Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa have won the people choice award for National Geographic’s Adventurers of the year 2012. The duo first climbed Mount Everest, then launched a paraglider down and finally kayaked Ganges all the way to the Indian Ocean. Nearly 72,000 votes were cast.

Babu, 28, is a kayaker and paraglider, and Lakpa, 39, is a mountain guide. Babu had never done a high-altitude mountaineering expedition like this before. Though he had three Everest summits to his name before the expedition, Lakpa didn’t know how to swim or kayak. But they managed to achieve their “ultimate descent” through teamwork, and without the support of corporate sponsors. Read full story