Glenn and Heather never gave up when their dream was not realised in BASEClimb 2. They continued to train while looking for a cliff higher than The Great Trango Tower. In April 2005 they journeyed to India to research Mt Meru, a cliff Glenn had found. It was perfect and they loved India so it was settled - they would make another attempt on the world record from Mt Meru.
Instead of just a straight BASEjump they planned to make the jump in 'wingsuits', relatively new skydiving technology that allows a skilled pilot to fly forward at around 2.8 times the speed he or she descends. Using wingsuits would not only lengthen the flight from the world's highest vertical cliff, it would dramatically reduce the risk of a cliff strike as Glenn, Heather and Jimmy would be a long way from the wall when they opened their canopies. Glenn and Heather started jumping wingsuits in February 2005 and now have over 200 wingsuit jumps. Glenn, Heather and Jimmy will be jumping 'Vampire V1s' by Phoenix Fly and flying custom built Fox's by APEX Base.
Wingsuiting has re-ignited their passion for skydiving so much so that they invested in new skydiving rigs, custom designed and built by the experts at Parachutes Australia. The new canopies which feature major sponsor Fincorp's logo were designed and built by Icarus Canopies (NZ Aerosports).
In March 2006 Glenn, Heather and Jimmy went to Arco in Italy to practice their '3-way' exit and flight from Mt Brento. They joined up with Robert Pecnick and James Boole from Phoenix Fly and made over 20 jumps, each time refining their skills. One jump was a '5-way' wingsuit flight - all Vampires. It made an awesome spectacle from the landing area. This was the first Wingsuit 5-way flock from Mt Brento.
Almost immediately after their time in Italy Glenn, Heather and Jimmy joined the rest of the BASEClimb 3 team to head for India.
600kgs of luggage was a challenge, but this time it was made worse by the lack of sympathy from ground staff for Malaysian Airlines at Sydney Airport. It was a disappointing contrast to the support BASEClimb 2 had had from Thai Airways in 2001.
The team and all the cargo arrived in New Delhi April 14. BASEClimb uses RIMO Expeditions in India for trekking and climbing support. Run by Motep and his wife Yangdu, they are excellent. Their services save a lot of the bureaucratic hassles that go hand-in-hand with climbing in India.
After an amusing meeting with the Indian Mountaineering Federation (who clearly thought they were nuts), the team and trekking crew were ready to set off for the mountains.
In 1992 Dr. Glenn Singleman and Nic Feteris set a world record for altitude BASEjumping when they climbed and jumped (with a parachute) from the Great Trango Tower, a sheer rock wall in Pakistan soaring 6258 metres or 20,000 feet above sea level.
BASEClimb, the film Dr. Singleman made of the expedition stunned and amazed audiences around the world as part of National Geographic's Voyager III Series.
Huge interest in the achievement generated thousands of requests for Dr. Singleman to share firsthand the values, standards and attitudes that made the project a success.
For the last 12 years Glenn has traveled the world speaking to people about the process of personal growth popularised by Joseph Campbell as the 'Hero's Journey'.
Despite the success of BASEClimb, Glenn had always felt, if he did it again he would change a number of things about the project and film. Also, having witnessed how much the film inspired people to pursue their own dreams he became fascinated in furthering his philosophies about adventure as a metaphor for achievement.
He was convinced, that with the right training, planning, technology and team, anyone with the physical capacity to 'jump off a chair and pull a handkerchief from their pocket' could make the jump.
The greatest challenge was mental - overcoming the limiting beliefs and fears that prevent us reaching our full potential. After years of issuing the challenge one person has taken him up on it - his wife Heather.
For BASEClimb 2 Glenn and Heather (then a 38 year old corporate executive with no background in adventure), together with Marta Empinotti of Vertigo Base Outfitters (now APEX Base), trained to hone the mental and physical skills necessary for them to successfully climb and jump off the tallest cliff in the world and break the current world record.
The story is told in an international documentary film, BASEClimb 2 Defying Gravity and in Heather's new book 'Changing Shoes' coming soon.
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