Tag Archives: near-the-khumbu

Lewis Gordon Pugh is a 40-year-old lawyer from Devon. He is an environmental campaigner who swum 1kilometers (0.62miles) across a glacial lake on Mount Everest to highlight the impact of global warming. Pugh wore only swimming trunks, goggles and swimming hat when he swum the 2C waters of Pumori Lake at 17,000 feet (5.300meters). He looks forward to bring the “world’s attention” to the melting of glaciers and its effect on the region. He has been nicknamed as the “human polar bear” for his cold water swims. He has completed the swim near the Khumbu Glacier in just 22 minutes and 51 seconds. He has already swum in Antarctica and across the North Pole to get attention to melting sea ice. On his latest trip, he experienced altitude sickness and freezing conditions. He said: “It’s one of the hardest swims I’ve ever undertaken. When I swam in Antarctica and across the North Pole I swam with speed and aggression but on Mount Everest you can’t use the same tactics. Because of the altitude you need to swim very slowly and deliberately. Swimming 20 meters at full speed in the test swim, I felt I was going to drown. I was gasping for air and if I had swum any faster I would have gone under.” Lewis Gordon Pugh is deeply concerned on how to find a delicate balance whether he’s going too fast or too slow, because this could cause him to get hypothermia. He advocates government to make tackling climate change as a priority because he has witnessed glaciers around the world and many were slowly melting away. Environmental Campaigner Swims Across Everest Glacial Lake is a post from: Daily World Buzz Continue reading →