Mount Everest Swim

Photograph by Alton Byers, the Mountain Institute

Lewis Pugh, will attempt the most extreme challenge – to undertake a 1km swim under the summit of Mount Everest, to continue to press for action to cut global warming to below the level we are already seeing today.

The swim will be at an altitude of 5,300 metres in the freezing waters of a lake on the Khumbu Glacier and is scheduled for April 2010. The swim will take approximately 20 minutes and Lewis will swim in just a Speedo, cap and goggles.

As a result of global warming, temperatures in the Himalayas have risen by 1 degree Celsius and glaciers are melting fast. The glaciers on the Himalayas provide water to the 9 largest Asian river basins, home to 1.3 billion people - a fifth of the world’s population.

To show our governments that we all want strong action on climate change, each of us can help by signing up on line and cutting our personal carbon footprints by 10% in 2010. By doing this, you will also help tackle climate change immediately.

Previous Expeditions

The Arctic Kayak, 2008

Lewis Gordon Pugh and Robbie Hedgus kayaked from the Island of Spitsbergen (in northern Europe) across the Arctic Ocean, into the polar ice packs. The journey, across some of the most dangerous seas in the world, highlighted how thin the sea ice has become in recent years and the dangers of climate change both in the Arctic and across the world.