Melton man celebrates birthday with world record Himalayas DJ set

Ian and professional DJ, Damion Houchen, played seven tracks at an altitude of 5,590m on the Kala Pattar in the Himalayas.

Cheered on by a paying audience of fellow hikers, the duo smashed the Guinness World Record for highest altitude DJ set on land as they partied surreally in the shadow of Mount Everest.

The previous best was achieved by Nepalese DJ, Chhewang Sherpa, who played eight songs at 5,416m in Nepal in October 2016, but Ian was motivated to beat it in a bid to mark his 40th birthday in style.

Ian told the Melton Times: “When we started playing the music up there everyone was buzzing and we almost forgot where we were.

“But then you look around and it’s the only place where you see a back drop of Mount Everest and it was stunning.

“Damion is a professional DJ and he went off this week to play in front of 40,000 people in Texas but he said this trip was the most amazing experience he had ever had as a DJ.”

It was the latest in a series of challenges Ian and a group of friends have set themselves. They did the Three Peaks Challenge and five years ago climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

His approaching 40th birthday, which was on April 2, led them to consider doing something very different, with the aim of climbing to Everest base camp eventually developing into breaking a world record on neighbouring peak, Kalla Pattar.

“The logistics were quite challenging,” said Ian, who has run international cricket supporters touring company, Howzat, since 2005.

“We needed battery-powered speakers and we had to preserve the equipment with it being minus 20 degrees at times.

“We had a team of sherpas who carried everything up there, like the tables and the technical equipment, and we also had to sell tickets to our spectators because it had to be a ticketed event to break the record.”

They reached the summit after nine days of hiking, with some suffering bad headaches from altitude sickness and some, including Ian, being struck down by a 24-hour stomach bug.

Also in the 16-strong party were several people from the Melton area, Stuart Jackson, Neil Horsley, Mark Walker, Ben Jarvis, Ami Jarvis, Rob Jinks and Dan Hutton.

The father-of-two added: “It was an incredible experience and definitely something to tell the grandchildren.”

For the record the tunes played in the set were Reflect featuring Delline Bass – Need to feel loved (Tinlicker Remix); Mystery Land (Spektre Remix); Genix – Feel Love 2019; BBE – Seven Days One Week (Yotto Remix); GolgeniGirls – Kinetic (Genix Remix); SuReal – You Take my Breath Away (Lange Original Remix) and Count the Stars – Hannah Brine.