Airdate: Mission Everest

Heads up Man Vs Wild fans, there’s a special this coming Saturday night with Bear Grylls attempting to fly over the summit of Mt. Everest.

Follow adventurer Bear Grylls and his friend Gilo Cardozo as they prepare to fly over the summit of Mount Everest. They will be strapped onto flimsy paraglide chutes powered by backpack motors, or paramotors as they are known.

First, Gilo must single-handedly design and build a paramotor that can go a full 3000 metres higher than any other engine of this type, or indeed paramotor, has gone before.

Bear takes charge of their survival strategy. The pair face temperatures of -40°C that will instantly freeze exposed flesh, hurricane-force winds that threaten to dash them against the mountain peaks, and very low levels of oxygen, which could cause blackouts and almost certain death in seconds.

As the day of the flight approaches, they face the reality of the challenge ahead and are beset with machine troubles, failed test flights and a damaged engine. At his lowest ebb, Bear has some uncharacteristic doubts: ‘I’d always planned this project to be ambitious but safe; the bottom line is it’s ambitious but it’s not safe.’

Mission Everest airs Saturday, 30 June at 7.30pm on SBS ONE