_____________________________________________Ananova

Adventurer Prepares for Solo Balloon Flight Accross Everest

KATMANDU - Adventurer David Hempleman-Adams is gearing up for his solo balloon flight across Everest.

He has said his final farewells to his support team today and will leave for Katmandu in Nepal tomorrow.

He will then travel to Tibet where he hopes to begin his epic flight by the end of the month. The trip will take up to six hours.

Today he opened the hi-tech control centre, at Keynsham, near Bristol, where the team will be based.

But Mr Hempleman-Adams, 44, said weather conditions in the Himalayas are already causing him problems as a landslide eight miles long was blocking his intended pass to his 16,000ft-high base camp.

He said: "We only found this out in the last couple of days.

"This is the monsoon period out there and the people in Katmandu say there has been a 15-kilometre land slide."

But Mr Hempleman-Adams said he was excited by the trip which follows his balloon journey to the North Pole last year.

He said: "I wanted to keep the same team together at the control room because it went so well. I climbed Everest in 1993 and I thought it would be beautiful to fly across it."

The explorer will have to brave temperatures of minus 60 F.

*David Hempleman-Adams story sent by Ananova

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