SAFA Skysailor Magazine

13 July | August 2022 SKY SAILOR …and his journey may not be over yet! For those who have been following paragliding extraordinaire Ken Hutt’s journey to fly solo from Mt Everest, we are sure you have been waiting with bated breath to hear all about his life-risking expedition and what he has achieved. The 62-year-old adventure-fanatic from Berry, NSW, has returned home after eight weeks away in Nepal where he trained and attempted to become the first person to fly solo (legally) off the top of the world’s tallest mountain. While Ken didn’t quite make it to the top to attempt the flight due to a sudden illness, he did achieve an incredible feat and raised $300,000 towards Rotary’s ‘End Polio Now’ charity. As an experienced mountaineer, having suc- cessfully flown from the world’s sixth highest mountain, Mt Cho Oyu in Tibet in 2014, Ken understood the challenges that come with com- pleting such an expedition and was as pre- pared as he could be for the trip of a lifetime. In explaining his eight-week journey, Ken detailed the gruelling training processes he had to complete in extreme weather condi- tions along with his fellow climbers. “We arrived in Nepal on 28 March and had to complete a week and a half of high-altitude flying training to practise and prove to the Nepali Government that we were up to the task in order for us to be issued with a permit to fly from the mountain,” Ken explained. “It then took us eight days to walk to base camp, where we started the acclimatisation process which included summiting nearby Loboche Peak at 6000m, and climbing rotations between the four camps that are located on Everest, including passing through the notoriously dangerous Kumbu icefall no less than six times.” Ken left on the summit push from base camp suffering a chest infection, hoping it would not prevent him from standing on the summit and gliding back, however, with the extreme altitude his health further deteriorated. A decision was made to return to base camp to recover before another attempt at the sum- mit and flight in a few days. Unfortunately, his health did not improve and disappointingly the call was made to bring the expedition to a close. A further attempt would have been dangerous with possibly the most serious of outcomes. Kumbu icefall All photos: Courtesy Ken Hutt