fly the ridges of the mountains. For Everest, the helicopters hold 4 people, and it takes about 15-20 minutes to get to altitude (23k-24k feet).
There’s something incredible exotic about helicopter skydives. A helicopter makes a very unique high pitched noise. It’s very surreal to lift off the ground. Once the helicopter lifts off the ground, you are hovering and is an incredible experience. It feels like when the Millennium Falcon jumps to lightspeed. The scenery is unlike anything an airplane can provide. As they take off to altitude you can see the climbers and you are integrated into the mountain, because you are above it the whole way up. It’s almost as inspiring as the jump itself, getting to fly over Everest.
Tom takes people tandem skydiving next to Everest. The helicopters can’t hover at 23-24k feet, they do have a forward speed of about 60 knots, so when they jump out, they don’t feel their stomach drop like you would if you jumped off a hovering helicopter or balloon jump. There isn’t a struggle to find your stability, the air feels firm when you jump out.
What Types of Skydiving Has Happened at Everest and What is It Like?
All kinds of skydiving have occurred next to Everest including freeflying, RW, wingsuiting, and of course tandem skydiving. When exiting next to Everest you fall faster. Normally in a skydive, you fall around 120 mph, but next to Everest you fall about 140 mph. The freefall is about 30-40 seconds next to Everest. Truly exhilarating. The skydive itself is amazing, but the overwhelming adrenaline is a catch-22. In order to get the best photo, they need to turn the jumper away from Everest, so Mt. Everest can be behind you for the photo. However, this experience is 2 tandem skydives.
That’s right, 2 jumps next to Everest. You can turn away from Mt. Everest for the first jump for the great photo, but the next jump, then you can spend the entire time looking at Mt. Everest in freefall.
Everyone who lands who has seen Mt. Everest under canopy, is the experience that people say they will never forget. Can you imagine being next to Mt. Everest while flying a parachute?! Man, that is an experience you should have.
How Old Do You Have to Be & What is the Max Weight to Skydive Everest?
18 Years Old, max weight limit is 225 lbs.
What if you have limited mobility or are handicapped, but you’re in good shape, is there a way to Skydive Everest?
If you can’t make the trek in, you could come in via helicopter. You could fly into Lukla and acclimate there for 2-3 days, and then fly up to 12,000 feet to spend the day with everyone then bring them back down to 9k feet in Lukla to help with the acclimation. When it’s time to jump, they would fly you to the dropzone and there, you would be attached to a tandem instructor for an amazing experience of skydiving Everest. Also, if you’re an adventurer and love experiences, but may have limited mobility, then check out these Accessible Travel Ideas from EYSH.
How Much Does It Cost to Skydive Everest?
- It costs 25,000 for 2 jumps at Everest, which includes your trek, accommodations, food, etc. Yes, it is expensive, but it is one of the most extraordinary experiences on Earth.
- If you want to come along with a paying jumper, it costs $5,000 if you are staying in the same room with paying skydiver.
- If you are a sport skydiver (fun jumper), then your trip cost is $22,000-$25,000 depending on the types of jumps they are doing.
Why is it so expensive?
They essentially bring a dropzone to the mountains. They fly in their gear and also use Yaks to get their gear to the dropzone they create in the Himalayas. Setting up a dropzone in the world’s most remote locations is very technical and challenging. The Himalayas is the land that the wheel forgot. There are no wagons, no cars. Everything is walked up by person or animal or flown up by aircraft. They are moving a dropzone into the Himalaya. They are operating one of the most expensive helicopters in the world and they are bringing in 100k of gear, getting the staff there, paying for food, lodging, etc. The cost is for an 11-day expedition. They are bringing you to an experience, not an Event.
When is the Best Time to Skydive Everest?
These jumps happen May and in November, but most likely November.
How Do You Sign up to Skydive Everest and how far in advance should you plan?
E-mail Tom, (skydiveearth at gmail .com). Their parent company is Explore Nepal and you can sign up through them. Ideally, people need to sign up at least 6 months before. November is their preferred time to go, so you would need to commit and sign up at least by May. They have signed up a few people last minute, so hit them up to see if they have space if you haven’t planned in advance.
Tom is Part of a Project Called Skydive Earth
Skydive Earth is a new project that Paul Henry and Tom put together. It’s skydiving in extraordinary places in the world. Sometimes they are visions of PH or Tom, but other times it is visions of others. Like skydiving over the pyramid of Giza.
In Ireland, they are doing an event of skydiving on the lawn of Ross Castle (Killarney) and then they are going to skydive the Aran islands in Ireland. They’ve gone tandem skydiving, rope swinging and bungee jumping in Switzerland. Check out the video below for some amazing moments with the Skydive Earth team!
Soon they are going to skydive over an active volcano in Chile and they are even planning a skydive in Antarctica! April or May of next year they are going to skydive over the Great Barrier reef. They want to make tandem jumps on every continent including the North Pole. Tom is most excited about skydiving Antarctica. This will be Tom’s 7th continent and a life dream to go. It will be a cold skydive onto an ice pack, but setting foot on a part of the world he never thought was possible is just incredible.
Maybe skydiving Antarctica isn’t your thing, but you could learn about traveling to Antarctica in one of our past episodes of Experiences You Should Have.
Related Episodes: First Time Skydiving with Melanie Curtis