As if climbing Mount Everest isn't hard enough, sometimes people add a little flair to the end of their adventure — a metaphorical cherry on top of the world. In the past, a guy stripped down to his skivvies, a couple got married, and one dude even snowboarded down (and was never seen again), but this week, Devon Lévesque set the record for the highest altitude backflip.
In the video, Lévesque removes his oxygen mask and says, "Good morning from Mount Everest." Then, he does a backflip on the peak that's about as big as a few ping-pong tables. Fortunately, he's also tied onto multiple ropes and wearing ice cleats. He explained in the caption that he wanted to give himself one last challenge. "This was after 72 hrs of climbing and no sleep . . . you can imagine how the legs and body feel," he wrote.
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What Makes a Backflip Atop Mount Everest So Impressive
Of course, exhaustion is only part of what makes the backflip so impressive. While climbing to the top of Mount Everest requires ascending 29,032 feet, he did it with very little oxygen. After you climb above 26,000 feet, you enter the "death zone." It's basically where your body stops functioning normally and most of the dead bodies are.
Experts say if you spend enough time in such a low-oxygen environment, your brain starts to swell, a condition called high altitude cerebral edema, or HACE. It results in a cause a host of cognitive issues and eventually, a decreased physical performance, such as difficulty breathing because your lungs fill with fluid. HACE is the main reason climbers use oxygen while climbing Mount Everest. Plus, it's cold and windy. It's so cold and windy, in fact, that it's only survivable for about three months of the year.
According to reports, about 1,900 people are expected to climb Mount Everest. Alan Arnett, a blogger who collects data about seasonal activity on the mountain, reported that Everest has seen 409 summits as of May 23. However, four people have died and three more went missing.
