ON A WING AND A DARE
Taking the plunge for UK first on a Highland peak
IT’S a challenge that called for a real leap into the unknown.
But displaying ice-cool nerves and a head for heights, 1-year-old Tim Howell took the plunge.
The former Royal Marine hurled himself from a Highland peak to become the first person to make a wingsuit ‘flight’ from a British mountain.
After launching himself from , 79ft Lord Berkeley’s Seat near Dundonnell, Rossshire, he deployed his parachute 0 seconds later to land safely at nearby Loch Toll an Lochain.
Mr Howell has spent years researching UK sites for BASE jumping – BASE is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects jumped from: building, antenna, span (bridge) and earth (cliff).
During his research he discovered that dramatic Lord Berkeley’s Seat on An Teallach had all the qualities to make a wingsuit jump from it.
Explaining the challenge, he said: ‘There are maybe three main things that you need to find a wingsuit BASE jump site. You need an initial vertical drop of at least 100m ( 0ft), usually more like 150m (490ft) that is steep enough to fly over after the start height.
‘Then you need enough overall altitude to make the flight last more than a few seconds – so usually more than 500m (1,650ft).
‘And of course, you need a good place to land.’ Mr Howell, from Martock, Somerset, made the three-hour ascent of the peak on foot several times to check that it would be safe for an attempt before making the jump on August 18.
He added: ‘The more time I can spend measuring and calculating if the flight is possible, the more I can feel confident in it all going smoothly.
‘A technical aspect of the jump is that you are flying straight into a gully, so there is no escape if you have a bad heading.
‘I needed to fly out of the gully before turning and flying to the loch to pull my parachute. The only good landing spot was beside the loch.
‘Before the jump I was just trying to calm my nerves, knowing that the calculations added up and my training and experience was enough to make this flight with a big enough margin.
‘I’m so happy it went smoothly. It’s one thing to pull something off but it’s another to pull it off with enough of a safe margin – that’s what I’m most happy about.’
He was accompanied by professional photographer Hamish Frost, 2, from Glasgow.
Mr Frost said: ‘There was no recklessness or maybes here, just a perfect display of training, preparation and faultless execution – all coming together to produce something which was truly special to watch.’
He added: ‘In the end Tim made it look comfortable, easily clearing the crux sections of the flight.’