On the 21st November 2009, Stuart Holmes made what is probably only the second aerial descent of the iconic Nepalese peak of Ama Dablam and the first using a small speed wing.

Ama Dablam, commanding the Everest region, is one the most beautiful mountains in the World and is generally considered one of the Himalayas most spectacular climbs. It is also the one mountain that everyone who treks in The Khumbu/Everest region will remember.

In an autumn of relatively bad weather with strong winds and occasional snow storms, Stuart climbed the classic South-West ridge, an alpine climber's dream route with its ice faces and steep, clean rock in a spectacular Himalayan setting.

At 6856m, getting to the top is moderately technical and quite an achievement.

But remember, it's getting back down safely again that's the ultimate goal.

(Photos by Adam Booth and Stuart Holmes)

For the descent Stuart chose to fly from the summit on a YAK… Not an animal, the YAK is a new mini wing from GIN GLIDERS. Take off was perfectly timed and executed, the GIN GLIDERS YAK behaved impeccably, enabling Stuart to take off easily in the strong and difficult conditions.

The YAK 16.5 is small, sure and fast and the exciting descent in strong turbulent air was incident free and quick. 4500m in only 10 minutes, ultimately saving Stuart over a day and a half of pretty risky descent and had him enjoying a nice hot cup of tea while his climbing companions donned their rucksacks on the summit!