Tim Howell's World Record Jump Off Lhotse in 2025

TIM HOWELL

WORLD RECORD WINGSUIT BASE JUMP ATTEMPT

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Final Update: 24th May 2025

Tim and his team fixed lines all the way to the exit point at 8300m, with the promise of bluebird skies in the forecast.

What they faced in reality, though, was an unrelenting storm.“No jump. It was pretty hairy, stuck on a ledge at 8300 for three hours” was Tim’s first contact. Coming from Tim, 'pretty hairy' likely translates to 'utterly horrifying'.

The team spent an astonishing five days just below 8000m waiting for the window, but it never materialised. An absolutely gut wrenching outcome, but just as before Tim made the brave and sensible decision to return from the exit point on foot.

Video: See Tim and his team waiting on the exit at 8300m for 3 hours.

Before heading out to Lhotse, Tim told us “If the goal is easy to achieve, is it worth setting in the first place? To me a dream is something that sits slightly out of reach.”

The Lhotse jump continues to sit just beyond reach, but we know Tim and we know his spirit - and we have a feeling this won’t be his last time in the Himalayas.

The team have once again enthralled us with their ambition and impressed us with their composure. Most importantly, though, everyone is safely off the mountain - and it’s not going anywhere.

Congratulations Tim - we can’t wait to hear the stories.

Tim Howell

An Immense Perspective

Tim Howell's dream is the highest ever wingsuit BASE jump, and the first ever from over 8000m. His exit point on the Lhotse ridge bests the current record of 7,700m set by Russian Valerei Rozov - and far exceeds his own highest jump of 6,000m, on Aconcagua in South America.

Adjacent to Mount Everest, Lhotse is the world’s fourth-highest mountain. There is no higher launch point on earth since exits require a particular geometry for wingsuit pressurisation and momentum.

With a 4,000m height differential between exit and landing, and 11km of horizontal distance, this route will also be the world’s longest wingsuit BASE jump.

This video captures something of the immense scale of this world record flight.

Jöttnar Pro Team

Tim Howell

Former Royal Marines commando, climber, alpinist, wingsuit BASE jumper and key member of the Jöttnar Pro Team. In 2022, Tim became the first person to climb and then BASE jump all six of the Alps’ classic north faces, beginning with the notorious Eiger. Tim has climbed from the Arctic Circle to the Himalaya, logging over 1,100 jumps.

Learn more about Tim

A Calculated Risk

At lower altitudes a wingsuit needs 200m of descent to pressurise. In Aconcagua’s thinner air, 300m was needed. For a comfortable safety margin on Lhotse, Tim plans an initial 400m drop before pressurisation and forward momentum is gained.

“The start of the flight where the suit pressurises with air, creating an aerofoil and forward momentum, takes longer at higher altitudes… so I’ve made a rough estimate of an initial 400m drop. But the Lhotse wall is so big, it's going to give me a huge margin for error.”

Planning a ‘Start Arc’

“A Start Arc is a single point and number that indicates how well you're starting the initial wingsuit flight, normally around 200m down and 200m forwards. On Aconcagua it was longer so potentially on Lhotse’s wall at 8300m it'll be 400m down and 400m away from the cliff face. It's a one-to-one 45-degree slope. I'm going to be 350 metres away when the first ledge obstacle that comes out to 50m – a comfortable margin.”

Finding the First-Ever Exit Point, by Accident…

How do you even discover a potential exit point on Lhotse, such an inaccessible mountain, where the climb is an achievement in itself?

“I used FATMAP for spotting potential exits initially. I saw from the type of rock and how the snow's sticking to the cliff whether the exits had promise. FATMAP’s gradient tools give me an estimated altitude from the top to bottom of the steep cliff sections. Then I flew a helicopter reconnaissance in November last year. I rejected previous options having inadvertently spotted a pillar on the ridge – there it was; there's a jump there.”

Altitude & Weather

A project like this takes a long time to execute: all in, well over a month. After trekking up to Everest Base Camp - itself no trivial matter - then begins the long process of acclimatisation rotations, and ferrying supplies up to the higher camps. All the while glued to the weather forecast.

Weather is the deciding factor in the outcome of expeditions to altitude - and Tim's flight requires clearer conditions than an ordinary climbing team can operate in. There are only a handful of days suitable for this kind of flight each season.

"When it takes four days from base camp to the exit point, you've got to predict it four days in advance. And if that weather changes by a day, if it's a day too early, you've probably missed it. If it's a day too late, you've now got to stay at 8,000 meters for an extra day. So it's more the logistics that make these things harder at altitude."

Speed | Time | Distance

Thinner air equals faster speeds. On Aconcagua Tim hit 240kph and is expecting similar on Lhotse, reaching his landing site in Chukhung village, 11km away in just three minutes.

The Stresses and Strains of Flight

"You feel the strain on your body as you’re holding yourself in a stress position and focusing on maintaining your correct line. The longest flight in the world currently is from the Jungfrau. I've jumped it twice. You're in a stress position, putting tension on the suit, for multiple minutes. By the end you're in fatigue for sure!”

Pre 1st Attempt Interview with Tim Howell

Jöttnar co-founder Tommy Kelly interviewed Tim Howell ahead of his 1st attempt.

Flight Tension

"The longest flight in the world at the moment is actually Jungfrau. And I've jumped from Jungfrau twice. By the end of the flight, you're starting to fatigue for sure. You're in a stress position, putting tension on the suit, for at least four or five minutes. So you really feel it by the end, nothing serious, but you definitely feel it."

Cliff Strike

"I learned a lesson when I had a cliff strike three years into base jumping. I had around 250 base jumps at that point... You never just want to go, 'ah, let's do it'. Everything needs to be calm, calculated and considered. "

Enjoying It, Mostly

“People comment on the photos of my face during the flight, saying, ‘Oh, you're looking so serious. You're not enjoying it? If you're not enjoying it, why are you doing it...?’. But I think the enjoyment is in the whole package. The flight is incredible, but I'm really focusing. The enjoyment comes from planning it, from landing, that's when my emotions really come out. During the flight, it's just pure attention."

"I always think that if you look back at when you've had some rough times, some hard times, made the wrong decisions... but if you're happy now then all of those things led to where you are today."

Tim Howell | The Jöttnar Podcast

The Science of Wingsuit Base Jumping

Inigo Insurance's insightful 3-part series with Tim Howell.