National Geographic: 2012 People’s Adventurers of the year
The National Geographic has announced this week the award of Adventurers of the Year 2012, and it goes to two quite unbelievable human beings from Nepal called Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa. What they did and how they went about is the stuff of legend and the majority of the 72,000 votes that were cast thought so too.
Lakpa had completed 3 successful summits of Everest as a guide when Paragliders caught his eye as they arrived for the first time in Nepal. Seizing an opportunity to get hold of one he launched himself off a hillside near his home and crashed into a tree, it was after this that ran into Sano as he was going to get it repaired. At that point the plan for the most audacious descent in the world was hatched.
With borrowed gear, virtually no budget and no big money sponsors the two friends planned to scale Everest, Paraglide down from the summit, then cycle to where the rivers met at which point they would swap into kayaks and make their way across into India and paddle their way down the Ganges and out into the Indian Ocean. Babu had never climbed, and Lakpa had never kayaked and couldn’t swim. Nothing like this had ever been done before, and they nailed it. For the full story and more pictures go to: http://tinyurl.com/ 7bqpj46
About the Author
Adrian Simpson Adrian Simpson is a writer and TV presenter with a profound love of the outdoors. His family, snow, sea, brewing, vinyl, guitars and VW buses mean the world to him.
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