It could be the poshest world record yet. Asparagus spears tied with a red pepper bow, poached salmon and a terrine of summer fruits served with Channel Island cream. In scoffing the food and quaffing champagne on a table suspended from a hot air balloon at 24,262ft, adventurers Bear Grylls and Lt Cdr Alan Veal broke the record for the highest open air formal dinner party.
The pair first achieved the feat a week ago above Salisbury Plain, beating the record set by Henry Shelford, who dined on the slopes of Lhakpa Ri in western Tibet at more than 22,000ft last year. But, underlining how hazardous the record-breaking dinner was, a second attempt was cancelled yesterday because of hazardous winds.
"It was a hell of a lot more hairy than I thought it would be," Grylls said yesterday. The SAS soldier turned TV explorer dreamed up the wheeze on a transatlantic flight as a way of celebrating 50 years of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
After 10 months planning and six weeks intensive training, including 200 skydives, the pair had to wait until there was a bubble in the jet stream so that their balloon, piloted by the explorer David Hempleman-Adams, would not be swept away by 200mph winds.
Rising to 24,262ft was the easy bit. Grylls and Veal then had to don oxygen masks, grab their hamper and abseil 30ft down to the table suspended on wires below the balloon, which was travelling at 25mph.
"Al sat on the table and the whole thing flipped upside down," said Grylls. "He was hanging there without oxygen. I went down to get him and we both ended upside down without oxygen hanging under the table. Luckily we managed to get each others' masks back on and get on to the table."
Dining in -45C four miles above the earth, they had to snatch off their masks and gulp their food before taking some more oxygen, while being careful not to drop anything - a spear of asparagus falling from that height could kill someone.
"We had a few mouthfuls of each course and then everything was freezing up. We had sorbet for pudding by that stage," Grylls said.
Checking each other for signs of hypoxia, the oxygen shortage that creates fatal drowsiness, the pair then toasted the Queen and dived off the platform in freefall before parachuting to safety.
Hempleman-Adams, the holder of 39 aviation world records, then had to pilot the balloon to safety on his own. He said the scariest moment was when his fellow adventurers jumped out of the balloon.
"When two guys jump off you lose 400kgs of mass. I was going up at 1,200ft per minute. The balloon partially collapsed and I was left holding on to the basket. That was really scary.
"When I landed I was gagging for something to drink. I was expecting to tuck into the food that they had left, but they had eaten it all," he added. "It's been a lot of fun."
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