Guinness World Record - Highest Ski-BASE Jump Ever -18,000 Ft

A British man has achieved a world record after jumping off Himalayan mountain Mera Peak. Joshua Bregmen, 34, performed the world’s highest altitude ski-BASE jump by skiing off a 5,716-metre high cliff (18,753 ft) and parachuting to the ground.

He far surpassed the previous record of 4,359 m (14,301 ft), set by Frenchman Matthias Giraud in 2019.

As the name suggests, ski-BASE jumping combines the sports of skiing and BASE jumping.

Josh, an adventurer who lives full-time in his van, spent over two weeks preparing for the attempt with his team, including hiking and skiing to the jump spot, camping at extreme altitude, and clearing the course of debris.

They took on this challenge to raise money for charity and raise awareness about the human trafficking problem in Nepal, from where thousands of children are trafficked each year.

The record attempt almost didn’t go ahead because when the team arrived at their first potential jump spot, they were met with “just a big rocky slope”. Josh recalled sitting down on one of the many boulders, wondering if they should try again next season. However, this doubt was short lived, and the team soon found “the perfect slope” – they just had to clear a skiing runway by moving boulders and adding snow.

“It took most of the next day until we had nothing left in the tank,” Josh said.

“We all worked so hard, and the lack of oxygen, constant headaches and sleeping at around 6,000 m added to the body degrading. One of the guys even said this was harder than when he climbed Everest.”

Exhausted, they slept another night at altitude before attempting to break the record the next day.

“That night we were blessed with a 2 cm dusting of snow – not much, but it helped,” Josh recalled. “The dream was to do several nice S-turns and ski elegantly off the cliff, but in reality, all we had was just a humble rock-filled runway at an exit height of nearly 6,000m.

“I did some nice, heavy breathing before the jump through exhaustion and lack of oxygen, but this just added to the exhilaration, especially with Everest in the backdrop.”

Josh’s record attempt was entirely self-funded, without any sponsors – he borrowed technical gear from his friends, used second-hand skis and wore “cheap, fake” clothing.

“You don’t need all the fancy glitz; you just need a can-do attitude with a sense of adventure, some dogged persistence and a good team.”