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Published May 15, 2026 01:09PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
British adventurer Tim Howell was planning to set a record for the world\u2019s highest wingsuit flight, launching himself off a ridge near the summit of the Himalayan peak Lhotse,\u00a0when a venomous snake bit him on the finger. Now he\u2019s putting his record attempt on hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have now put so much time and effort into this that I can\u2019t walk away from it,\u201d Howell told Outside<\/em>. \u201cAt the same time, I\u2019m only going to jump when everything is right; there can be no second-guessing.\u201d<\/p>\nIt was Howell\u2019s third planned attempt\u2014in as many years\u2014to jump from roughly 27,230 feet on Lhotse, the world\u2019s fourth-highest peak. The ice-clad 27,940-foot Himalayan summit is known by some as the \u201cOther Everest.\u201d If successful, his jump will be the highest wingsuit flight in the world. That would put his record nearly 2,000 feet higher than the previous, set by the late Russian flyer Valery Rozov in 2016 on another Himalayan giant, Cho Oyu, at 26,864 feet.<\/p>\n
Howell told Outside<\/em> that a week before he planned to leave for Lhotse, he was on a short walk in Grenoble, France, when he sat down near a bush.<\/p>\n\u201cAs I pushed some of the branches out of the way to sit on a rock, I felt a tiny sting in my finger,\u201d Howell recalled.<\/p>\n
At first, he assumed the sensation was just the prick of a thorn. But ten minutes later, his lips, throat, and fingers swelled. Howell tried to make it back to his car, but collapsed on the ground before he could, and went into anaphylactic shock. Luckily, he was out with two friends when they called for a helicopter evacuation.<\/p>\nOn their second attempt, Howell\u2019s team spent four days waiting at a camp near 26,000 feet<\/span> (Photo: Tim Howell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHowell spent five days in the ICU, where he learned that the prick he\u2019d felt in the bush was the bite of a venomous snake called an asp viper. Asp viper bites aren\u2019t usually fatal, but Howell was allergic to their venom and would have likely died had he not reached a hospital.<\/p>\n
During his treatment, the flesh on Howell\u2019s finger turned necrotic, and the doctors removed some of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just flesh, no ligaments or anything,\u201d Howell said. \u201cIt\u2019s healed up quite nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s now undergoing physical therapy to regain full use of the finger.<\/p>\n
Howell is a veteran BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot with more than 1,200 jumps worldwide. He attempted to set a world wingsuit record by jumping from Lhotse twice, in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n