Glenn Singleman

Last updated

Dr. Glenn Singleman (born 12 October 1958) is an Australian physician, professional adventurer, wingsuit pilot and BASE jumper (he holds three official world records). He is also a documentary filmmaker, and practicing medical doctor specializing in remote and rural medicine. His film BASEclimb, about a world record setting BASE jump from The Great Trango Towers in Pakistan, won 21 International awards. [1] [2]

Contents

This year[ clarify ] he led the BASEClimb High Performance Wingsuit Team in a flight across the Grand Canyon, from the North Rim to the South Rim - a world first. The team, which included Singleman's wife, Heather Swan, Roger Hugelshofer, Vicente Cajiga and Paul Tozer flew 11.6 kilometres, exiting a Cessna Grand Supervan flown by Ray Ferrell at 28,000 ft. They landed on Hualapai Indian Nation land.

In 2012 Singleman was a key member of the ‘Challenger Deep' [3] team that successfully sent James Cameron to the deepest point on the planet – The Mariana Trench – in a submarine designed and built in Australia. Dr. Singleman was a member of the management team, the Expedition Doctor, [4] one of the life support supervisors and Second Unit Director of the National Geographic 3D Feature Film released in 2013. This was Dr. Singleman’s third project with Cameron ( Avatar , Titanic , The Terminator ). – the others being Cameron's Aliens of the Deep (3D IMAX) and Last Mysteries of the Titanic [5] (Discovery Channel).

Singleman is also a motivational speaker [3] and media commentator [6] on extreme sport, fear and managing risk and has spoken all around the world. [7] Dr. Singleman continues to work as a medical practitioner, [8] working in the Intensive Care Unit at Sydney Adventist Hospital in Sydney. [9] He is also a specialist in remote and rural medicine and a Fellow of the Australian College of Remote and Rural Medicine (ACRRM).

Expeditions and achievements

February 1988 - Mount Minto, Antarctica [10]

Singleman made first ascent of Mount Minto – highest mountain in the Admiralty Ranges of Antarctica (4163 M) as part of Bicentennial Antarctic Expedition with Greg Mortimer, Lincoln Hall, Lyle Closs, Chris Hilton and Jonathan Chester. He was also the expedition doctor and co-directed/co-produced/co-edited the documentary of the expedition (The Loneliest Mountain [11] ).

November 1988 - Puncak Jaya, Irian Jaya

Second Australian ascent of Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) in Irian Jaya via new route on west ridge.

June 1989 - Highest black tie dinner Party [12]

Glenn was the Expedition doctor, location director and cameraman for Social Climbers Expedition to have highest black tie dinner party in the world at 6768 M (22,205 ft) – a charity mountaineering event that raised $20,000 and was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records . The expedition was led by Chris Darwin (great great grandson of naturalist Charles Darwin)

October 1991 - First hot air balloon flight over Mount Everest [13]

Glenn was the Expedition doctor and cameraman filming the first hot air balloon flight over Mount Everest (an expedition led by Australian balloon pilot Chris Dewhirst and UK adventurer Leo Dickinson).

August 1992 - The Great Trango Tower world record [14]

Glenn Singleman and a Nic Feteris BASE jumped from a ledge at 5880 M (19,300 ft) on The Great Trango Tower [15] in the Karakorum Himalaya in Pakistan. This was the first ever Himalayan BASE jump and established a world record for exit height that stood for 14 years. The expedition was led by Singleman. One of the members of expedition was famous awards-winning Russian mountaineer Владислав Павлович (Влад) Мороз

May 2006 - Altitude BASE jumping and Wingsuit BASE jump World Record [16]

In 2006, with his wife Heather Swan, Singleman set a new World Record for high altitude BASE jumping [17] (6604 M highest exit point [18] ) and the highest Wingsuit BASE jump (exit point) from Mt. Meru (6672M) in Garwhal Himalaya in India. [19] The Australian Geographic Society recognised the achievement with a Spirit of Adventure Award – the third awarded to Singleman. The expedition was also led by Singleman.

July 2008 - Highest wingsuit jump world record [20]

Singleman set an unofficial world record for the highest wingsuit jump (37,650 ft) from a hot air balloon over the Australian outback. [21] The jump was featured on 60 Minutes [22] and was an 11-page feature article in Australian Geographic Magazine. [20] The expedition was led by Singleman.

December 2011 - First and only wingsuit flight across Sydney Harbour [23]

Singleman and his wife, Heather Swan, and Vicente Cajiga made the first and only wingsuit flight across Sydney Harbour [24] exiting at 13,500 ft above Rose Bay and landing at Barangaroo. The jump took three years to organize and required approval from 9 government departments.

Film making credits [25]

1987 – A Spire [26] – Co-Producer/Co-Director/Cameraman documentary for ABC about first ascent of Sydney Tower at Centrepoint (by Chris Hilton)

1988 – The Loneliest Mountain [27] – Co-Producer/Co-Director/Cameraman documentary for Film Australia about Bicentennial Antarctic Expedition

1991 – Fire on the Wind [28] – Location Director and cameraman documentary for National Geographic and ZDF about Social Climbers expedition

1993 - BASEClimb [29] (aka The Most Dangerous Jump in the World, aka Jump from 6000M, aka Over the Top) – produced and directed by Singleman about the Trango Tower BASE jump expedition - . Critically and popularly acclaimed the film won 21 International Awards [30] screened in 154 countries and was featured as part of the Best Of National Geographic Television and excerpts appeared in the National Geographic Millennium Special, Footage of the jump has been described as the most powerful ever shot of BASE jumping. BASEClimb was voted one of the best 10 adventure documentaries of all time by American Men's Journal. [31]

1994 – A Glorious Way to Die [32] – treatment writer documentary about Siberian river rats. Produced by Fleur Films

In 2000 - 2002 Glenn wrote, produced and directed BASEClimb 2 Defying Gravity [33] for ABC, which told the story of his wife Heather's quest to learn to mountaineer and BASE jump so she could break his world record from the Great Trango Tower. BASEClimb 2 screened around the world on free-to-air and NationalGeographic cable and quickly surpassed the original BASEClimb documentary commercially.

2003 – Expedition doctor and 3D camera assistant for James Cameron’s Aliens of the Deep [13] (3D IMAX documentary).

2005 – Expedition doctor and camera operator for Last Mysteries of the Titanic [3] – live television documentary from the Titanic wreck with James Cameron

2011 – Expedition doctor and Producer/Director/Co-Editor of No Ceiling – the BASEClimb 3 story [34] – documentary for international television release on free-to-air, cable and DVD.

Personal life

Married to Heather Swan. [35] He has two children, David and Nathan from his first marriage to Irina Tolkunova

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BASE jumping</span> Sport of jumping from fixed objects using a parachute

BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). Participants exit from a fixed object such as a cliff, and after an optional freefall delay, deploy a parachute to slow their descent and land. A popular form of BASE jumping is wingsuit BASE jumping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cameron</span> Canadian filmmaker (born 1954)

James Francis Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, and one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers. He often uses novel technologies with a classical filmmaking style. He first gained recognition for writing and directing The Terminator (1984) and found further success with Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), as well as Avatar (2009) and its sequels. He directed, wrote, co-produced, and co-edited Titanic (1997), winning three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. He is a recipient of various other industry accolades, and three of his films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wingsuit flying</span> Variant of skydiving

Wingsuit flying is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just free falling. The modern wingsuit, first developed in the late 1990s, uses a pair of fabric membranes stretched flat between the arms and flanks/thighs to imitate an airfoil, and often also between the legs to function as a tail and allow some aerial steering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trango Towers</span> Granite spires in mountains in Pakistan

The Trango Towers are a family of rock towers situated in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, in the northern part of Pakistan. The Towers have some of the world's largest cliffs and offer some of the most challenging big wall climbing opportunities. Each year, climbers from around the world embark on expeditions to the Karakoram region to climb these granite faces. The Trango Towers are situated to the north of the Baltoro Glacier and are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, which is a sub-range within the Karakoram mountain range. The highest point within the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower at 6,286 m (20,623 ft), the east face of which features the world's greatest nearly vertical drop.

<i>Ghosts of the Abyss</i> 2003 documentary film directed by James Cameron

Ghosts of the Abyss is a 2003 American documentary film produced by Walden Media. It was directed by James Cameron after his 1997 film Titanic. During August and September 2001, Cameron and a group of scientists staged an expedition to the wreck of the RMS Titanic and dived in Russian deep-submersibles to obtain more detailed images than anyone had before. Using two small, purpose-built remotely operated vehicles, the documentary offers glimpses into the Titanic wreck and, with CGI, superimposes the ship's original appearance on the deep-dive images.

<i>Mir</i> (submersible) Self-propelled deep submergence vehicle

Mir was a class of two self-propelled deep-submergence vehicles. The project was initially developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Lazurit Central Design Bureau, and two vehicles were ordered from Finland. The Mir-1 and Mir-2, delivered in 1987, were designed and built by the Finnish company Rauma-Repola's Oceanics subsidiary. The project was carried out under the supervision of constructors and engineers of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology.

Roland Simpson was a BASE jumper with over 1,000 jumps. He was born in Australia in 1969. He was a qualified tandem master and a wingsuit instructor. He became the US national exit style champion in 1998, and the US national champion in 1999.

Lincoln Ross Hall OAM was a veteran Australian mountain climber, adventurer and author. Lincoln was part of the first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1984, which successfully forged a new route. He reached the summit of the mountain on his second attempt in 2006, miraculously surviving the night at 8,700 m (28,543 ft) on descent, after his family was told he had died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rex Pemberton</span>

Rex Pemberton is an extreme sport participant and motivational speaker, best known as being the youngest male Australian ever to climb Mount Everest.

Jeb Corliss is an American professional skydiver and BASE jumper. He has jumped from sites including Paris's Eiffel Tower, Seattle's Space Needle, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. He lives in Venice, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steph Davis</span> American rock climber (born 1973)

Stephanie "Steph" Davis is an American rock climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit flyer. She is one of the world's leading climbers, having completed some of the hardest routes in the world. She has free soloed up to 5.11a (6b+), and was the first woman to summit all the peaks of the Fitzroy Range in Patagonia, the second woman to free climb El Capitan in a day, the first woman to free climb the Salathė Wall on El Capitan, the first woman to free solo The Diamond on Longs Peak in Colorado, and the first woman to summit Torre Egger. Davis was married to fellow climbers and BASE jumpers Dean Potter and Mario Richard, and currently to sky-diving instructor, flyer, and jumper Ian Mitchard. Davis is also a blogger who writes about her interests in climbing, BASE jumping, yoga, and veganism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ueli Gegenschatz</span> Swiss skydiver (1971–2009)

Ueli Gegenschatz was a Swiss BASE jumper, paraglider and skydiver who held several world records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meru Peak</span> Mountain in India

Meru Peak is a mountain located in the Garhwal Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand in India. The 6,660-metre (21,850 ft) peak lies between Thalay Sagar and Shivling, and has some highly challenging routes. The name Meru likely originated from the Sanskrit word for "peak".

Leigh Bishop is an explorer and deep sea diver known for his deep shipwreck exploration and still underwater photography.

Dwain Weston was an Australian skydiver, BASE jumper and wingsuiter. On 5 October 2003, at the end of the inaugural Go Fast Games, Weston was killed while attempting to fly over the Royal Gorge Bridge near Cañon City, Colorado, United States.

Gary Connery is a British skydiver, BASE jumper, and professional stuntman. Connery has performed stunt-work in numerous films. He has also acted as the stunt-double for Gary Oldman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rowan Atkinson, and John Hurt. He is acknowledged as the first skydiver to land after a wingsuit jump without using a parachute. He made his first parachute jump at age 23, as part of his army training.

Chris "Douggs" McDougall is an Australian skydiver, BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot. He is also founder of a BASE jump school "Learn to BASE jump".

Marc Hauser is a professional Swiss skydiver, artist and entrepreneur. He is the founder of speed tracking and holds the world record for the fastest horizontal free fall. Hauser is also the founder of Erfolgswelle AG, a communications agency.

References

  1. ↑ "Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan - Baseclimb - Never Let Fear Stop You From Living Your Dreams". Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "www.celebspeakers.com". Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Glenn Singleman ... Australia's most adventurous doctor. | Saxton Speakers Bureau
  4. ↑ DEEPSEA CHALLENGER Blog – National Geographic
  5. ↑ DEEPSEA CHALLENGE Blog – National Geographic
  6. ↑ Glenn Singleman & Heather Swan - Celebrity Speakers
  7. ↑ Speaker Glenn Singleman – Speakers Bureau ICMI
  8. ↑ Record breaking daredevil wingsuit BASE jumper Heather Swan – Telegraph
  9. ↑ People - Entertainment - smh.com.au
  10. ↑ "Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan – Photo Gallery". Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  11. ↑ National Film and Sound Archive, Australia // Loneliest Mountain, The
  12. ↑ "Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan - Photo Gallery". Archived from the original on 19 March 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Speaker Glenn Singleman - Platinum Speakers & Entertainers Bureau". Archived from the original on 16 October 2009.
  14. ↑ BASE jump Great Trango Pakistan on YouTube
  15. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_future/Transcripts/s834923.html [ dead link ]
  16. ↑ "Leap from the top of the world".
  17. ↑ BASE jumpers Heather Swan and Glenn Singleman on YouTube
  18. ↑ The Guestroom – Dr Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan – ABC Darwin – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  19. ↑ Jumpers back to base - National - theage.com.au
  20. 1 2 "High adventure: flying with a wingsuit - Australian Geographic". Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  21. ↑ "High adventure: flying with a wingsuit - Australian Geographic". Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  22. ↑ "High Drama". Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  23. ↑ "Watch Crazy People Wingsuit Jump Into Sydney Harbour".
  24. ↑ Sydney Harbour First (& only) Wingsuit Flight on YouTube
  25. ↑ Screen Australia
  26. ↑ A Spire - Climbing Sydney Centerpoint Tower on the Outside on YouTube
  27. ↑ The Loneliest mountain (VHS tape, 1988) [WorldCat.org]
  28. ↑ "Glenn Singleman | Celebrity Speakers (NZ)". Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  29. ↑ BASEClimb | Orana Films
  30. ↑ "Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan - Baseclimb - Never Let Fear Stop You From Living Your Dreams". Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  31. ↑ Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan – Baseclimb – Never Let Fear Stop You From Living Your Dreams
  32. ↑ A Glorious Way to Die (1994) - Full cast and crew
  33. ↑ ABC TV Documentaries: BASECLIMB 2 – DEFYING GRAVITY
  34. ↑ Conquering your fear in a single bound – Medical Observer
  35. ↑ Record breaking daredevil wingsuit BASE jumper Heather Swan – Telegraph
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.