Geronimo, Possums

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday June 10, 2006

WHAT goes up must come down. Or as Isaac Newton used to say: she'll be apples. And, indeed, it was for an Australian couple who have smashed the world record for the highest BASE jump. They had to toil up a Himalayan mountainside for 22 days, then, dressed up like flying possums in wing suits, they jumped off a cliff. The trip back down took them two minutes. But there were no short cuts for their Sherpa bearers: they had to cart the couple's gear all the way back to base camp. They are reported to have thought the possum people mad. Clearly some in the expedition have scaled a new pinnacle of common sense.