Flying Off Everest (26 page)

Sano Babu Sunuwar tests out the new ultralight wing, smuggled into the country from Malaysia, at Kala Patthar near Everest Base Camp.

BALKRISHNA BASEL

Nima Wang Chu (right) learns how to prepare the wing for takeoff from Sano Babu Sunuwar.

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Ryan Waters (left) does the math with Sano Babu Sunuwar to see if they’ll actually clear the Northwest Ridge if he and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa take off from the summit.

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Waters’s base camp at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall.

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Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa (left) and Sano Babu Sunuwar pose with the Nepali flag at Everest Base Camp.

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Sano Babu Sunuwar, Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa, and Nima Wang Chu prepare the wing for takeoff on the Northeast Summit Ridge.

PHU DORJI SHERPA

Climbers cross a crevasse in the Western Cwm using aluminum ladders.

PHU DORJI SHERPA

Nima Wang Chu, one of the expedition’s two sherpas.

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Phu Dorji, one of the expedition’s two sherpas.

PHU DORJI SHERPA

Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa calls David Arrufat on his cellular phone from Everest Base Camp to check on the location of the team’s paraglider.

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David Arrufat puts the APPI logo on Babu and Lakpa’s paraglider in Pokhara.

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Shri Hari Shresthra (left), the team’s cameraman, and Balkrishna Basel enter Sagarmatha National Park on their way to deliver the paraglider to Everest Base Camp.

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Balkrishna Basel holds the bag he smuggled the paraglider into Base Camp with, along with his clothes.

BALKRISHNA BASEL