If yesterday's reminder about the Extreme Ironing picture comp had you dreaming of fame and planning a last-minute jaunt up Snowdon with your ironing basket, then it may come as a bit of a blow to hear of the escapades of John Roberts and Ben Gibbons, from Cheltenham. The intrepid pair have just extreme-ironed a Union Jack part way up Everest.
The Beeb has reported that Roberts and Gibbons successfully ironed the flag at 5,440 metres, emphatically beating the previous EI altitude record of 4,100. The sight of the two men lugging their board up to base camp entertained locals along the way and climbers waiting for weather windows, and unusually for trekkers, the pair were given permission to trek a little beyond base camp in order to break the record.
The altitude is certainly impressive, but to be honest, setting a board up on a stable mountainside, however high, doesn't necessarily make for the most impressive pics, so if you're one of the hopefuls for a place in the Extreme Ironing book and the Rowenta trophy, keep plugging away (sorry).
Phil Shaw
