USHPA Pilot Vol49-Iss3 May/Jun 2019

May/June 2019 Volume 49 Issue 3 $6.95 UNITED STATES HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION

The M7 is made with Zeno and Enzo 3 technology. It bridges the gap in our range between the Delta 3 and Zeno, with near-Zeno performance. Compared to the M6, it is a signiďŹ cant step up in performance especially in accelerated ight, but with better collapse recovery characteristics, reduced pilot workload, and more cohesion in turbulent air. In short, it's higher performance but also more comfortable. This is the ideal wing for experienced pilots stepping up to the D class who want the performance and pleasure of a modern 2-liner, but with more comfort, security, and conďŹ dence.

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Pilot: Mauricio Orozco Photo: Cody Tuttle

REGIONAL DIRECTORS 1 [ AK / OR / WA ] Matt Henzi, Owen Shoemaker 2 [ Northern CA / NV ] Jugdeep Aggarwal, Paul Gazis, Robert Booth 3 [ Southern CA / HI ] Ken Andrews, Larry Chamblee, Alan Crouse 4 [ AZ / CO / NM / UT ] Ken Grubbs, Neil Hansen Martin Palmaz, Executive Director executivedirector@ushpa.org Beth Van Eaton, Operations Manager office@ushpa.org Erika Klein, Communications Manager communications@ushpa.org Chris Webster, Information Services Manager tech@ushpa.org Galen Anderson, Membership Coordinator membership@ushpa.org OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Alan Crouse, President president@ushpa.org

ON THE COVER Josh Charles Flying mini-wings in Hawaii is an all-time experience.

Randall Shane, Vice President vicepresident@ushpa.org Ken Andrews, Secretary secretary@ushpa.org Mark Forbes, Treasurer treasurer@ushpa.org

5 [ ID / MT / WY / Canada ] Randall Shane 6&11 [ AR / KS / LA / MO / NE / OK / TX ] Tiki Mashy 7 [ IA / IL / IN / MI / MN / ND / SD / WI ] Doyle Johnson 8 [ CT / MA / ME / NH / RI / VT ] Mike Holmes 9 [ DC / DE / KY / MD / OH / PA / VA / WV ] Dan Lukaszewicz, Larry Dennis 10 [ AL / FL / GA / MS / NC / PR / SC / TN / VI ] Bruce Weaver, Kate Griffin, Matt Taber 12 [ NJ / NY ] Paul Voight DIRECTORS AT LARGE Mark Forbes Steve Rodrigues Greg Kelley Felipe Amunátegui Mitch Shipley EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR Art Greenfield (NAA)

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Inc. (USHPA) is an air sports organization affiliated with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), which is the official representative of the Fédération Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), of the world governing body for sport aviation. The NAA, which represents the United States at FAI meetings, has delegated to the USHPA supervision of FAI-related hang gliding and paragliding activities such as record attempts and competition sanctions. The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, a division of the National Aeronautic Association, is a representative of the Fédération Aeronautique Internationale in the United States.

For change of address or other USHPA business +1 (719) 632-8300 info@ushpa.org POSTMASTER USHPA Pilot ISSN 1543-5989 (USPS 17970) is published bimonthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80904 Phone: (719) 632-8300 Fax: (719) 632-6417 Periodicals Postage Paid in Colorado Springs and additional mailing offices. Send change of address to: USHPA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO, 80901-1330. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3.

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ENDLESS CHAIN | BEN WHITE

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Martin Palmaz, Publisher executivedirector@ushpa.org Nick Greece, Editor editor@ushpa.org / advertising@ushpa.org Greg Gillam, Art Director art.director@ushpa.org C.J. Sturtevant, Copy Editor copy@ushpa.org PHOTOGRAPHERS Jeff Shapiro

STAFF WRITERS Annette O’Neil Dennis Pagen Jeff Shapiro C.J. Sturtevant Ryan Voight

SUBMISSIONS from our members and readers are welcome. All articles, artwork, photographs as well as ideas for articles, artwork and photographs are submitted pursuant to and are subject to the USHPA Contributor's Agreement, a copy of which can be obtained from the USHPA by emailing the editor at editor@ushpa.org or online at www.ushpa.org. We are always looking for great articles, photography and news. Your contributions are appreciated.

ADVERTISING is subject to the USHPA Advertising Policy, a copy of which may be obtained from the USHPA by emailing advertising@ushpa.org.

COPYRIGHT ©2019 US HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING ASSOC., INC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of USHPA.

Flight Plan [ Editor > NICK GREECE ] The flying season is upon us and like kids looking forward to whatever holiday can get them out of school, the excitement is palpable. A thread on Facebook asking to “name your first wing” piqued a lot of interest from many recently. It is a glorious exercise for veterans as it immediately conjures up the thrilling and sublime feelings that many of us relate to the first blocks in our pyramids of learning. The crinkle of the new fabric, the perfect tune from the factory, the key life experiences of the early days of personal aviation, and the incredible community that we became a part of. As the season starts and we start to dip our toes back into the flying culture, think about the excitement of those early days and bring that to the hill. For those of you who are flying your first wing, all I can say, is these are the days, truly, and that the fastest way to progress is to thoroughly enjoy the stage of learning you are currently in.

This issue is a mixed bag, starting with a safety matrix created by Emiel Jansen. There are some real gems of ideas in this matrix, and I challenge every reader to check it out and see what part you can activate in your flying practice. Honza Rejmanek is back with a piece to warm everyone up for spring thermal action, and Dennis Pagen returns with a piece on how to fly together, paragliders and hang gliders. Ben White drops by with a work on how to maintain a happy disposition in the free-flight world. With so many competing A-type personalities, sometimes it’s possible to lose track of why we fly. C.J. Sturtevant reports from the Colombian skies, where air adventures await throngs of US pilots every year, and Patty Letona reports from Valle De Bravo, Mexico where a hang gliding Sport-class competition is starting to become a great part of many pilots’ year. With the Redbull X-Alps on the horizon, we thought we would highlight a few folks who are taking bivy to the next level. Ben Jordan reports back from a year-long effort to fly the Canadian Rockies, while Jake Hildebrand completes a stupendous solo traverse of the Colorado Trail in glorious style. We also hear from Kinga Masztalerz, who is preparing to crush the Redbull X-Alps, and takes a moment to discuss the Zen of bivy.

Whether you’re a 40-year veteran or just got signed off on your H2/P2, we wish you a safe, fun, exciting, and rewarding season. This magazine is a communal fire pit for all USHPA members, from beginners to experts, so please, send in your reports of all your adventures this year!

2019 May/June CONTENTS

14

8 9 34 62 64 65 66

FINDING LIFT AIRMAIL CENTERSPREAD RATINGS CLASSIFIED CALENDAR FINAL

10 SAFETY

16

3X3 Risk Reduction There are old pilots and bold pilots, but few old bold pilots.

by EMIEL JANSEN

14 PSYCHOLOGY

Pursuit of Happiness

24

How to take what's important from time under wing.

by BEN WHITE

42

16 TRAVEL

Colombia Flying, Safari Style Getting from here to there by air.

by C.J. STURTEVANT

36

48

24 ENDLESS CHAIN

42 ZEN of HIKE AND FLY

by BENJAMIN JORDAN

by KINGA MASZTALERZ

The Canadian Rockies bivy-flown, solo!

36 EL PEÑON CLASSIC

Sport-class racing in the land of big thermals and tacos that make you cry they're so good!

by PATRICIA LETONA

Kinga prepares for the Redbull X-ALPS

48 WINGING IT

The solo US Rockies bivy project

by JAKE HILDEBRAND

54 TRAINING

Thermaling in Mixed Company Can't we all just get along?

by DENNIS PAGEN 60 TRAINING

Spring Thermals

Engineering your environment for success.

by HONZA REJMANEK

HANG GLIDING AND PAR AGLIDING ARE INHERENTLY DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES

USHPA recommends pilots complete a pilot training program under the direct supervision of a USHPA-certified instructor, using safe equipment suitable for your level of experience. Many of the articles and photographs in the magazine depict advanced maneuvers being performed by experienced, or expert, pilots. These maneuvers should not be attempted without the prerequisite instruction and experience.

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USHPA PILOT 7

Zig-Zag 3D-Shaping

Internal Mini-Rib Seams

Double-B splits

Mini-Rib Vector Tape

Ergonomic brake handles

Optimised risers

MENTOR 6 – extend your range!

High-tech for the EN B Class For many years the MENTOR series has been synonymous with top performance in the EN B class. The MENTOR 6 continues this tradition and complements the strengths of its predecessors with a wealth of innovations. Even greater performance and even more fun in the air. Broaden your horizons with the new master in its class.

Three-liner – 59 cells – aspect ratio 5.43

i n f o @ s u p e r f l y i n c . c o m 8 01-2 5 5 - 9 5 9 5 8 6 83 S an d y Pk w y, S an d y, U T 8 4 070, USA

w w w. su p e r f l y i n c . co m

Finding Lift

[ Executive Director, USHPA > MARTIN PALMAZ ]

Finding Our Place

Fall Board Meeting October, 2019 Colorado Springs, CO Visit the website for further details and the most up-to-date information ushpa.org/boardmeeting

AIRS Accident/Incident Reporting System is standing by at airs.ushpa.org If you've been injured or experienced a close call, file a report today.

Dear Membership: Over the last handful of years in USHPA’s history, we’ve received a series of insistent reminders of a very important reality: USHPA exists within a greater ecosystem.

We exist in the context of insurance relationships; of FAA regulation; of changing climatic landscapes; of the shifting demographics that describe who flies and why. We also exist within a greater ecosystem of global free-flight organizations, and we’re working steadily towards building cultural and informational bridges between ourselves and our sister organizations around the world.

Over the past eight months or so, we’ve been having international conference calls with the other major English-speaking free-flight organizations. Last fall, we had a call with New Zealand, Australia and Canada to brainstorm on our common issues and interests. We brought forward a few issues with which we’ve all been grappling: mini-wings; changes in membership; and different approaches to marketing the sport.

We’re looking to determine what efforts have been successful: especially, but not solely, our worldwide community’s efforts to grow our hang gliding contingent. We’ll aim to repeat those successful experiments on our own territory, calling on our Hang Gliding Work Group to integrate those findings to increase participation in hang gliding. Beyond this—and of particular interest—is the way we can all work together to collect survey information so we can begin to look at the trends, both nationally and internationally.

We’re currently working with our sister organizations to compile the survey questions

Airmail

[ Letters to the Editor ]

All AIRS reports are Bravo!! I just devoured the March/April issue! completely confidential.

For my first 35 years of HG I couldn’t wait to get the monthly mag. I would read it from cover to cover uninterrupted. My wife knew to give me the space when it showed up in the mail as I would be worthless anyway for a few hours. It was the next best thing to flying. I have always been an avid reader but must admit that over the last decade I have been distracted by other endeavors including the digital mindless media

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that will drive this effort. Since we’ll all have the same questions, we’ll be consistent, and we’ll start to see information that might be informative—age; generation; wing type; skill level; site; culture; demographics—the many data points that will help us create a well-fleshed-out snapshot of our sport.

Not only will that give us a better sense of the baseline information that we need to be able to determine trends, but we’ll start to populate the database with information that can help us analyze more deeply. Once retrieved, that data will be analyzed by a pilot who works in data analytics and volunteers with us at USHPA. The pursuit of intense, insightful data analysis has been part of our strategic plan for a while, and we’re excited to see the fruits of that effort.

As it stands, I’m personally excited to explore these new horizons. When this goes to press, I’ll be taking some vacation time and heading to the board meeting of the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada in Vancouver, to share ideas, show support and be a ready resource for any discussion in which my experience can contribute. HPAC’s Executive Director, Margit Nance, has been to several USHPA meetings over the years and our close relationship has been beneficial for both our organizations.

In context of all this, I’d like to offer you, the membership, my sincere thanks for being part of this ever-expanding ecosystem. As always, we deeply appreciate your confidence, your support and your collaboration.

Blue skies, Martin Palmaz Executive Director, USHPA

that consumes even the best at times. Then today I picked up this issue. From Sandia to Commodore and then Patagonia to Buffalo followed by Cape Cod and ending in the Green Swamp I felt like I was on a heavy trip from my youth! The authors were superb and so were you putting this all together. Thanks for catching my attention again.

Larry Bunner, USHPA # 23267

USHPA PILOT 9

CALL FOR REGIONAL DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS GOLD AWARD LANCE MERRILL

Do you know someone who... #41443, obtained his ... is passionate about hang gliding and paragliding? H5 and a Gold Safety ... has a desire to help with the protection and growth of free-flight aviation? Award. ... can both create goals to achieve their ideas and then follow through on them?

ERRATA

Then please nominate him or her for the BOARD of DIRECTORS of USHPA! You may also nominate yourself. However, please only nominate people in your A number of ratings region. (You do not need to re-nominate current directors.) were erroneously The board of directors is the cornerstone of the US Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. Directors are the mouthpiece of the members that they represent and for the sports of hang gliding and paragliding. The USHPA wants and needs participation in this process. Requirements include: • • • •

Travel to Board meetings twice yearly (some expenses reimbursed) Interaction with committees Participation in open-discussion forums Representation of the members in the region Submit your nomination BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1st at

https://www.ushpa.org/page/call-for-nominations

ommitted from magazine listings.

Congratulations to SHAWN CHARRON, region 10, Tennessee.

P2 received from Alejandro Albornoz in July 2018.

Congratulations to BRYANT SLADE, region 9, Pennsylvania. H1 received from Lukas Noah Shaanon in October 2018.

3X3 Risk Reduction Tool

[ contributed by EMIEL JANSEN ]

There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are few old, bold pilots.

SA F E T Y

Are mountains dangerous? Of course not.

They only pose a risk if we decide to turn the landscape into an airfield and engage in risky activities. The level of risk for you as a hang glider or paraglider pilot depends on your interaction with your environment. Because of the many factors involved, it is hard to make an objective analysis of risk without an objective measuring tool We present this tool: the 3x3 Risk Reduction.

Models for risk reduction are not new.

Off-piste skiers and snowboarders use Werner Munter’s 3x3 method to assess avalanche danger. With this method, one always makes a choice in a step-by-step plan that leads to a “Go” or “No Go.” The problem with our sport is that we do not have an “emergency exit” once we are in the air. Where an off-piste skier often can choose to descend a slope that has a different orientation or less steep terrain, we cannot land on a ridge or tree branch just to calm down and have a look at the risk-reduction model. But we are given important moments when choice is possible, before and during the flight. We re-wrote Munter’s model for para and hang gliding, and I think it will help you recognize those moments of choice that will allow you to make an informed decision, once you are familiar with the system.

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The 3X3 Tool

The model presents three sets of factors in three different phases: During the planning and execution of the flight, a distinction is made between the following three phases: 1. Planning at home, with maps, area description, weather forecasts, YouTube and webcams 2. Observation at the site, such as checking out landing spots and circumstances, reading the site rules 3. Decisions during the flight, including the changing (weather) conditions and accessibility of landing sites.

At each of these three phases you evaluate the following three factors (3x3): 1. Meteo, including aspects such as wind strength, wind direction, etc.

2. Geo, including aspects such as landing-field obstructions, downwind terrain, etc.

3. Pilot, including aspects such as health, peer pressure, competition pressure, etc.

Meteo consists of the expected weather conditions. You will not be surprised that the meteorological conditions, and their unpredictability, pose great risk in our sport. Think of an unexpected wind gradient during the landing, or a developing storm cloud on your XC route.

Using the tool: In phase 1, get information from the weather forecast at basecamp; in phase 2, view the situation from the start and landing spots; and in phase 3, keep an eye on the weather during the flight.

Geo concerns the condition of the terrain that changes per location and during flight.

Analyze what possibilities and what dangers lie in wait. Imagine confronting a rotor, windy gaps with a lot of sink, or a sloping landing field. Visualize them, in all three phases.

Pilot refers not only to you, but also to the group you are traveling with, the locals you meet and your equipment. It would be wise to check each other, both physically and mentally. Again, you should think of the individuals in all three phases.

By consciously making a good decision regarding these three factors at three different

USH PA PILOT 11

phases (3x3), a pilot can prevent the risk of an incorrect assessment and, therefore, eliminate a dangerous situation. Phase 1, the preparation and creation of a plan, can be done in peace at home by immersing yourself in information about the flight area, by viewing weather forecasts and webcams and making plans with your travel group. You can learn to make the right decisions at the flight site and in the air by practicing a lot (and preferably together) in the real world, going out with schools, and discussing the situation with experienced pilots.

nice flight because the circumstances seem a bit too “sporty,” especially when others take off and are high above you. It is also difficult for us to deviate from an existing plan; this is called ballistic thinking. After an hour-long journey to the starting place, the urge to fly is great. After all, your effort must be rewarded, right? If you are part of a group, the risk for the group also depends on the behavior and attitude of the group members (social interaction and group behavior). Inexperienced pilots often seem to lean on the knowledge, decisions, and actions of the most experienced pilot of the group. So the experienced pilot, whether he likes it or not, sets the example: If he feels The risk filter pressured to make a socially desirable decision With the 3x3 tool, risks can be analyzed in a in dubious circumstances, he may increase the simple and organized manner. The pilot then has to make an assessment of whether his/her risk for less experienced group members. As analysis leads to a Go or a No Go. The decision long as you are still on the ground with your process is illustrated in the diagram, using the flying buddies, you can jointly recite the 3x3 tool and help each other make a democratic same three factors: Meteo, Geo and Pilot. For “Go” or “No Go” decision. Once you are in the air, each factor, you can predict the risk by using you have to do it yourself. the 3x3 tool. Ideally, all three factors will be located in the green area. If one is in red, a crash is lurking, with only luck serving as Risk is personal the safety-net to prevent it. An example: You Many pilots faithfully do their checks and bought a new, more advanced glider that you have their own method for risk management. aren’t familiar with. As a result, the factor of Yet quite a lot of accidents happen, not only Pilot is burdened with risks in the red wedge among students, but also among experienced (new glider and upgraded performance). What pilots. That developing black sucking storm cloud makes no distinction between the seasoned overland pilot that you are (or think you are) and the clumsy pilot who keeps on getting in your way at takeoff. The way in which you take responsibility for your own behavior determines your safety. Recognizing risk, making decisions, and acting on them is often made difficult by making incorrect observations and/or assessments, stress, and peer pressure. It is also possible that you have set the bar too high. In almost all air accican you do to reduce this risk? Consciously dents, the pilot indicates afterwards that the choose extra safety in the other factors of accident could have been prevented if he had Meteo and Geo: Go to the safest flight spot for done something, not done something, or done that day, and do not settle for less than ideal something different. Experience, knowledge weather conditions. and expertise, and behavior and risk-appetite So, in each of the three phases, consider all are all decisive factors. If you want to fly with aspects of the three factors in the diagram. minimal risk, you must learn to recognize and anticipate your personal risks and weaknesses.

No method or checklist can ensure that you Fly fever will fly safely 100% of the time. The 3x3 methThe reason we sometimes, consciously or unconsciously, take greater risks than are healthy od presented here is a tool, but certainly not a for us is human nature. It is not fun to miss a sacred checklist.

󲢫 The experienced pilot, whether he likes it or not, sets the example: If he feels pressured to make a socially desirable decision in dubious circumstances, he may increase the risk for less experienced group members. 󲢻

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BEN WHITE

PSYCHO LO GY

We live in a world that is not inherently risk-free, so ideally, a decisionmaking process should lead a paraglider pilot to a feeling of happiness.

The Pursuit of Happiness

[by BEN WHITE ]

Happiness is a day under the wing.

Pilots are drawn to paragliding for many reasons. Walk up to somebody who just landed, after even a very short flight, and ask: “Why do you do that? Would you do it again?” And the myriad of answers given by all pilots ultimately boils down to this: “I am happy when I fly.” According to “The Psychological Causes of Happiness,” a paper published by Oxford professors of psychology Michael Argyle and Maryanne Martin, “Happiness may have three, partly independent components: (1) the frequency and degree of positive affect, or joy, (2) the average level of satisfaction over a period, and (3) the absence of negative feelings, such as depression and anxiety.”

Flying comes with its ups and downs, sometimes in spikes. According to the thesis presented by the Oxford professors, aiming for a high frequency of high-quality flying, without too many anxious points in a pilot’s career, is probably the best formula. From experience, we all know that being able to fly every day, or even three days a week, requires really good luck with the weather, a very comprehensive skill set, or both. There is nothing anyone can do about the weather, but one can develop his or her skill set.

Bill Belcourt, North American paragliding legend, 14 US H PA P I LOT

says (the fact that) “…you will be learning and expanding your horizons is a key ingredient to happiness.”

It can be difficult to sort out where happiness should be sought, since so many variables are involved in a single flight. But these variables generally fall into one of four categories.

Happiness in the Plan

More often than not, pilots devise a plan before a flight. Planning to fly in a certain type of weather at a certain site or over certain terrain can arouse a variety of feelings. For example, a new launch, slightly stronger conditions, a crosswind, a tighter landing zone, mandatory places to make glide, and other factors can create anxiety.

Introducing some of these factors incrementally over time can help one avoid spikes of anxiety.

Isolating some of these factors at a home site is a great way to learn and expand horizons—while you are maintaining a happy familiarity at your home base.

Happiness in the Paraglider or Hang Glider

Gear choices are tangible items that might affect happiness. We get a (limited) choice in glider color, but hopefully, we’ll look at our favorite

USH PA PILOT 15

color above our heads. After a few flights, looking at the glider on the living room floor should elicit some kind of feeling. A warm, fuzzy one is ideal, making it easy to stop and pick it up, throw it in the car, and be ready for what the day provides. Trading the happiness that comes with knowing an EN-A glider will take care of its user in a dire situation for the happiness that is the thrill of a hotter, faster glider must also take into account the anxiety that might spike during a less-than-enjoyable situation. When the feeling of throwing gear into the car is more anxious than happy, or a bike is being reached for rather than a glider on a perfect flying day, it is probably time to consider taking a step back and borrowing more mellow gear to regain the magical feeling of flying.

Happiness in the People

Beginning to fly is a daunting endeavor. Choosing the right instructor is important. If options are available, choosing an instructor that elicits a good feeling is more important than choosing an instructor recommended by a friend. Investing an incredible amount of time, energy, and trust in someone in the beginning stages of a flying career might as well be done with someone who warrants it. The same can be said about who is in the car on the way to launch and who drives retrieve. Most individuals are acting in their own best interests, but some people tend to cause more anxiety than others. Feeling as if you’ve dialed 9-1-1 when someone is around is probably a good indicator that it’s time to hang with a different crew. Flying is a game of adventure, and sometimes things go wrong. The way that people react to the adventure and debrief afterwards is probably the best metric for deciding whether to fly with them again in the near future or wait a while.

experience much more enjoyable. Show up to launch fed and hydrated with snacks to share.

Feeling secure about the rest of your life is not always possible, but feeling secure about the plan, the equipment, and the people around you can make a huge difference. While flying is largely an individual activity, being part of the local club and part of any kind of paragliding-

󲢫 Most individuals are acting in their own best interests, but some people tend to cause more anxiety than others. 󲢻 oriented social event is something we can all do.

The self-esteem step on the pyramid is closely tied to social belonging. Boosting the self-esteem of others in the flock by paying compliments, asking question, seeking information, and giving high fives is one of the best parts of our flying culture. Ideally, after moving up to the top of the pyramid, pilots can utilize their skills and fly off into endless bliss.

We do not live in a perfect world. As Chris Santacroce says, “It is easy to skip all of the items in the happy category on a given day.” After all, a wing does not care about gratitude; it only cares about the laws of aerodynamics. But Cody Mittanck, 2019 Red Bull X-Alps participant-to-be, offers the advice that “…happiness while flying is fundamental” and “…it’s easy to associate happiness in flying with numbers and results.”

Cody has been known to post big-number miles and low-number results and has found that happiness must be “consciously maintained.” He continues, “I’m really making an effort to enjoy the process of improvement and recognize what a privilege it is to pursue it.”

AUDRAY LUCK

Happiness in the Pilot

Everyone has basic needs that must be fulfilled in order to maintain a happy and positive disposition. Abraham Maslow, a Columbia psychology professor, put forth a hierarchy of needs in 1943. At the bottom were basic needs, such as sustenance and shelter, followed by feelings of security, social belonging, self-esteem, and, at the tip of the pyramid, utilization of talents and seeking of happiness. Walking up the pyramid before, during, and after a flight can make the entire

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USH PA PILOT 17

Colombia Flying, Safari Style

[ Staff Writer > C.J. STURTEVANT ]

A air-tour of rural Colombia is just the ticket for winter blues.

We Northwest pilots are fortunate to enjoy some of the finest summer flying conditions anywhere in the US, but by the time Halloween rolls around the good times are getting scarce.

It’s time to get the heck out of here!

A poll of our local pilots’ favorite “winter escape” destinations would yield few surprises. Mexico probably ranks #1; it’s our nearest neighbor to the south, it’s cheap, and there are lots of potential destinations and flying sites.

But Colombia is a close second: It’s a ways farther than Mexico, but it’s equally inexpensive, and if you’re on the east side of the US, you don’t even change time zones!

Most Colombia-bound pilots end up around Roldanillo, a delightful paragliding mecca in the wide Cauca valley, where XC options are plentiful, and LZs are conveniently sprinkled along the typical XC routes. George and I did

a Roldanillo destination trip back in 2014, and while we make a point of not re-visiting our foreign flying destinations, we never quite got around to erasing Colombia from our “potential winter escapes” list.

But then something happened that immediately bumped Colombia right up to the top of our list. Our newly discovered favorite tour guides, Mike and Toby from Passion Paragliding, were offering a “safari-style” trip in the Cauca valley, starting up near Medellin and, over the course of two weeks, working down the valley to near Cali, spending a couple or a few days in six lovely hotels/resorts and flying from eight different sites along the route. If you’re a pilot who appreciates the opportunity to really get to know a site and figure out how to max its potential, then this may not be the format for you, but if you enjoy the challenges

ABOVE Simon at Cordoncillo. Photo by Mike Agnew.

OPPOSITE Our vans couldn’t make it up the steep, rocky road to Pantanillo launch. Instead, we rode in style in this lavishly decorated chiva.

Photo by Toby Colombe

of new sites and landing zones, and the fun of exploring new territory, then this “safari flying” may be your dream vacation.

Who Goes on a Passion Paragliding Trip?

Mike and Toby are Brits, but they draw clients from around the world. On this adventure we had four pilots from the Pacific Northwest (Jan, Jim, George and me), Wilo and Wayne from Australia, and the rest were Brits (Rob, Charles, Garth, Frank, Dave, Bill, Graham, Steve and Simon, plus Simon’s wife, our wonderful non-flying photographer, Barbara). George and I have become accustomed to being the geezers of our flying tour groups, but really, we weren’t all that much older than many of the rest of the guys this time, with only a couple of actual youngsters in the mix. Aside from Barbara, I was the only woman on the tour.

BELOW Trudging up the 100+ steps to launch at Los Tanques, at Roldanillo.

We trudged back down, in the cloud, a few hours later. Photo by C.J. .

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two days based in the little town of Santa Elena before busing to Cali for our flights home.

So, that was the itinerary. Our group ranged in skill and interest level from gung-ho XC pilots, through limited-experience XC hopefuls to rusty-skilled pilots who, having not flown for months or even years, were looking to the Passion Paragliding guys to help them get tuned up for the upcoming season back home.

Some of us had flown in Colombia (mainly in the Roldanillo area) previously, many had not.

Toby and Mike, along with local guide Nico, made it work for all of us.

Safari flying

Bill from England (“not the UK, as everyone else in the world seems to think of us,” he pointed out) has been flying paragliders for a little over six years and has accumulated about 250 hours of flight time. He’s flown in Colombia Expectations, and some cool surprises: a couple of times before and admits he’s “quite hooked on the place—it has so much potential A true “it’s a small world” moment happened for great flying and is such a friendly place right off at our first gathering: “For me,” says that I think it will have a spot on my mustGraham, “the most memorable bit from this fly list every year for some time to come.” He trip was the first morning, recognizing a face, found the safari format of this trip particurealizing that it was Dave, my buddy from our forces days. After serving with him throughout larly appealing. Having the opportunity to fly the Falklands conflict in 1982 we lost touch at new-to-him sites “showed me that there is when he left the Marine Air Squadron to more to the Cauca valley than just a huge, wide continue his training. First time I had seen him valley with mountains either side—the landsince, didn’t even know he was a paraglider scape around Jerico and La Pintada is much pilot. The rum flowed…” more varied and, to me, much more beautiful.”

As for flying expectations, all of us knew we’d He, like most of us, appreciated the mellow be logging a lot more airtime in our two-week conditions: “It isn’t too lively a start after a bit safari than we’d get if we’d stayed home. But of a break from paragliding over the winter.” the “safari” concept was a new one for most of Rob lives “on the edge of London, not an us, so it was with great anticipation that we ideal location for much UK flying,” he laments, gathered for our first group briefing. “Here’s and learned to fly back in 2001; since then he’s the plan,” Toby began, while handing out the clocked up about 750 hours of airtime, from obligatory paperwork. We were in Medellin, coastal soaring to high-mountain XC. This the northern end of our safari route, but, Toby was his first trip to Colombia, and to South explained, we’d drive a bit farther north on this America, which, he says, is “the fifth continent first day for an attempt to fly back towards over which my paraglider has carried me.” It Medellin before loading the vans and heading was mainly the safari-style format of this trip south, toward Jerico, the following day. From that drew him to this tour. “Clearly, staying Jerico, we’d fly toward (or, ideally, to) La Pintada, in Roldanillo for a fortnight would mean a lot where we’d have several days in a luxurious less travelling and potentially a fair bit more resort (with a swimming pool!) from which XC flying,” he points out, adding “I might take we’d explore the area from a couple of sites, that option in the future.” But for a first visit, one a long drive WAY deep into the mountains he felt, the safari format was perfect, “because with the goal back at La Pintada’s huge, flat LZ. it included both the popular flying areas in the Then on to La Union, our base for five days in south as well as a variety of lesser-known sites the “usual” Colombia XC area, and ending with to the north. Plus,” he adds, “having been on

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many adventures with Passion Paragliding, I knew that Toby and Mike would deliver on the logistics as well as the fun factor.”

Simon has been flying for 30 years, done a bit of competing, and has “been up through the wing grades and now back down to a Chili 4, as I only fly 50 hours a year or so” these days. He and Barbara especially enjoy exploring new territory, so the safari format appealed to them, and they tacked on a few extra tourist days at each end of the trip to check out Medellin and Cali.

Jim has been flying paragliders for 20 years, with a couple thousand logged flights and 1800 hours; this was his third trip to Colombia. “It’s a place that is hard not to fall in love with,” he declares. “The sites are gorgeous and the thermals are friendly, resulting in so much potential for extended flights both in time and distance. Coupling that with affordable living and very friendly people makes this a trip that I think anyone would enjoy. And the safari style of tour means you’ll always be introduced to something new.” He lists as his most memorable “something new”—and probably a once-in-a-lifetime—experience: landing at an active gold mine. “The workers were very friendly,” he reports, “although not enough to provide us with any samples. They hiked out with us, gave us water at the end of our hike, and were good company as we waited for our retrieve bus to arrive.”

George and I chose this trip partly because we’d had a blast with Passion Paragliding on last summer’s vacation in Macedonia and Spain, and also because we were excited about getting to fly a bunch of new sites during our NW no-fly season. We were not disappointed!

But it wasn’t all love from the get-go: After our orientation on that first day we drove a couple hours north to Sopetran, hoping to fly at least partway back to our base at Medellin.

But conditions were not conducive to XC that day, and we ended up with a looong bus ride in heavy traffic back to our hotel. “It did shake the cobwebs out,” Simon admits, and to his mind the additional time we spent in the

ABOVE The last steep bit to Ansermanuevo launch was accessible only by jeep or feet.

BELOW Agua Panela, above Roldanillo, where many of our group began their best XC flights.

Photos by Barbara St. Aubyn.

ABOVE Looking across the Cauca valley from Jerico—we launched both from the slope on the left, and near the orange-roofed building on the right.

BELOW Steve ends his two-week Colombia safari with a fun flight from this green, grassy slope at Piedechinche.

Photos by Barbara St. Aubyn.

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bus over the two-week tour was “more than offset by the variety of our flying-site locations.”

Old dogs, new tricks, setting goals

Toby had assured us that the launches at all the sites we’d be flying were big, grassy slopes suitable for rusty-skills pilots, and he was not exaggerating. What he hadn’t figured in, though, was the weird weather conditions that often left us with surprisingly little help from the typical upslope breeze, meaning we were forward launching at high altitude in light to nil wind. Launch slopes that looked perfect for reverse-inflation conditions appeared intimidatingly flat in zero wind. Several of us were distressed to discover our no-wind launch skills sorely in need of improvement, and were grateful for tips from Mike and Toby to help us get airborne with a minimum of stress. Equally stress-lessening was the patience and support of our fellow pilots who didn’t rush each other to get off the hill in less-than-ideal conditions.

On one weathered-out day the whole group went to a little training hill near Zarzal, where Mike and Nico provided one-on-one critiques on our nil-wind forward-launch technique along with concrete suggestions on how to improve our success and lower our stress. It was hot, and sticky, but most everyone got into the game of seeing who could glide the farthest from this mini-bump in a cow pasture.

And although all of us were relatively experienced pilots, each of us discovered some surprising holes in our paragliding knowledge base. Simon, for instance, has done thousands of landings in his long paragliding career, but when he overheard Toby offering suggestions to one of the less-experienced pilots, Simon

quickly tuned in. “I’d never heard of using a mental ‘window’ – i.e. an area on the edge of the landing field through which you make your final approach,” he realized. “I’d not thought of landings in those terms before.

It’s easier to picture the window when you examine a landing field with a known wind direction before the flight, but,” he expects, “it’ll be relevant on XC flights, too.”

Bill came to Colombia feeling somewhat frustrated with his flying over the past couple of years. “I’ve been flying OK and have been safe,” he says, “but I’ve not been making the most of the conditions or the places I’ve been flying. On this trip, though, I had a bit of a breakthrough. Now I remind myself that, first of all, I’m paragliding to enjoy myself, so stop thinking about how long I’m in the air or how far I’ve flown—concentrate more on enjoying the flight and the fabulous scenery that we get to see from a vantage point that most people will never experience! Everything works better when I’m more relaxed, and I’m more relaxed if I’m enjoying the flight rather than worrying about staying up or going farther.” For the last couple of years, Bill’s only flying has been on trips abroad, resulting in far too few flights and hours in the air. He’s set a goal: “to get back into flying at home, partly just for the fun of it, but also to stay more current.”

Favorite flying memories:

None of us found it easy to pick one “favorite” flight. Jim, reflecting back on his thousands of flights, concludes, “They’re all pretty special... and fun! I’m driven by the love and challenge of the sport. There are always some highly skilled pilots on these tours and I enjoy watching them perform, trying to learn how to

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improve my own performance.”

Rob had numerous memorable flights this trip on his seven-year-old Aspen; one of his favorites was on our last flying day, at Piedechinche. “I was almost resigned to another bomb-out in the cloud shadow until I saw some birds circling on the far side of the bail-out LZ,” he recalls. “I was only about 100’ above the ground as I dived over to join them, but was rewarded with an initially slow climb which eventually took me all the way up to the clouds.” Rob was one of the few who “made goal” that day, flying back to land next to our hotel in Santa Elena.

George’s favorite flight was the one he never managed to get on our last trip to Colombia, back in 2014, and, like Rob’s, this one started out with a low save. We were at the Agua Panela launch, which is back, behind and below the El Pico launch above Roldanillo. We had to wait until the 150 pilots in the British Open had launched—it didn’t take them long—but, George says (tongue-in-cheek), “by the time I got off most of the best lift been used up. I caught a lucky low save out near the last big power line and climbed back up high enough to cross the small city of Roldanillo without having to use the bailout LZ in the soccer stadium(!). There was more lift under the clouds near the ultralight airstrip alongside the road to Zarzal, which got me across the Cauca River.

Low again over a rough area in the south of Zarzal, I scratched back up high enough to continue south along the toll road toward our next destination, Piedechinche, my best-ever Colombia XC flight.”

Meanwhile, I was having a memorable flight of another sort. I had to wait for just a teeny

bit of an upslope breeze to get off safely, but I never managed to connect with any of the lift that the other pilots were riding to cloudbase. Instead, I had an epic “piano” flight—you know, the one where your flight path is almost exactly that of a piano pushed out the window: WHOMP, right straight to the ground. I did manage to glide out beyond those power

ABOVE Wayne at An- lines where George got his low save, and just sermanuevo. Photo by squeaked in to a huge plowed field, where I Barbara St. Aubyn. found Dave already mostly packed up. We

trudged out together in the baking sun across that field, through some pastureland, and into a backyard, grateful to find our driver and the air-conditioned van waiting for us on the other side of a locked gate. Getting over that locked gate was one last interesting challenge at the end of this interesting day, but that’s another story…

Luckily the rest of my logbook entries from Colombia are tagged with smiley-face icons— it’s impossible to pick just one favorite! Maybe it was (finally!) getting on course and tagging the towers after getting way too low right after launch at Cordoncillo. Or maybe it was playing near the clouds with Rob at Piedechinche and (with more optimism than good sense) following him out across the flats toward Santa Elena.

I lost him, and the lift, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, landed in a field of baby sugar canes, and tested my rudimentary Spanish on a local worker to figure out the best route through the locked gates to the main road. It’s all good!

Introspections and observations

Simon, who’s been paragliding for decades, found flying with this group of gray-haired pilots encouraging: “It made me realize that I still have many years left in this sport.” He was particularly impressed with Jim, who consistently flew the longest and farthest of any of us, yet, points out Simon, Jim “would be first to admit he is no spring chicken.”

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No-spring-chicken Jim enjoys the convenience and structure of a tour group, and appreciates Passion Paragliding’s focus on expanding each client’s knowledge and skills: “When the weather is not cooperating,” Jim points out, “Toby is always willing to give a lecture and/or analyze a flight to help us become better pilots”—a reminder that wherever we are in our flying, there’s always more to learn.

Rob, one of the younger pilots in the group, states what we all know: There’s more to a paragliding tour than the flying. “I keep thinking back to the first flying day, at Sopetrán, packing up in the heat, then walking up the track to find the bar,” he says. “I think the whole group was there, enjoying several beers, cake and fresh empanadas in what appeared to be someone’s back yard. I just knew it was going to be a great two weeks!” And so it was.

Charles, who’d flown his paraglider only occasionally in the past couple of years, was the most rusty-skilled of all of us at the start of the trip, but over the two weeks of flying almost every day, we were all witness to the gains he made in confidence and technique.

His XC flight from Agua Panela near the end of the trip, where he made it past Roldanillo and partway to Zarzal before landing at the ultralight airstrip, offered tangible proof of his progress over the two-week safari.

For most of us, the smooth conditions in Colombia were ideal for re-connecting with our wings and equipment after a long winter’s hiatus. Simon especially appreciated the opportunity to “work on speed-bar technique without worrying about keeping the wing

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open. Normally I’m well into a flight before I settle down, but that wasn’t the case here—I felt very comfortable on every flight, presumably because we were flying day after day.”

For many years George and I (who are even farther beyond spring-chickenhood than Jim) would do our foreign flying on our own or with a group of our local flying buddies. But over time we’ve become addicted to the low-stress convenience of a guided tour; Passion Paragliding’s style is our latest fave. I rely on help with schlepping my gear up steep hills, and appreciate knowing that wherever I end my flight, I’ll (eventually) be delivered back to our home base, no dodgy rides on motorcycles or in donkey-drawn carts required.

Some take-aways

This seems like a good time to point out what Toby kept reminding us NOT to take home with us: being comfortable flying close to clouds. Colombian clouds are so well behaved that, even when they look potentially dangerous, they rarely-to-never produce gust fronts, or serious cloud suck, or thunderstorms. It’s re-

ally fun to thermal up alongside a tall cumulus cloud in Colombia—but I have no intention of getting that up-close-and-personal with any of our back-home-in-the-USA clouds!

If you’ve ever escaped your local winter to find sunshine and thermals in some foreign soaring, you already know this: Those first rowdy thermals of spring seem so much less intimidating when it’s only been weeks, rather than months, since your last flight. All of us on this tour came home with a renewed passion for paragliding, as well as plenty of fond memories of the people and places and experiences we enjoyed on this two-week vacation.

As I compose this article in early March, I’m looking out my window at the still-lingering remnants of our amazing “snowpocalyptic” storm that began on the day we got home from Colombia and continued for a week, eventually burying our little town under almost three feet of snow that, a month later, still hasn’t melted.

I couldn’t have asked for a better assignment than to invest hours each day immersed in the stories and photos from our sunny safari in Colombia!

TEA CHING THE W ORLD TO FLY SINCE 1974

EXPERIENCE MORE

O U T E R B A N K S , N O RT H C A R O L I N A 1 . 8 7 7 . F LY.T H I S • K I T T Y H A W K . C O M

HANG GLIDING • PARAGLIDING • POWERED PARAGLIDING • GEAR AND ACCESSORIES

CHARLESTOWN, NEW HAMPSHIRE 6 0 3 . 5 4 2 . 4 4 1 6 • F LY M O R N I N G S I D E . C O M

Ben Jordan is back with a year-long project to solo bivy-fly the Canadien Rockies.

ENDLESS CHAIN

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BENJAMIN JORDAN

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J

asper is the only national park in North America that allows paraglider travel. Despite this, its remoteness and mystery have caused most pilots to steer away from her vast potential. Over the past couple of years, I became fascinated with Jasper’s diverse terrain, and last summer I began obsessing over the idea of becoming the first person to fly her crown jewel.

The Endless Chain is an unmistakable series of unbroken peaks, stretching along a razor-thin, 25km ridgeline and, with its perfect, southwestern aspect, appears to be one of the most straightforward sections of Canada’s Rockies to free fly. So why hasn’t anyone flown it?

ABOVE Committed wilderness flights like this one over the great divide (via Howse Pass) always create an augmented level of anxiety for me. Simultaneously, I can be swept away by the pristine beauty of the planet beneath me long enough to reset and regain control of my nerves. OPPOSITE Chain Ridge.

That’s what I was on a mission to find out.

When I first learned that humans could travel great distances by paraglider, I imagined becoming the first person to float down the entire spine of Canada’s pristine Rocky Mountains.

Ironically, the more I learned about the sport, the more distant that dream became. Because of their remoteness, unpredictable weather systems, and sheer butt-puckering size, I spent the first decade of my piloting career running

󲢫 The farther I flew northwest, the more I realized why so few Rocky Mountain flights had gone in this direction. Like a proud man unwilling to ask for directions, I finally became aware that I was going in the wrong direction. 󲢻

from them—flying as far as I could from my country’s legendary, rocky backyard.

Two summers ago that changed, when I mustered up the courage to fly, volbiv, from the city of Vancouver, BC, to Calgary, Alberta. This 39-day, 1000-km trip crossed the entire span of Canada’s southwestern mountain ranges, ultimately leading to the final hurdle, Canada’s Rocky Mountains and my first crossing of the Continental Divide.

Contemplating that fateful west-toeast flight across the Rockies aroused in me a sort of stimulus overload. Feelings of terror, amazement and pride all flooded my senses, then spat me out on the other side, with their majesty leaving me feeling just as grand as they are.

Fast forward two years. I’m walking across the border from Montana into British Columbia, about to grab my long-lost dream by the horns. The plan:

TOP The very millisecond before I set out on my first flight from the Montana border, committing to 50 days of non-stop adventure! MIDDLE LEFT I am not the best paraglider, outdoorsman or mountaineer and it is humbling moments like this one, just east of Banff National Park, that I can put all of that into perspective and ask myself: “Can I do this? Is it worth it?” MIDDLE RIGHT I once lived in a city and showered every single day.

By the end of this 50-day expedition, I’ll have taken two snow baths and jumped in a river once, and never with soap. In general, this felt like the right thing to do­­—except when I needed to enter a store to buy food. BOTTOM When I was younger I had often dreamt of walking on the moon. Now that I’ve spent three straight days on the rocky, lifeless surface of Mt Hensley I no longer feel this urge.

OPPOSITE TOP Although I had hoped to reach the Robson Valley, some 80 km west of Jasper town, strong valley winds at the pass prompted an early landing at Yellowhead Lake, just east of the British Columbia/Alberta border. While at first I contended with a fair degree of disappointment, I soon realized that I had achieved my goal of becoming the first person to free-fly across Jasper National Park and subsequently, the first to soar from east to west across Canada’s continental divide. My great fortune came into vivid perspective. BOTTOM At the continental divide, Yellowhead Lake marked the headwaters of the Fraser River, which flowed west to the Robson Valley and then headed North to Prince George, my final destination.

to take the first-ever northbound route straight up the spine of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, leading me from the United States all the way to Prince George, the capital of Northern BC. If I succeed, this will become the first and only expedition to cross the Continental Divide 26 US H PA P I LOT

twice, as well as the first complete crossing of Jasper National Park and the longest ever vol-biv in the Americas.

Did I have something to prove? You bet I did! But what, was anyone’s guess.

Not knowing what lay ahead, I strutted my stuff up the first logging road I

could find and, after a full day of bushwhacking through cut blocks and forest, reached the top of the ridge and my very first launch. The first few flights were sensational. I’d never flown along the southern end of the Rocky Mountain Trench. I found the most demanding aspect was having to constantly wipe drool from my mouth, leaving me permanently agape at the ever-changing wonders of Mother Nature.

But the farther I flew northwest, the more I realized why so few Rocky Mountain flights had gone in this direction.

Like a proud man unwilling to ask for directions, I finally became aware that I was going in the wrong direction. While I enjoyed a southern tailwind for the first 120 km, everything north of that was either west, north, or a combination

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of the two, slowing my average speed and shortening my glides.

Progress was slow and I was becoming increasingly hard on myself. My flights were shorter than expected; some days the headwind was so strong I couldn’t fly at all. After about two weeks, I’d flown only 250 km of my 1200km goal and felt I’d sealed my fate by committing to this northbound line.

And though the going was

tough, I felt a renewed sense of confidence when I arrived in the familiar setting of Golden, BC, and re-stocked supplies in preparation for my first major flight from Mt Seven, east over the Continental Divide.

While waiting out a series of storms, I

Once a major fur-trade route and an important source of sustenance for First Nations people, the Athabasca River originates from Jasper National Park and is Cree for “where there are plants one after another.”

󲢫 As I began to sing in their language, more squirrels appeared. In harmony, we chirped as I made my coffee and packed up my tent. Today was going to be a big day, and my cheerleaders were out in full force. 󲢻

Vol-biv expeditions can be exhausting, especially when one lands in the valley and needs to be back up in the alpine before solar heating begins the following day. For this reason, I generally choose to hike through the night and sometimes end up stopping due to fatigue in less-than-ideal camping spots.

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benefited from some rest in the alpine, but after a few days, I’d exhausted all methods of entertaining myself alone on a mountaintop and couldn’t wait to face the challenges ahead. Flying 20 km north of Golden at about 300 m over the highest peaks, I looked at the committed 50km, no-landing line I’d planned to take over the Divide. There were no roads, fields or houses. The fear of becoming grizzly bait was real. I did everything I could to muster the courage to overcome it, but never succeeded.

Yes, the wind was west—but felt too strong. This meant that, if conditions didn’t feel right after flying even one quarter of the line, I’d have no guarantee of penetrating back west to the safe landing options of the Columbia Valley.

I would have a one-way ticket over the Divide, and the voices inside my head were screaming, This isn’t your day.

Choosing not to make this move was possibly the most challenging decision I’d ever had as a pilot. I knew many of

the pilots I looked up to would have been comfortable with these conditions, but in this defining moment, I had to step out of my body, look deep inside myself and come to grips with the fact that I am not one of those pilots. I am this pilot, and this pilot is turning around.

Back on top of the familiar settings of Mt Seven, the three following days of strong winds and passing storms were brutal. My mind began flipping like a cheeseburger, between being upset at myself for being a chickenshit and protecting myself from that condescending voice I knew all too well. Headwinds or tailwinds, strong as they may have been, it was becoming increasingly clear that the greatest challenge I would face on this journey would be none other than myself.

I did everything I could to keep busy with chores—fetching water, moving rocks and documenting just about all of it—anything to quiet the voices of crit-

ABOVE Paragliding is a weather dependent sport—but sometimes the weather craps out on you and when you’re on an expedition that means you have to chill. And while my skills as a paraglider may be up for debate, there is no argument that I have achieved a black belt in chill-fu. TOP I’d waited over one week for my chance and was about to Canada’s Great Divide! Three days earlier I’d gotten this far and turned back for fear of strong winds near the pass.

And though cloudbase was 200 m higher, west wind was still strong and reminded me that if I went any further, there would be no turning back.

icism running through my mind. The voices went all the way back to those of my grade-school bullies who ridiculed my red hair for eight unending years, or my grade-six crush, who handed my Valentine’s Day card back to me, before the entire class. Hard as it was to stomach, I realized that 20 years later, these voices of ridicule echoed a cry of truth I carried with me to this very day. And though I had been oblivious until now, I knew that it was these voices I aimed to pacify throughout my career of adventure and high acclaim.

It was in my darkest hour that I found a friend. As the sun peeked through a gap in the heavy cloud, an alpine squirrel popped its head out of the ground to sing its familiar song of cheep, cheep, cheep, in its seemingly simple dialect.

Cheep, cheep, I called back, pretending to understand. It returned my call, and this exchange continuted until the sun fell back behind the cloudy abyss, the squirrel returned to its hole, and I zipped myself up, back into the serenity of my down feathers and nylon tent.

That night I dreamed of flying in a gaggle of other pilots. Our teamwork in the sky made flying unknown terrain seem safer, and our

incremental successes, more satisfying.

I’d never flown with such absolute confidence and was making incredible progress, until I awoke to the sun beating on the eastern wall of my tent. From inside I could hear the call of the squirrel, but when I opened the vestibule I was taken aback by the sight of eight or nine squirrels, each standing outside its hole, each welcoming the return of the sun. I felt summoned to join their chorus and, as I began to sing in their language, more squirrels appeared. In harmony, we chirped as I made my coffee and packed up my tent. Today was going to be a big day, and my cheerleaders were out in full force.

As I flew back to that point of no return, I felt a strength within me I hadn’t recognized before. I looked around and realized that the wind and cloudbase were almost identical to my last flight, but somehow, the path over the Divide seemed obvious. The line I had mapped out in preparation was not safe, but when I calmly considered the conditions I’d been dealt, a new line emerged. I imagined a gaggle of flying squirrels, all heading in that direction, and pushed my speedbar to catch up. Together we climbed up from every peak and made the most of the swift glides to the next. We flew over

A smorgasbord of glaciers, alpine lakes and landslides, the backside of Yellowhead Mountain is a beautiful and quiet place. Though there are no trails headed here, I stumbled upon the remains of an old gold mining camp and imagined the challenge of reaching this point back at the turn of the 20th century.

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glaciers, alpine lakes and directly into the no-landing zone of Banff National Park. Where we were exactly, I didn’t know, but still, I felt confident that we would reach a safe landing across the far eastern border of the park.

Now in the province of Alberta, on the eastern side of the Great Divide, the strong west wind had switched to north, directly where we were headed.

Still, there was no doubt. Glides into strong rotor and lee-sides were intimidating, sometimes causing us to have to fly back south to regain the height we needed to try again. Together, the team was an unstoppable force, and after more than six incredible hours over more than 100 km of the wildest scenery, we touched down just outside of the park, along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River.

The following morning I awoke to the sounds of rapids and made my coffee from the white water raging past my doorstep. Torn between which ridge I should hike up in order to launch and begin my long wilderness flight north into Jasper, my new self-confidence began to dwindle. I had hoped the caffeine might kick in to make the choice for me. While studying the topo-map on my phone, I realized I’d gotten myself into the thick of the expedition, though,

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unlike yesterday, my cheerleaders were nowhere to be seen or heard.

Hastily, I chose to bushwack straight up the nearest ridge and, after about an hour of intense physical exertion, began to feel the day wasting away. What was I doing? Clouds were building, birds soaring, and my opportunities to fly on were passing like gas. Somehow, the great satisfaction that had been mine yesterday had toggled back to the stress and sense of non-belonging I’d known all too well.

Who the heck invited this guy? a voice in my head murmured. Real athletes would have hiked up here last night and been ready to face the day. Here I am rushing up a mountain in spandex tights, without a clue as to where I’m going!

I dropped my pack, sat to face the sun and ate spoonful upon spoonful of peanut butter. Good feelings came rushing back, my mind began to clear, and my heart was overcome by a sense of gratitude for how fortunate I was to have come this far. (Or maybe that was just the sugar and fat.) Either way, after my 15-minute break I became oddly cold and reached for my sweater. Just then, I noticed that beautiful cumulus clouds had begun towering and the skies to the north had become dark and ominous.

Thirty minutes later I was huddled in my tent, re-enforcing the sides with my arms for fear of its blowing down.

As the rain turned to hail, my sense of feeling small couldn’t have been more pronounced; in fact, I started to notice just how squirrel-like I’d become. We were all at the whim of Mother Nature: All of us hid in our holes when she became upset, and not one of us had bathed in god knows how long.

Days passed, and with them, electrical storms like I’d never seen. Alone in the alpine, I tried to stay positive but couldn’t help become increasingly worried about my dwindling food rations. In Golden, I’d re-stocked to my maximum capacity of 12 days of food, including three kilograms of peanut butter, 12 packs of ramen noodles and 500 grams of coffee. Now on my ninth day of food, with at least a 50km walk to the nearest gas station, I realized that my time was limited. I needed to make very big flights to get back to any sort of civilization. Still, even the days which had begun nicely turned to thunderstorms by noon, leaving no room for the six-plus hour, headwind flight required to make my next safe landing site—the town of Jasper, some 160 km to the north.

I awoke to a light north wind. This didn’t mean much to me, but the fact

that I was down to two days of food did. I’d been camping on the seemingly lifeless shoulder of Mt Hensley, which sat on one of the youngest, most jagged, far-east ranges of the Rockies. There were three types of rock up there and nothing else—nothing but the small patch of snow I’d scrambled up to draw water from. Once there, I realized that, without ropes or a buddy, there was no safe way down. I had to choose whether to try to scale a major landslide to the north, a sheer cliff to my east, or the spine of death I’d taken to get in there. I decided to take my chances and fly off, even into heavy conditions.

So with a considerably lighter harness, now stuffed with more snow than food, I laid my brightly coloured wing across that melting patch of white and waited for the southern cycles to come in. They didn’t. Not by 10 o’clock, not by 11 o’clock.

As the minute hand made its way back up to noon, I realized that I hadn’t a clue as to what was happening. Feeling that 50km walk now more than ever, I counted 1-2-3 and huffed a forward launch that took the entire 30 metres of that remaining snowbank to lift off.

“Backwind!” I’d realized as my feet barely swooped over the rocks, and at about 40 km/h, I’d just been too low to feel it. But ‘Whhhbamm! There was no

mistaking the stiff uppercut of the leeside thermal I’d flown straight into. I’d gone from that snowpatch to cloudbase, about 1000 m above it, in what felt like less than 30 seconds and no more than two full turns. I had no idea what this day had in store, but the fact that it hadn’t yet overdeveloped showed promise. I was nervous. I was out of my league and was about to do something nobody ever had dared do. Today was my day.

The steady 15-km wind from the north made for slow progress and reliably punchy leeside thermals. I was cold, but somehow the epic nature of the glaciers between my feet overshadowed this feeling. Five kilometers at a time, I was chipping away at my 160km goal, drifting south in the climbs, then punching straight north into wind like the blade of an aggressive saw. It was working. I was in the zone and somehow every major choice met with ripe success.

And then, I confronted The Weeping Wall, a ridge famous for its sheer face and the countless waterfalls which plummet down from the plateau above. This unique feature also caused the valley bottom to narrow in such a way that the wind howls through the box-like canyon. Having failed to find a 32 US H PA P I LOT

climb on the shady faces leading up to it, I’d plowed on with confidence, only to become parked in the middle of the canyon. I scratched along the imposing wall, hoping to ride out some component of lifting air, but there was none.

Fifty turbulent metres gained would become 50 lost only moments later, and forward progress was reduced from an average of 20 km/h to the unsettling feeling of but 2.

Now very low above the Icefields Parkway, in the forbidden landing zone of Banff National Park, I contemplated landing in a half-full tourist pullout designed to celebrate the beauty of this unforgiving wall. But as my speed reduced to 1, then 0, then -1 km/h, the reflections off the lenses of the eager tourists below triggered images of my fate as the nightly YouTube sensation and, as if by gag-reflex, I turned downwind to exit the canyon. Now ripping along at 70 km/h, I kept a wingtip on the terrain, hoping for a bubble. The sun, now hidden for the most part, had broken through on the mountain to the south, and I gave it one last Huraaahhhhhhhh!

Holy F**k! How could it be? Not 100 m off the deck, a freight train of a thermal, wide as ever, was tearing me a new ass-

hole on an express route to cloudbase!

Clearly, I had some things to learn about the meteorology of this place, but, having just lost 30 minutes on the Weeping Wall, I was in no place to ask questions.

Now at 4000 m above sea level, I was as cold as ice and the landscape below me, epic as ever. Flat-topped towers, city-sized glaciers, and forgotten valleys were just the beginning of what I could see. Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this vista, and, still, even my conscious mind was unable to take in the depth of this stunning reality.

Like a turtle at cloudbase, I embraced my new fate and crawled from cloud to cloud, shivering with delight, until I’d crossed into the welcome boundaries of Jasper National Park, North America’s only National Park to allow paraglider travel.

Now at 4200 m, I was warmed by the thought of devouring pizza in the town of Jasper, a mere 70 km north, until I about shat myself at the sight of what lay before me. There was no mistaking it. A year of planning and a roll of the dice had culminated in this finite moment— the first free-flight above the namesake of this expedition: Jasper’s famous Endless Chain Ridge!

Like a sort of rocky red carpet laid out before me, I put my hands back and planned to spend the next hour coasting along what I’d looked forward to being the most straightforward section of the Rockies to fly. Boy, was I wrong! The southwest aspect of the ridge was no longer heating in the late, northwestern sun, and the ever-stiffening north wind over the back made for what ultimately felt like an endless rodeo. After an hour of barely keeping my wing open, I was doing everything I could just to stay on the ridge. Once I’d made it to the north end, I wanted down!

There was no way of making the remaining 40 km to Jasper-town this late in the day. With just two days of food left, I was faced with the choice of either landing near the highway and starting to walk, or taking my chances and landing on a narrow snowbank

USH PA PILOT 33 RIGHT On day three of the 200km march from McBride to Prince George, the climate went from thick smoke to hail, wind and rain. My boots became swimming pools, every blister tore open and I forgot my own name, just about. Some how, becoming "mad" is exactly what I needed to immerse myself into the madness I had signed up for.

Whitehorse, Yukon. Battered, bruised, above a sheer cliff, to the north of the chain. Although in most circumstances I and skinny as f**k, the grin on my face would pride myself on making the safer was unmistakably that of a man who had realized a major life goal. While choice, I remembered the mantra that folding my wing back into its bag, the got me where I was: “Today is my Day.” contrast between the ecstasy I felt and And today, I felt like a badass. the ho-hum nature of the townspeople Less than 30 minutes later, I was going about their daily lives couldn’t sitting outside my tent, boiling snow have been more apparent. from that narrow bank and chirping I laughed out loud then, realizing I back and forth with the picas, a new had expected some sort of applause kind of squirrel I’d found in Jasper. And or perhaps that the children in the when the picas went home for dinner, I playground would have run over, each experienced a strangely silent moment, demanding an autograph. But the absent of chirping or the voices that typically claimed real-estate in my mind. oblivious tourist’s ice cream continued to melt, and the children’s merry-goMy accomplishment had muted my round spun on. My accomplishment critics, but my critics, I realized, were was to be affirmed by me and me alone. just me. That evening I looked back on the famous ridgeline and thanked it for While this truth at first seemed lonely and sad, it came with a sort of relief. A inspiring me, for allowing me to pass relief of knowing that every detail of and for calling me to be greater than I this journey, or my life as a whole, with ever thought I could.

Flying into the town of Jasper the next its successes or failures, great or small, had absolutely no bearing on the great day felt akin to the relief I imagine the world around me. And while this minweary 19th-century gold miners must have felt while riding their dogsleds into imized the epic quality of my success, it jointly minimized the severity of my failures, whether in sport, career, relationships or any other aspect of my life.

As I bit into my first of eight oily slices of deep-dish pizza, I watched the tourists stroll by and was struck with this epiphany: Life is a collection of moments, both infinitely significant and insignificant all at once. Bully or bullied, crush or crushed, as long as we

󲢫 I put my hands back and planned to spend the next hour coasting along what I’d looked forward to being the most straightforward section of the Rockies to fly.

Boy, was I wrong! 󲢻

are lucky enough to be alive, we are all caught in this seemingly endless loop of ourselves, and, collectively, we bond together, each adding our own unique link to an ever-expanding Endless Chain.

It took Benjamin an additional 30 days to complete the expedition, during which time he flew back west over the Continental Divide and through the heart of the worst wildfire season western Canada has ever seen. To find out what happened, follow him online @benjaminjordanadventure and watch for his epic documentary, slated for release in April.

This dream could not have been realized without the generous support of: Stewart Midwinter, Ozone Paragliders, High Adventure, Jasper National Park, MEC and Goal Zero.

Schackle Peak 1, 2 and 3 lay on the northwest end of the Endless Chain ridge. These final, unexpected hurdles forced me to top land halfway up the mountain to their north.

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Late Frank Gillette, a former Idaho hang gliding distance record holder, and my grandfather, helping a friend take off and climb out of Cougar near Declo, ID. Frank was a mentor to me and many other free flight pilots in Idaho for more than 40 years. Photographer: Josh Holmstead.

The beautiful resort town that caters to Mexico's elite is one of the greatest free-flight racing arenas in the world. One burgeoning competition, that every Sport-class pilot in the US should have on their calendar, is in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Go for the flying, go for the tacos, go for the butterflies...just go!

El PeĂąon Classic

by 36 US H PA P I LOT

PATTY LETONA

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F

lying season in Valle de Bravo was more crowded than ever, but paragliders started to leave at the end of January, as they usually do.

Anyone who doesn´t know the place would wonder why they leave, because every day is flyable until rainy season, which normally starts by the end of May. But pilots know that rains stop in November, with each following month getting drier, until by the end of January, it is so dry that conditions

Open in April. Through the years, the number and type of competitors have changed. Sport class grew exponentially, with new pilots becoming so good that our best pilots, who usually flew open class, decided to fly hang gliders with kingposts in order to compete with all of us. That demonstrated how much the sport is growing in México.

Guatemala has played an important role in this growth. They have

beautiful place for flying, it is not an easy one. For example, hang glider landings represent a very important part of flying that must be considered to determine the relative safety of any site. Valle de Bravo doesn’t have many landings for hang gliders. We usually must land above 1800m, which is not easy, and even less easy when there is turbulent air. Thus, landing represents a big challenge, even for us local pilots. Also, conditions are

󲢫 Valle de Bravo is a very beautiful place for flying, not an easy one. 󲢻 are usually too strong for paragliders to be safely in the air or landing after noon.

However, the situation is different for hang glider pilots. In fact, there are church bells ringing all over town and special taco carts are brought out when the paragliders leave town.

It’s true that the number of hang gliding pilots has been decreasing more than the number of paragliders in most parts of the world, mainly because paragliders are easier to fly logistically. But here in Valle de Bravo we are experiencing a different situation. Two hang gliding schools operate all year. During the flying season, one school provides pilots with all of their necessities, including transport, retrieval, and a place to store gliders, as well as many different types of wings to rent for anyone who comes to fly for only a few days. Also, these schools continue to enthusiastically promote the sport; they have helped so many pilots in so many ways that I guess we are one of the few places where hang gliding increases each year.

Ever since I started flying hang gliders, the Peñon Classic Race competition has occurred around February.

My first competition in Valle was in 2015; the registrants were composed of a few local new pilots flying sport class, along with many experienced pilots flying open class. The same type of competitors enrolled in the other main competition, the San Marcos

a well-organized Federation that supports pilots not only to compete, but also to come to Valle de Bravo for a whole year to improve in the sport.

This brought a group of Guatemalan pilots to our sport-class competitions.

Pilots from countries like Colombia, USA, Brazil, England, and elsewhere also started to arrive, not only for the competition, but also for the flying season. We have been learning and improving together.

Although Valle de Bravo is a very OPPOSITE Launching into a great cycle with El Peñon in background. Photo

by Lauro Soto. BELOW Waiting in the shade for rides from the LZ. Photo by Aaron Rinn.

tough—winds are strong, resulting in a lot of turbulence, even on days with weak thermals. (A few years back, pilots were complaining about safety and landings in the World Championship Open Class.) But this year we managed to enroll the largest number of pilots ever in the sport-class competition in Mexico. I guess pilots now know Valle de Bravo and feel the level of competition makes coming to Mexico worth the trip.

This year we were honored that world-class pilots (and open-class pilots) like Zac Majors from USA, Wolfgang (Wolfie) Seiss from Austria, Daniel Velez from Colombia, and Rudy Gotes, our best Mexican pilot, joined

us in the air. Wills Wings brought an entire crew with wings (the new Sport 3), and female pilots totaled more than five (which has never happened before), including Sara Weaver, who holds the top female ranking in sport class, Soraya Rios from Venezuela and, obviously, me, Patty Letona.

On the first day of the competition, I

arrived early at takeoff, trying to get a good spot to prepare my wing. I knew the field would get crowded later on and wanted to set up near the takeoff to minimize walking with the wing.

I continued that practice every day, which worked well. I’ve never seen the takeoff so crowded with hang gliders; we were around 40 pilots every day.

First-day conditions were good.

The wind was strong, and we were climbing OK, so traffic before the start wasn´t bad. The task was short and pretty, with landings throughout the route, mostly southwest of the takeoff.

First pilots managed to do the task in less than an hour; 23 pilots made goal that day. Even though Zac Majors won the task that day, Daniel Jaramillo “Parce,” in fourth place, had the most leading points of the day. Daniel Velez was second, and our local sport-class pilots took third, fourth, and fifth places, beating Wolfie and Rudy. I placed first that day in the women’s competition and was 15th overall.

The second day, I decided to try the new wing from Wills Wing, the Sport 3, against the advice of a lot of pilots.

Since I knew I probably wouldn´t FAR LEFT Zac "Zippy" Majors setting up for an epic day LEFT Dogs wait for pilot meeting so they can eat all lunches left out on harnesses. ABOVE On-glide to the Divisadero ridge. Photos by Aaron Rinn.

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USH PA PILOT 39

RECORDS

are made to be

BROKEN.

NAA encourages pilots of ALL LEVELS of experience to set records.

Dozens of records are established each year.

Know the rules before you fly! ➽Is your FAI Sporting license valid? Check here:

old.fai.org/about-fai/fai-sporting-licences

ABOVE The flying arena.

have a chance to fly a small Sport 3 on any other day, I decided to give it a try. Before the start, I had a hard time and, while flying part of the task, I got so tired, I ended up landing far before goal. I thought it was because of the new wing, but after talking to many pilots, they concurred that conditions were pretty rough, causing many of them to experience the same lack of control of the wing in some parts of the task that I felt.

In spite of these conditions, 14 pilots made goal in a task that started southwest of takeoff, continued all the way to the Monarca Butterflies waypoint, and came back almost to takeoff and goal at the mushroom field. During the 57km task, coming back from the Monarca’s turnpoint was the most difficult part for those who had made it all the way there, because the

strong headwind put incredible pilots like Zac on the ground before goal.

Wolfie won the day, with Rudy and Daniel Velez right behind, and Alfredo Tello “Potro” was fourth, putting him in second place overall, while “Parce” placed third. For the females, Sara won the day, but I was still holding on to the lead, which was a relief as well as nerve racking simultaneously.

On third day we were given an interesting task. We had to fly to the mine at La Pila, return to takeoff and fly all the way to Divisadero, a challenging waypoint, because you have to fly down a long ridge where good landings for hang gliders are few and far between. This makes pilots nervous, especially those without much experience or familiarity with the place or landings. With a task of 61 km, 25 pilots landed in goal at the mushroom field. Daniel Velez won the task with the brothers “Potro” and “Pony”

➽Your Official Observer must not only be a member of USHPA, they must be independent and not be perceived to have a conflict of interest.

➽ Initial notification of a record claim must be filed via the NAA web-site within 72 hours of the attempt.

Learn more at:

naa.aero/records

(General Info & FAQs)

naa.aero/applications-downloads/

(Records & Sporting Codes Downloads)

GOOD LUCK!

behind, with “Pony” having the most leading points of the day. I was short to goal by less than 20 km, being the best female of the day. By the third day, sport-class pilots were showing open-class pilots how to fly this place, leading and beating them in some tasks. In the overall, Daniel Velez was still in first, “Potro” was still second, but Rudy had climbed to third and put “Parce” in fourth.

Some paragliding pilots ask me why tasks were so short, compared to paragliding open competitions. They reason that because hang gliders have a better glide, they can easily fly longer distances. But from my expe-

40 US H PA P I LOT

ABOVE The first move off launch is to glider to El Penon and get up.

BELOW LEFT 'A horse is a horse of course.' Wildlife when landing out is always interesting. CENTER Waiting in the shade for rides from the LZ. RIGHT Valle at night is a beautiful and tranquil scene. OPPOSITE It's a glorious thing to behold all the gliders set up on launch. Photos by Aaron Rinn.

rience I think that hang gliding is a more difficult sport; climbing through thermals is harder, especially when thermals are broken, as they were during most days of the competition, because of the wind. It is such a physical sport that it becomes exhausting after flying a few hours. Also, we were

flying sport class, where most pilots don´t have much experience. Even though half of the gliders were the best performance gliders in the sport class, we still were flying some that do not glide as well.

The fourth day was more difficult.

Climbing in the takeoff wasn´t as easy as on other days, and traffic got pretty crowded. But I took off early and managed, after an hour of flying, to get up and high enough for the start. We had to mark the first turnpoint at a rock we call “diente” (tooth), southwest from takeoff, and return to takeoff. It was pretty difficult to get high; I found myself coming back to launch really low, and ended up landing. Those who got on course flew to the Divisadero waypoint, as we had the day before, but with a much bigger radius, so pilots didn’t have to fly the ridge without many landings again. Goal was at the official landing, Piano, but winners decided to land in a new, nicer landing called Hangar5. Daniel Velez won the day, with Zac Majors right behind and in third, Pony again, with the most leading points of the day. Daniel Velez was still in first place overall, with Potro in second. Parce climbed to third, leaving Rudy in fourth. Sara Weaver made goal, placing herself behind me by only 200 points.

The fifth day was very difficult, still windy and turbulent, but with a lower ceiling. The task was a little ambitious, resulting in only eight pilots making it

USH PA PILOT 41

to goal. Getting high in front of takeoff before the start was pretty difficult, and traffic was almost unbearable. We had a 64km task and were required to go a little farther than the Monarca Butterflies waypoint and come back, after tagging some points on front of takeoff. For me, the task was short, with not much altitude; it was very hard to come back from the first turnpoint high enough not to struggle low with the wind. I couldn´t make it to the back of the takeoff and ended up landing at Hangar5, but many pilots made it back. Having only two days left to show what they know, we could definitely recognize the best pilots’ experience, because Wolfie won the day, followed by Zack and Rudy. Potro, Pony and Parce did not make it to goal, changing all the overall results. Daniel made goal, so he was still leading, with Zac placing second overall, Rudy third, Potro fourth and Wolfie fifth; Sara made half of the task and was now

47TH annual

leading the women by 21 points.

The last day everything could change. They gave us a really easy and short task, only 35 km around Peñon.

Conditions were better than the two previous days, with less wind, less turbulence and a higher ceiling. The start opened, and everyone was flying

fast, including me. I made some bad decisions and ended up landing quickly, close to the Three Kings. Daniel Velez won the task, earning the crown of first place without question, Wolfie came in second, climbing to fourth overall, Jose Luis Jaramillo was third of the day and Potro fourth, but he was replaced by Wolfie in the overall and came in fifth. Rudy and Zac were fifth and sixth of the day, so Zac ended up in second overall and Rudy third overall. Sara made goal and she won the female category.

After a week of flying in this stunning place in tough and technical conditions, a place that has so much to teach us, along with some of the best sport-class and open-class pilots, I only can say thank you to Vuelo Libre for this amazing event, all the people involved in the organization, and everyone who supported the event and the pilots. I was honored to fly with everyone who participated.

MAY 16 - 20

DUNE COMPETITION

ONE-DAY AERO TOW COMPETITION *NEW THIS YEAR*

tournament of champions

HANGGLIDINGSPECTACULAR.COM

(252) 441-2426 AIR GAMES • FILM FESTIVAL • WILLS WING DEMOS • ROGALLO HALL OF FAME • STREET DANCE

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HIKE FLY KINGA MASZTALERZ

She's flown across the Dolomites and spent a month bivy flying in the Himalayas.

Next stop: the Redbull X-Alps!

Kinga checks in with USHPA Pilot on what it's all about.

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USH PA PILOT 43

LEFT Headed toward the Marmolada on a bivy in the Dolomites. ABOVE Kinga doing what Kinga does.

T

here is an old Chinese story about a wise peasant. His son was the apple of his eye, and he owned a fine horse that everyone admired. One day the horse escaped from his grounds and disappeared.

The villagers came to him one by one and said, “You are such an unlucky man. It is such bad luck that your horse escaped.” The peasant responded, “Maybe it’s bad; maybe it’s good.

Who knows?” The next day the stallion returned, followed by 12 wild horses.

When neighbors visited the peasant again, offering congratulations on his good luck, he replied, “Maybe it’s good; maybe it’s bad. Who knows?”

The next day, while his son was attempting to train one of the wild horses, he fell down and broke his leg.

Once more everyone came with their condolences: “It’s terrible—such bad luck.” Again, he replied, “Maybe it’s bad; maybe it’s good. Who knows?”

A few days passed. As the peasant’s around. What I could control was my poor son limped around the village, attitude, effort, and actions, and this the emperor’s army entered the made a world of a difference. I realized village and announced that a war was then that controlling these behaviors starting and they were enrolling all could actually turn bad luck into some the young men of the village. Howbeautiful adventures.

I planned to participate in three ever, they left the peasant’s son, since hike-and-fly competitions in Europe in he had a broken leg. Everyone was extremely jealous of the peasant. They the summer of 2018. The first, Bornes talked about his sheer good luck, while To Fly, is a 2.5-day race in May, startthe old man just muttered: “Maybe it’s ing and finishing in Talloires next to good; maybe it’s bad. Who knows? “ Annecy Lake. A closed-circuit route is In the modern world, we can control announced only 30 minutes before the so many factors of everyday life that start, so if you aren’t local and don’t if anything adversely affects our plans, know the area by heart, there is no we easily get anxious or upset. The time to prepare. Of course, that makes weather, sickness, a broken-down car, the race easier for locals and harder for other people’s behavior—so many factourists.

At this race, I made a couple of tors are beyond our control. Since we mistakes—the worst being landing can do nothing about them, we need low and on the wrong side of the lake to stay calm and centered, as the old Chinese peasant advised, even though on a first day, forcing me to complete a long hike to goal. This had nothing that’s easier said than done. to do with luck; it was the result of my Last season, I had a number of op“complete lack of imagination,” as my portunities to practice this calm Zen awesome supporter Sebastien stated. I approach to events I couldn’t control. finished 20th out of 46 and was praised This doesn’t mean I was sitting on as a first woman, which wasn’t too my hands waiting for fortune to turn

215km triangle from Grente and, even more important, helped a pilot who threw his reserve and went down in high alpine terrain. Maybe it was good after all.

The following weeks passed with our driving through the Alps, taking beautiful flights, and enjoying some spontaneous vol-bivouacs. Then, Dolomiti Superfly time approached.

A few days before the start of the race, I lost my phone, after which DHL lost a phone I had bought online.

Finally my friend Carmelo lent me his old phone at the very last moment, so I could participate in the race. Consequently, I spent the last night before the race downloading all the musthave apps. In the morning, I woke up with a fever, sore throat and runny TOP Hiking in the Dolomites. MIDDLE nose. Talk about bad luck!

Hiking in Bornes, France during Bornes To I decided to participate anyway; I just Fly competition. Dinner time. Camping couldn’t give up the idea of racing in 3rd night of vol-biv through the Dolothe Dolomites. If you have ever seen mites BOTTOM “You haven't got a fear of these stunning mountains, you surely heights, do you.” The Dolomites. understand. Even though I knew I couldn’t compete as I would like to, I race in a fun hike-and-fly event.

Every year, I spend the whole Europe- felt I could still have fun in the mounan summer living in an old camper van. tains and test my body’s limits.

It slowly and surely rolled through the The first day, because of the strong Alps without any problems…until the wind from the north, most of the comday before the start of St Hil AirTour. petitors chose to hike all the way from That’s, unfortunately, when a clutch Levico to Canazei on the road, around in my van broke, and, even though it the mountains. A few of us decided to required a cheap, easy repair, I didn’t climb up and fly over. I’m always keen have enough time to participate in a (sometimes too keen) to try to fly in race. Bad luck. borderline conditions, so, obviously, I We spent a few days searching for a was in the second group. new clutch and following AirTour on We completed four hours of hiking, live tracking. I was very upset not to where we were rewarded with a beaube there. On the other side it was rain- tiful high-alpine takeoff and turbulent ing nonstop for four or five days, so my flying with a strong headwind. It was wonderful team of Chris and Sébastien all as expected, but at some point, I got really confused in the air (maybe started joking that the good old van because of my cold and fever?) and chose a perfect time to break down. followed another pilot who chose a When we finally managed to repair bad line. We both ended up in a little the van, we celebrated with a bottle of bowl-valley with only one good, obvichampagne and an immediate check of the weather. Since it looked like a ous landing field. As we were heading big day in South Tiroso, we spontatowards landing, I imagined a nice neously went 550 km, all the way from obvious landing approach, but at the very last minute, the other pilot turned Maurienne in France to Antholz in right downwind and straight into me!

Italy. And the very next day, I flew a hard to achieve, since I was the only woman participating. I learned that I should try to “use” other pilots more, which is difficult for someone who usually flies alone and is not used to following others.

However, the race was great fun and a nice warm-up before two longer events: St Hil AirTour in June and Dolomiti Superfly at the end of August.

St Hil AirTour, a weeklong race with start and finish in Saint Hilaire, is in a spot famous for the huge costume festival, Coupe Icare, in September. For me, it’s a very special place filled with memories, as I lived there for a few months and flew my first +100km from there. I couldn’t wait to go back and

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I ran away to the right, and we both hit the ground hard on a small clearing, with his glider going onto a fence. I helped him with his wing, which was OK, but then I discovered my harness was ripped. Later, we hiked together and talked for many hours. He admitted that he had panicked and, despite our having taken off and flying together all the way, he simply didn’t see me on his right. Also, he couldn’t explain why he turned downwind just a few meters above the ground. Now, in addition to my cold, I had a slight whiplash, headache and ripped harness. Bad luck again, I guess.

We kept hiking the road until evening, when my supporter Chris suggested climbing a 2450m mountain on our way and trying to fly from it the next morning. Chris and I knew the mountain from a little vol-biv we had done a few weeks earlier, and we liked the idea.

In the evening Chris did a great job of feeding me, massaging my whiplashed back and repairing my harness. Unfortunately, I coughed all night, preventing everyone from getting any sleep.

The next day we climbed for three hours to the top of the mountain, where the wind was still coming from the north, very stable, giving us another good flight. I landed on a small field, while using almost every meter of altitude on a glide, then hit the road and hiked another 40 km.

At some point, I checked the map and saw that the borrowed phone had stopped working. When Carmelo passed by, he took the phone to be repaired, and local service fought with it till 2:00 a.m., after which the phone was supposed to work. Chris and I didn’t sleep at all again, because of my coughing. Actually, I spent the night in a sitting position to make it easier to breathe.

The next morning I started hiking with stops for coughing, while Chris tried to download apps to the repaired phone. After two hours, we realized this bloody phone still wasn’t working

and without it, we didn’t have access to any contact. It was against the rules to progress without it. I also felt bad at this point and started thinking if I kept pushing my body, I might hurt myself.

We decided to pull out. It was a hard decision to make, as within three to five hours I could have been in the air in the heart of Dolomites, on the best day of the week, and finally able to make some decent progress. However, even though I had pushed myself—my body, and my mind—sometimes the universe simply doesn’t cooperate. Bad luck.

We took a cheap room, and I spent a week in bed with a fever and chills.

It was awful, but also fascinating, to see how for the previous three days my mind had kept my body composed.

I was suffering and feeling nasty, but still was able to fly and hike the mountains with a backpack. However, once my body decided it was time to rest, I fell to pieces, spent a few days in delirium, and was only able to flounder

ABOVE Kinga hiking in Bornes, France.

from my bed to the bathroom.

A week later, I was on top of it. But the weather turned bad, and Chris had to return to New Zealand. Finally the weather looked good for the next few days. Even though I was still coughing like an old tractor, my European season was coming to a definitive end, and the mountains were calling. So off I went.

I decided to follow the Dolomiti Superfly route this time alone, carrying my camping gear with 17 kg, not 8 kg, on my back and with no time or distance pressure. I symbolically started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, same time as the race two weeks earlier, hiked to the Vetriolo takeoff, and with very low cloudbase, flew east and squeezed myself into the valley leading north. I spent a night at Passo Manghen in a little cave hosting a colorful shrine, so I was cozily protected from cold and evil forces.

The following day the forecast looked

good, with a slight southern flow and decent cloudbase. I hiked four hours to the pass, which seemed to be a perfect takeoff, but seeing it from a distance, I already knew it was a mistake: clouds building over a rocky ridge on the south completely shaded over my pass and the whole Moena Valley leading to the north, where I wanted to go. I sat there for some time and assured myself that the only thing I could do from there was to take off with a light backwind and glide down into the valley as far as I could. If it were a race, that would be the right thing to do, followed maybe by hitting the road or climbing some mountain on the north side of the ridge for the afternoon flight. However, it wasn’t a race. I was there to enjoy the autumn Dolomites. So I decided to take a scenic trail around to Monte Cermis, where I wanted to take off the next day.

After a few hours of hiking through rocky, demanding terrain, I had a thing or two to say about this decision, as my body still felt weak after illness. I was suffering a bit under my backpack, with perfect cumulus clouds forming above my head all the way over the Dolomites, while I was stuck on the ground with no possible takeoffs. I 46 US H PA P I LOT

even got a bit annoyed with my poor decisions and, again, bad luck, and then I met an older tourist setting up a tent next to the trail. He was beaming, so “ecstatic to be here in these stunning mountains on such a beautiful afternoon.” This humbled me. It can be so easy to lose perspective. So easy to

ABOVE Bivy flying in the Dolomites is all-time. TOP A smile is contagious, and Kinga's is usually on full blast.

underestimate what we have.

Later I learned that my dear friend had a very bad accident during a takeoff that day. She broke her leg, arm, and nose and bruised her self-confidence, which might take a long time to heal. Meanwhile, I was able to hike and enjoy these stunning mountains while thinking about my bad luck...

I spent an incredibly picturesque night in the mountains and the next day flew from Monte Cermis all the way to Monte Cristallo, through the heart of Dolomites, with breathtaking views and big clouds chasing me. I do nothing but fly in various mountains for six or seven months a year, so I’m a bit spoiled. But this flight was so beautiful it was almost hurting me somewhere inside.

On the next day, I felt really tired, so I decided to take a shuttle to Monte Piana. I easily convinced myself that when I’m in a civilized area with facilities, I should use them. But I was “punished” immediately with an incredibly stable day, so I glided out and moved to Tre Cime massif. And, oh, boy! those mountains are gorgeous. I just sat in the sun staring at the golden mountains bathing in afternoon light, lost in time. When I realized how late it was,

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ABOVE When we realized that we can't repair the van before the start of the Air Tour we did the only reasonable thing: opened a bottle of champagne!

BELOW Inner peace is the goal. Here is proof of the result.

I paced to the pass to glide toward Val Pusteria. The sun was already setting, so I knew I had just a few minutes before the evening katabatic flow would make a tight rocky takeoff impossible to launch.

I screwed up my first takeoff as the lines got hooked on the rocks. The second try got off with a cravat, but I knew I had no time left, so I flew out. I

wasn’t able to open the knotted cravat, so I glided as far as I could, weight shifting and landing smoothly on a tiny clearing, with wind already going down the valley. It was one of those flights you don’t put on XContest, but which shows you’re becoming a pilot you’ve always aspired to be.

Sesto was a waypoint of Dolomiti Superfly, so I went there... and immediately regretted it. It’s an extremely touristic place with no place to sleep, even if I had wanted to spend 100€ on a room (which I did not). Everything was full. I spent an awful night sliding on a slope and woke up completely wet from condensation, because, in trying

to hide, I didn’t set up my tarp.

From here the autumn really kicked in, and conditions became extremely stable. Then the rains came. After some flying and a lot of hiking, I arrived in Feltre and decided I was done.

So I simply took a bus back to Levico to retrieve my van.

There is no story about breaking records or covering massive distance here. It’s just that this trip, playing in the autumn Dolomites, alone and without pressure, was such bliss, such a beautiful way to end this European season. I don’t think I would have done it if I had satisfied myself during Dolomiti Superfly. Some other cool things would have happened, I’m sure, but this solo vol-bivouac has engraved in my heart priceless memories I wouldn’t trade for anything else.

It was so good, after all.

This European season was beautiful. Even if I didn’t have much luck with hike-and-fly races, I applied for another one. In October, I went to the Indian Himalayas, where I cruised with vultures and hung out with local shepherds. And when I returned to Bir from a little vol-bivouac, I learned that I had qualified for Red Bull X-Alp 2019.

Awesome!

I mean, it is good, isn’t it?

Or is it bad?

Let’s wait and see.

Winging It

The Colorado Trail Project

J

by

une 2017: A brewery in Durango, Colorado, where I’m lamenting about the daily work grind, corporate rat race, and the general restlessness that has been gripping me lately.

“What do you want to do?” asks my wife.

“What do you mean?” I reply.

On the wall behind us hangs a Colorado Trail Nut Brown Ale poster featuring my backpack-laden silhouette. When I lived in Durango, Carvers’ brewery re-vamped their beer labels, and since I had a loose association with the brewery, they asked me to be on Colorado Trail Nut Brown label.

“You should do something,” she says.

“Why not the Colorado Trail?”

“By paraglider,” I instinctively declare.

Fast-forward seven weeks: August 12, 2017. I’ve been on the trail only for 70 miles (out of 495), and my body is wrecked, even after a rest day. I just finished a 4000-foot climb out of Silverton, Colorado. I’m alone and 48 US H PA P I LOT

JAKE HILDEBRAND

hooking in to my Lightness 2 harness, just shy of 13,000’, preparing to circle 4000’ above Silverton in the rugged and unforgiving San Juan Mountain Range of southern Colorado.

ABOVE Transitioning from Copper Mountain to Breckenridge, along CT’s Segment 7. BELOW Just another evening on the CT trying to dry out the flying kit. Photos by Jake Hildebrand.

It’s noon, so I have to forget the advice that one should avoid being near the ground mid-day in high summer in the Rockies. Also, my entire kit is still damp from a relentless monsoon season, including my reserve. I’m seriously questioning its deployment effectiveness at a time when I might need it. And there you have it: the essence of vol-biv flying, or as I call it, thru-flying or thru-paragliding.

So what the hell am I doing here?

Simply stated, I am going to be the first to complete the 495-mile Colorado Trail (CT) using as much paragliding as possible. When I’m not flying, I’m in thru-hiking beast mode. Thru-hiking mode is combining hiking with trail running and, basically, to cut weight to increase speed, I have had to cut down just about everything—like cutting off half a toothbrush and removing zipper pulls and all harness protection and relying on my food supply to

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The Colorado Trail Foundation 710 10th Street, #210 Golden, CO 80401-0728 shop.ColoradoTrail.org (303) 384-3729 email: vol-biv ctf@ColoradoTrail.org website: www.ColoradoTrail.org thru- hiking standards. The CT joins to get my base kit down to 38 The vol-biv window occurs in July and the iconic Continental Divide Trail lbs/17 kg. With several 10-day resupAugust, but that’s also climatologicalfor 235 miles. The CT averages an ply durations, the kit nudges over 50 ly the peak of the monsoon season… elevation of 10,300’ (much of it is above certainly, a tactical situation. pounds.

9000’), has a high point at Coney Peak By way of 28 segments, the CT conNature of the Idea: “If you’re going at 13,271’, and includes about 90,000 to do it, do it big and do it with class.” nects Durango to Denver, and winds vertical feet of ascent.

Back to the brewery in Durango… its way through six national forests This is a reason that it’s attemptable Like all proper adventures, this one and six wilderness areas, crosses by paraglider (neglecting all else). A began with a beer, or six, and a sense many primary river systems, and rips of restlessness. It was already June, through eight major mountain ranges. trail system at timberline means ample launches, top-landings, and so if I was going to pull the project It is considered one of the country’s trail-based route flying. Flying and th- trigger this season, I needed to get the “long trails,” similar to the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail. ru-hiking the trail from south to north, ball rolling, because the CT season is a short one. My goal was to be on trail Although shorter, due to the altitude, opposite of what most CT thru-hikers !

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by early August, giving me six weeks from idea inception to trail runners on the ground.

Living on the Front Range of Colorado and having a track history of mountain adventures throughout Colorado, I had a good feel for the terrain, but would need to do a bit more research on the trail and potential flying routes.

Additionally, I needed to inform my family, friends, and workplace; plan finances to take two months off; and figure out how not to get fired. Add gear researching and a buying frenzy (some of it financed by my loved ones), and it was a heap of logistics to work through. I often don’t fully grasp the reasons until later, or after the adventure and struggle. Sometimes we are initially driven by an idea; then later we try to verbalize and make sense of it.

How Am I Going to Pull This Off?

This was my first vol-biv project, and as I got closer to it, I began asking myself why I thought I could be successful. It’s my self-doubt that naturally arises with an exponential relation50 US H PA P I LOT

ship curve between time-to-start and noon, he mentioned that he wished increasing levels of self-doubt. The that he’d gotten into paragliding expectation is that as one gets more instead of skydiving. And I responded, experienced and accomplished at “What’s paragliding?” something, self-doubt diminishes.

My interest in paragliding has been That’s not the case. Everyone gets driven by its combination of aviation nervous, anxious, and experiences self- and physical endurance. Since high doubt; it’s literally embedded in our school, I’ve been involved in racing, neural pathways. I am a human and I primarily running. There’s no better do self-doubt, but I don’t have to be a way to re-charge and work through victim of it. By taking a strong stance problems than on a run. It’s the and focused attitude, I can accept perfect pace and space to reflect. To the feeling of self-doubt, and drive it me, the cornerstone of paragliding has toward the commitment of moving always been the combination of movforward. ing on foot in the mountains with the “We have the freedom to choose how capability of flying. The culmination to respond to a situation, and how to of this model was the Colorado Trail focus our attitude.” -Victor Frankl Project.

I have a history in aviation, having been surrounded by it since birth. My Goals mom mentioned that my dad had me Goals are two-fold: They can drive in his airplane when I was just several motivation, action, and push limits, weeks old. During my teenage years, I but they also can result in loneliness, nearly attained a private pilot’s license anger, and injury, with endless comwhen I was interested in powered binations. With this understanding, I aviation, but then spent many years kept my goals broad. This allowed a in an aviation hiatus. In 2011, when my mindset of staying safe, while focusfriend and I were hiking in Colorado ing on the destination. Since I was one tranquil cumulus-studded afterpioneering the CT flying model, and

USH PA PILOT 51

󲢫 When short, I had to choose between carrying on by foot or hunkering down for better weather. These decisions were wicked ones that we all must make: hold and wait, or fly. 󲢻 doing solo mountain activity, I knew I needed to be conservative. I realized the conditions I normally fly in as a Colorado pilot can be rowdy and limit-pushing. Lee-side on the synoptic scale, lee-side on the micro-meteorology scale, arid- and mountainous-climate thermal strength and punch, and rapidly changing conditions are the modus operandi here in the Rockies.

Therefore, by knowing my usual flying parameters, I was able to objectively assess what it meant to be a factor or two more conservative.

Primary goal: Finish the CT. Secondary goal: Fly as much as possible. Although I enjoy moving over ground on my feet, the intention was to fly the CT. I wasn’t here to thru-hike; I was here to fly what hadn’t been flown before.

Pioneers are seldom successful at first attempts, and I certainly understood this going into the CT Project.

Acting within the Plan-Do-Check-Act model, you apply lessons learned, and you get closer to success on the next go. I would give my all to make the line go, but if I didn’t get aloft as much as desired, I knew it would still be a grand adventure. Given my mountain skills and background, fleetness of foot, comfort in aloneness, flying experience, and in-depth academic and real-world meteorological knowledge, the Colorado Trail Project was custom-tailored to my strengths.

Flying and Weather Highlights

“Timing and positioning, man, timing and positioning.” -Me Get to launches before the daily thunderstorm onslaught was the mantra I kept repeating to myself. Climatologically, the southwest monsoon season abates around mid-August, so my original plan of drier travels after mid-August seemed to be a legitimate one. Not so. The 2017 monsoon season

was one of the more persistent and consistent seasons in the past decade.

During the monsoon season, a persistent high located in the desert southwest conveyor belt releases a deep moisture-laden Pacific airmass into Colorado. A blocking Midwest high keeps the conveyor belt in place by preventing eastward migration.

Couple this with strong summer insolation and instability in the mountains, and the result is a steady onslaught of convective activity, ranging from widespread strato-nimbus to cumulo-congestus.

OPPOSITE High point on the Colorado Trail, looking east under rapidly developing conditions. Photo by Jake Hildebrand. BELOW August 21, 2017 visible satellite imagery showing the typical monsoonal pattern. Image courtesy of NOAA, access via http://weather.rap. ucar.edu/

At times, widespread precipitation events lasted through the night. Packing up camp in the morning, while trying to keep flying gear at least somewhat dry (I became conditioned to being OK with damp gear) was frustrating and even demoralizing. Most days, convective activity would begin as early as 9 or 10 a.m., which, unfortunately, coincided with the onset of

thermal production needed for XC. XC windows were on the order of minutes, instead of hours that are needed to make progress by air. I certainly could’ve flown more in the form of extended sledders from high areas to low areas; however, I’d play the cost-benefit game of setting up/flying/breaking down and simply carrying on by foot.

Maybe it would take an hour to fly and regain the trail, whereby it would take 30 minutes to simply foot it. Games.

Despite the mantra, I kept coming up short. When short, I had to choose between carrying on by foot or hunkering down for better weather.

These decisions were wicked ones that we all must make: hold and wait, or fly. Due to my remoteness, weather information on my smartphone was not achievable, so making a prediction in complex terrain was an ever-present challenge. However, when one is immersed in the surroundings day in and day out, feeling the elements ebb and flow throughout the days and weeks, you sprout a sixth sense in weather identification and prediction.

When your whole being becomes part of the mountains and their moods, you are purely connected. Still, it felt a bit eerie not to be looking at daily skew-t plots and winds-aloft models.

It’s an example of how accustomed we are to quick information—for better or worse.

In the 32 days I spent on the CT, I flew four of them, which amounted to an along-trail open distance of about 50K. Yeah, 30 miles. Ouch. From another perspective, those 30 air miles removed roughly 35 trail miles, counting the distance it took to gain launches and make it back to the trail after landing out.

No launch was below 12,000’; one launch was from 13,000’. Landings were high altitude and, with a loaded

ity and starkness of the eclipse light mingling with the alpine environment, what I noticed from a weather perspective was how thermal production shut down during the eclipse, which lasted about an hour, start to end. The small puffies died, and thermal cycles noticeably calmed and eventually abated during the eclipse’s peak of shadow. About 30 minutes after the peak, cycles ramped up, and it was the same ol’ same ol’.

As I gained the pass, hopeful to fly, wind in the 20-30mph range slammed me. Toward the east down the long valley, the upslope valley-flow regime, intermixed with alpine thermals, was in full gale, and a launch would’ve been a blow-back-into-rotor exercise. I had a plan: Make it a short day, camp LEFT A relaxing evening flight from Copper Mountain. Photo by Jake Hildebrand.

kit, given a 1.5% increase in flying speeds for every 1000 feet, I was landing about 10% faster than in my Front Range stomping grounds. Ten percent may not sound like much, but it makes a difference when landing loaded on a broken-down body. Wounds opened up in the feet on almost every landing.

Socks came off with sticky difficulty at the end of those days. Launches were intense: all the usual technical high-alpine attributes were present, with weather unknowns, making decisions on a wrecked and malnourished body, a diffuse mindset, and the world seemingly being on my shoulders.

I could’ve eaten more, but decided for the minimal calorie model to prevent excess weight. That’s a give and take—more food equals better health, but more food also equals more effort because of food weight. For weight savings and packing efficiency, I had removed all harness protection, and mind trips like how my only protection came from fuel canisters strapped to my butt and tortillas along the back panel, popped up in my mind during launch setups. However, once strapped 52 US H PA P I LOT

in, the focus was absolute. When solo in the backcountry and something goes wrong, even something as simple as a sprain or broken leg, the situation can end up being dire. Several hundred miles of the CT are some of the most remote and desolate I’ve experienced. I often didn’t see others for days.

Solar Eclipse

Trail day 11… During the famed total solar eclipse, on August 21 at 11:45 local time, I was hiking toward San Luis Peak (one of Colorado’s most remote 14ers) around 12,500’ in a pristine alpine cirque intermixed with geologic spires reminiscent of Game of Thrones, wide-spread talus fields, and the typical stunning flower fields of the San Juan mountains. Timing and positioning: I was moving fast to gain the pass below the peak to attempt a flight toward the east, down the drainage toward Eddiesville and the Cochetopa Hills. The day was good so far: clear skies intermixed with cumulus humilis (the friendly variant). On my way toward the pass, the eclipse occurred and other than the diffusiv-

below the pass, and fly in the morning.

Well, it didn’t work, because the next day the wind was howling, 30 mph plus, with monsoon-induced stratocumulus at nearly 100% sky coverage.

Again, decision-time: hunker down for a weather window the next day, or push forward. I wanted to hold tight and wait, because I was really hoping to fly from this zone northeast approximately 30 open-distance miles to cross over the exposed, dry, and desolate Cochetopa Hills. I wasn’t particularly excited to foot the Cochetopa area, because it was exposed and hot with few water sources, making it technical through-hiking. Flying it was key. I was on the longest re-supply stretch during this portion of the CT, so I had maybe a meal to spare and was only day 3 into this 11-day push. I made the decision to move forward on foot. Later that day, I spent several hours over lunch in the Eddiesville Forest Service restroom, waiting out a cold and dreary extended storm cycle.

Lunch Dorito burritos in a restroom in the middle of nowhere make for an entertaining story.

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14,000 Feet above Silverton

Launch area one, from between the radio antennas: fail. Too many antenna wires, and an unnervingly short and flat launch ramp to cliff’s edge, punctuated below by a very spiky talus field, 90-degree cross flow, a slightly malnourished body, and the thought of fuel canisters under my butt exploding on said spiky rocks, is enough for me to abort several launches. I decide to go around the backside of the peak and accept a lee-side launch (launch area two). Cycles were in the 10mph range and in the lee, actually aroundthe-horn cross, felt rather solid. Good enough for me. Flight plan toward Bakersville lined out. If the cumuli behave themselves from going ballistic, I might make Engineer Pass and land near my next re-supply in Lake City.

Nope.

Launch. Deflations and washing machined in the lee. Push out around the horn. Glider feels heavy. It is, probably 5 kg over the limit. Work some scrap that turns into a climb. Push to base at 14,000’ and go on glide. As I make the next ridge, widespread shade has me looking skyward, and the cumuli are not behaving. They’re going vertical and over-development is setting in.

I find the next region of lift and get high enough to cross to the north side of the valley, toward the south-facing slopes that have been in sun longer than my side. I get drilled going across and end up low. I struggle to find lift and, in a moderate valley wind, I put it down in an old reclaimed mine site.

The famed Silverton-area miners had struggles, and so do I, but, of course, nowhere near in comparison. Fitting to be here, though. I smile. But still, it’s a frustrating 10K flight and I’m low, which means tomorrow will require a 3000-foot-plus climb to regain the CT. This flight represents the first of the trip, and it’s invigorating to shake the rust off. I’m newly energized by the flight and for the first time, I have a feeling that the line will go.

But it doesn’t, at least not to the

extent I hoped. Throughout the rest of the trip, I accumulate three more flights, two of which originate from launches that no one else has ever used, giving me a sense of pioneering, satisfaction, and belonging to something bigger in myself that required a certain type of perseverance to access.

Trail day 27 was punctuated by the final flight of the project, which was from the Copper Mountain site, with access granted, and a ride provided by my friend. I was able to climb out under smoky skies, for once without the threat of thunderstorms, and take advantage of benign winds aloft. After topping out at nearly 14,000’, I pointed it along the CT as it snaked its way between Copper and Breckenridge, and I transitioned across the Ten Mile Range, set it down in the lee at Breckenridge, and thereby flew Segment 7 in its entirety. Finally, a true tastetest of how the CT could be flown.

The key weather-related ingredients needed for a successful vol-biv of the CT includes a slightly below-average prior-season snowpack, climatologically-tuned monsoon season, below-average forest-fire season, benign synoptic pattern, and a dose of good fortune.

Let ‘em line up, and let ‘er rip.

Trail day 32. Mile 0. I’ve done it. Of course, joy. Of course, pride. But also sadness and gratitude. Completing this monumental task and coming out of this adventure alive leaves me fulfilled, but it also leaves me feeling a bit lost. Much like a well-mixed boundary layer, there’s a lot of mixing in the form of emotions occurring. Over 32 days (nearly 45 days away from home), every day I had was marked with exertion, stress, critical decision-making, malnourishment (except during re-supplies, including when my wife met me with a red-velvet cake, which I devoured in two days), and I had been wrapped in the completeness of the mountains.

Suddenly, I was back in civilization— traffic, grocery stores, and mingling with the masses—all of which left

me feeling alone and in many ways, depressed. Over the following months, with the patience and understanding of my wife, I slowly came back. There’s a belief amongst the long-trail thruhiker community that every month you are on the trail takes three times as long to re-acclimate with society.

While living in Durango and posing for a Colorado Trail beer label, I couldn’t have imagined taking this adventure some 15 years later. I guess this is called “closing the loop.”

“This is one of the sport’s great consolations: access to a landscape so stark, it merges with the spiritual state of absolute exhaustion, a simultaneous emptiness and fullness that is essentially religious.” –Topographical Buddhism, Sam Anderson More information: www.coloradotrail.org twitter @jjhildebrand1

Thermaling in Mixed Company

[ contributed by > DENNIS PAGEN ]

Knowing is half the battle!

TRA I N I N G

Free flying is a personal thing. Maybe we hitch a ride up to takeoff, maybe we get a little assistance launching, maybe we get a helping hint from a spiraling hawk, but in the main we fly alone, making our own decisions. Yet, early on in our flying progress we learn to thermal followed by the quick realization that thermals are finite, periodic, occasional, elusive and thus open game. That means if we are going to experience some of the most fun in human endeavors—thermaling—we will be joined by other pilots in the air in the same lift blob.

I once flew with a pilot who was so uncomfortable with other gliders anywhere near, he would leave every time another pilot came to share his lift, even a couple hundred feet above or below him. That pilot arrested the development of his skills and often had very short flights. Perhaps some reader has this tendency, but there is hope: This article is all about the methods of thermaling with other pilots, be they of your ilk (tubes or lines) or different (lines or tubes).

THE PROBLEMS

Hopefully we all have a healthy dose of respect for the pitfalls (and falls) of flying. We should be wary of midairs and potential conflicts. But abject and unfounded fears in any aspect of life is counter-productive. Phobias, prejudices and bouts of illogic are debilitating and always prevent us from reaching our full potential.

Unfounded or foolish fears can best be overcome through desensitization and education.

Desensitization requires gradual exposure, and education starts right here.

Look at this: Nearly everyone reading this piece drives a car, with other drivers zooming by on the highway, or milling through traffic in a busy city. Some of the other drivers may even be impaired by drugs, sex or rock ’n’ roll (no, never us). Yet, by being aware, awake, courteous and observant of some easy traffic rules, we never (or rarely) have an accident.

The main difference in piloting a glider in a swarm and driving a car in traffic is that in a glider we are dealing with three dimensions, while in a car we are mostly concerned with two dimensions. The additional dimension is up and down, of course, and really, this isn’t a problem with new pilots because there usually aren’t thick swarms of pilots outside of competition, and in our early practice we expect to only fly with one other pilot in a thermal.

However, to our benefit the speeds involved with our type of flying are mostly half or less than the speeds when driving a car. The work load isn’t all that bad.

Flying, like driving, has rules and requires consideration of the other pilots when we work in proximity. But the flying rules aren’t nearly as many or complex as driving rules. So let’s get to it.

APPROACHING AND ENTERING A THERMAL

One of the important parts of thermaling with another pilot is joining him or her in a manner prone to instill confidence as well as avoiding making the other pilot alter his or her path around the thermal circle. The best way to begin instilling confidence is to approach the thermaling pilot on the correct side with a wide enough clearance path that the other pilot doesn’t feel threatened by your approach.

This process is best shown in an illustration.

Figure 1 shows the thermaling pilot in an established circle (we show both clockwise and counterclockwise directions for clarity).

You should be able to see that if you approach a clockwise circling pilot you must join the circle from the left side to initiate a right turn and duplicate the circle. Vice-versa for a 54 US H PA P I LOT

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counterclockwise circle. Look at the figure and note the point labeled A. That point is where an approaching pilot alters his path to get to the correct side of the thermal circle. This point A can be a quarter mile away, or further, of course. However, in thermal conditions the approach path is apt to be altered by turbulence somewhat. But more importantly, if you come from quite a distance on a beeline, the circling pilot has no idea if you see him/her or not. On the other hand, a straight approach to the thermal is usually most efficient (given we cannot know exactly how the sink is distributed) and making a definite course alteration at point A is a clear signal that you see the other pilot and are properly positioning yourself to enter the established circle with ample safety margins.

How far away from the circle should point A be? The answer depends on your skill and that of the circling pilot. In a competition where most pilots are highly skilled and comfortable thermaling with others, point A may be only a few wingspans from the circle for hang gliding and even less for paragliding. However, for recreational pilots, 5 to 10 wingspans (50 to 100 yards) is reasonable. Wallowing around as you approach the circle sends the wrong

󲢍 The current state of flying with its dwindling sites and crowding airspace means we all have to learn to mix, no matter what our wing preference. 󲢝 message, so a straight, fast flight and a definite course change at A is key to good messaging, good manners and good safety. Note that sink generally surrounds a thermal so you would normally want to fly fast and straight to minimize your time in it. On the other hand, sometimes you encounter an associated thermal core before you get to the established circle. If you are outside the A point, there is no real harm in trying out this core. However, in my experience in competition, good pilots are usually in the best core and nearby cores are a waste of time. In recreational flying that may not be the case, but you can always come back for the errant core if the marked core does not pan out.

From the figure you can see that we should enter the thermal at a tangent to the circle.

Such a practice requires that you mark where that tangent is when the established pilot is on that side of the circle. It’s not hard to

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see where that tangent point is with a little practice, even in wind with a drifting thermal, because you are drifting too. Of course, we should be aware that when our path reaches the circle, the other pilot may be right where we wanted to enter the circle. In that case, we should simply make a wide circle around the established circle as shown in figure 2. Because the pilot in the thermal has a much smaller circle, he will soon get ahead of us and we can then nudge our glider over to enter the circle. The nudge should be timed to put you in the circle exactly opposite the other pilot, as shown. The main point here is to allow plenty of clearance for safety and to allow the other pilot to maintain his circle, for if he’s reasonably good he will be in the best part and we want to join him. If we knock him out it’s bad karma, but also less efficient for us if we have to search for the best track in the core.

It should go without saying (but we’ll say it because it is too common a defect) that we all need to be as comfortable entering a circle turning clockwise as counterclockwise. If you are not, you have a summer project. The best way to familiarize yourself with melding into all circles is to practice with a friend on bicycles. Have the friend establish a steady circle while you try to enter it smoothly with no conflict—in both directions. This is the best way to learn thermal basics in a comfortable environment.

WORKING TOGETHER

If you are the pilot in the established circle you have a small responsibility. Mainly, don’t 56 US H PA P I LOT

go to sleep. Be vigilant so you are aware of approaching pilots. In moving or variable thermals we often alter our circle to remain in the best lift, but with a nearby pilot about to meld into our circle we best keep our circle regular, at least for a couple turns until the other pilot gets established. But whatever you do, don’t flatten out your bank and widen the circle.

This is a beginner reaction and understandable if we are timid, but such behavior is confusing for everyone. It puts you out of the best lift and the newly arrived pilot will not know where to anchor his circle. If he is good he will have a tendency to establish immediately in the best circle and may come into conflict with you at some point in your mutual circles.

In other words, by flattening out (through misplaced caution) you actually cause more conflicts and reduce safety. Keep your circle steady and your position predictable.

It should be noted that new thermal pilots in general make circles too big for best efficiency (climb rate). You may find a very good pilot entering your circle and wanting to tighten it up. He may do it by staying a little inside your circumference, and in which case he will be catching up to you. If that happens you can tighten up and climb together. If you don’t he may eventually go inside you and climb away.

That leaves you in the dregs of the thermal, but more importantly may make you feel that you got a little close as he blows by you. The best practice is to be aware and try to duplicate the other pilot’s path if you know he is a good pilot.

If a thermal is moving or broken, generally two pilots can work it better than one. This factor harkens back to our main point that we all should be ready and able to work a thermal with another capable pilot. If the other pilot is about opposite to you, you have at least 10 seconds to see what the air is doing where he is at, and act accordingly. For example, in figure 3 assume you are at point Y and the other guy is at Z. Imagine you see him rise in relation to you. The main reason that happens is he passed through a patch of better lift. Thermals often display surges and unsteady flow, which isn’t a mystery since they can be a roiling, rolling plume like smoke from a stack. Or think about the tumbling action we see in vigorous cumulus clouds which are caused by thermals (cumulus means tumbled in Latin).

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When you see the pilot rise, in most cases you should alter your circle to put yourself more in the lifting area. To make this adjustment, simply widen your circle (open up or bank less) at point W in the figure, then steepen your bank again to reestablish the same bank angle at point S—about 90 degrees around the circle from W. You have now just shifted your circle towards the better lift. If your thermal-mate is adept, he will do the same thing when he comes around. There are times when a thermal is so mercurial that a couple pilots may be constantly adjusting position to max out the climb. It becomes a pas de deux.

We wish to emphasize that if you are alone in a surging thermal, you may do a reasonably good job at staying in the best lift, but you cannot do it as efficiently as you can when another pilot is there to indicate where the best lift is only a half circle ahead of you. Alone you may tighten up when you feel a surge, but it usually takes a full circle to really center on it, and if the thermal is continuously changing, it may be blossoming elsewhere by then.

Just as with merging into an occupied thermal, you can best practice this coordinated moving of circles on bicycles with a buddy clued in to what you are doing. Imagine him hitting a surge of lift, then move over to center on it with him altering his circle to join you.

Then have him do the move first, and you follow. It should be noted that good pilots follow the same procedures when a patch of sink is encountered in the thermal. In this case you move away from it by tightening your circle up for about 90 degrees, then opening it up again. Practice this thermal technique as often as possible and it will become second nature.

HANG AND PARA GUIDING

Now here’s a guide for hang glider pilots merging, melding and mixing with paraglider pilots and vice versa. Hang gliders thermal at speeds around 30% to 50% faster than paragliders.

That means potential conflicts in a shared thermal. In addition, hang gliders cannot maneuver as quickly as paragliders, paragliders occupy more vertical airspace and, finally, hang glider pilots have less visibility than paragliding pilots, especially upwards.

With all these considerations, let’s see how to operate together. The most important matter

we need to resolve is the different thermaling speeds of paragliders and hang gliders. The only way to make this work without a lot of weaving in and out (less safe) or one pilot getting knocked out of the thermal (unfriendly and frustrating) is for the two different gliders to fly two different size circles. As figure 4 shows, when the slower paraglider flies a smaller diameter circle, he travels a shorter route, so the two gliders with mismatched airspeeds can stay directly across from each other and not conflict. Years of experience has shown that this scheme is the only one that works effectively.

There are two behaviors to overcome with this method. First, paraglider pilots often tend to make wide circles when thermaling, perhaps because they learned in big, wide thermals and never graduated to being efficient in tighter cores. There is nothing detrimental in turning tighter in a paraglider if you know how to avoid a stall and spiral. In fact, the added G-loading and airspeed in a tight turn may provide more pressurization. If you don’t

tighten up, an experienced hang glider pilot may have the tendency and temptation to cut inside of you and confusion will follow. Note: Pilots on the same type of glider (hang or para), but of different performance levels should be aware of these different thermaling speeds as well. For example, I have seen many pilots on intermediate gliders thermaling with wide circles while a pilot on a competition wing tries to work the same lift. Usually the tendency is for the faster comp pilot to cut inside the intermediate guy boating around, thereby causing the slow pilot to lose the core and feel imposed upon. But if you tighten up, you’ll find the conflicts largely go away and you’ll climb faster.

The second matter in this regard is that neither pilot may be in the ideal circle for his or her glider, but still it is better to be going up than getting blocked out of the thermal and causing animosity. I have seen many pilots lose the lift because neither would coordinate nor cooperate.

Another important factor for everyone to understand is that hang glider pilots cannot see across the circle when they are banked up steeply. In fact, the way a good pilot operates is to maintain a regular circle and trust the other pilot to do the same. This procedure works for a mixed hang and para pilot combo as well.

If both are maintaining the circle diameters that keep them on opposite sides of the circle, safety and performance are maximized.

The next matter to consider is merging into an established gaggle in mixed company. As described above, a straight-in approach with a definite signaling path change at point A is the proper method. Hang glider pilots should 58 US H PA P I LOT

make this change earlier than paraglider pilots as befits their less maneuverable nature. But if the hang glider pilot is in the established circle, paraglider pilots should make the change sooner than normally, at least until the hang glider pilot gets used to you working closer.

While you work a thermal together you can learn the quality of each other’s experience.

In figure 5 we show a top view of a paraglider approaching a circling hang glider. The paragliding pilot must be aware that a prone hang glider pilot cannot see the approach clearly until his circle reaches point B in the diagram.

In fact, point B is where a hang glider pilot decides whether or not to continue the circle around according to the clearance he has to the approaching glider. It is when the circling pilot is at B that you should make the definite course alteration to go around the circle and merge (this principle applies to both types of gliders). Obviously you can change your path much sooner, but you will disappear to the hang glider pilot and he may widen his circle and no longer be in, or mark, the best lift. A paraglider pilot who is alertly looking around can see an approaching pilot sooner—at C, for example—so making the course change earlier in an approaching hang glider is appropriate.

Finally we should give a reminder that the lower pilot has the right of way. If another pilot is climbing up to you, you have to give way. The best method in this case is to simply widen your circle and let him play through.

Once he is clear above you can tighten back up and resume your good coring. In many thermals paragliders can work more efficiently, so hang glider pilots will have to give way and should be aware that paragliders require more vertical airspace clearance—more than twice that of a hang glider. In all cases, discussion and review of the flight with the pilot you shared a thermal with helps educate you both and helps you work together better during the next flight.

The current state of flying with its dwindling sites and crowding airspace means we all have to learn to mix, no matter what our wing preference. In order to mix we have to merge and meld properly and predictably. A good dose of courtesy helps to smooth the waters, and goddess or goodness knows, we all need each other to keep our sports viable. Cooperate and elevate.

Illustration de ValĂŠrie DUMAS

USH PA PILOT 59

www.coupe-icare.org

Spring Thermals De-mystified

[ contributed by HONZA REJMANEK ]

Honza is back with tips on how to get the most out of Spring!

TRA I N I N G

The long winter has stretched into spring. On a few rare days some of your friends got great flights. But good flying conditions usually occurred during the workweek, when it was BELOW Mattias Kuffer impossible to get away. Now, a month past cranking up over the Swiss Alps. the equinox, it looks as if you will finally get a great post-frontal day on a Saturday! So you sort out your kit the night before and look forward to the end of a hiatus in thermal flying. However, a part of you feels slightly anxious at the prospect of bouncing around in punchy, springtime thermals. You begin to wonder if a springtime thermal is really punchy, or if your bump tolerance is just low at this time of year.

Certainly a lack of familiarity can make a strong thermal feel rougher than it might otherwise. However, several factors can lead

60 US H PA P I LOT

to surprisingly strong springtime thermals.

It is important to realize that when one considers incoming solar radiation, springtime receives the same amount as summertime, but in reverse order. Spring ends when summer begins, at the summer solstice—when days are longest and the sun carves its highest arc through the sky. In the northern hemisphere, the sun will carve the same arc across the sky in late April as it does in mid-August. Many of the steeper south faces will receive perpendicular rays at high noon, and exposed dry surfaces will heat significantly.

What makes springtime unique in the mid-latitudes is the remaining abundance of cold air in the ice- and snow-covered polar regions. This lag in heating of the polar air assures that frontal systems occur more frequently than during the summer months.

Frontal systems, or mid-latitude cyclones, are depicted by a bull’s eye of isobars on a surface chart, centered on a big L. An extra-tropical, or mid-latitude, cyclone can be thought of as a great mixer that helps alleviate the northsouth temperature gradient. Polar air is brought towards the equator and subtropical air is brought poleward. In some regions, a steady succession of these cyclones leads to prolonged periods of bad weather. When they are spaced further apart, we need to keep our eye out for the day or two after a cold front has passed. Post-frontal conditions will often bring air that is cool, dry, and possesses a steep lapse rate.

Having freshly arrived from the polar regions, the air is clean of aerosols, or dust and smoke particles. This allows the sun’s rays to reach the ground unhindered. In contrast, the summer months can experience long spells under the influence of high pressure, allowing aerosols to accumulate in the boundary layer.

This has a stabilizing effect, because some of the sun’s rays are intercepted thereby heating the air from above. If the visibility is good and the sun feels strong on your face early in the morning, it might be a great flying day. If the dew-point temperature is low, compared to the forecast high temperature, there is a good chance for a high cloudbase. Of course, it is important to make sure it is not going to

USH PA PILOT 61

be too windy for your skill level.

To get a strong thermal, we need a fast heating rate of the air near the surface, as well as a deep layer with a steep lapse rate, through which the thermal can accelerate and get up to speed. Spring will generally bring fewer flyable days than summer, but when a flyable day sets up, it often allows for great flights and a deep boundary layer. A light-wind day, after the passage of a cold front, can yield a day with a long flying window and high cloudbases and spectacular views. If the higher mountains are still snow-covered, there will be fewer thermals to draw in a strong valley wind than on a summer day. Thus, crossing of large valleys can be easier in the spring than in the summer. This is why some very long XC flights can be flown in the spring.

Strong heating rates occur when there is a strong temperature contrast between the surface and the air overlying the surface.

Drier surfaces are more likely to develop this surface-to-air temperature contrast. Wet or vegetated surfaces do not heat very efficiently, because much of the net radiation is spent on evaporating water. In springtime, many deciduous trees are just starting to sprout

their leaves, while those on higher slopes are still in winter mode. More of the sun’s energy can go into heating the surface, without the presence of a dense leaf cover.

It is important to remember that a surface can lose heat by conduction, convection, and radiation. In the summer, it can be more difficult to maintain a strong temperature contrast between the surface and the overlying warm air. A surface radiates in the long wave.

As the surface gets hotter, it loses a greater percentage of its heat to space by long-wave radiation. Less energy is available for heating the air.

In springtime, it is not uncommon for cold air to continue to blow in aloft, while the surface air heats from below. This destabilizing scenario is conducive to thermal production.

In sum, the factors discussed can conspire on a clear, crisp spring day to produce surprisingly strong thermals that are easily as strong as in those in the summer. If you have a personal rule of not flying mid-day thermals in the summer, you will be wise to adhere to this rule in the spring. This would be particularly prudent if you have not flown in thermals all winter.

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USH PA PILOT 63

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https://www.ushpa.org/page/calendar. A minimum 3-MONTH LEAD TIME is required on all submissions. Tentative events will not be published.

MAY 23-27 > HYNER CLUB FLY-IN Hyner View State Park, PA - Hyner Club Fly-in and PG Open House Our famous launch at Hyner View State Park has recently seen increased use of its paragliding launch, and the club has landscaped its two LZs to be more friendly to new pilots and high performance hang gliders. To celebrate we are hosting a fly-in and paragliding open house. Go to http://www.hynerclub.com for details. More Info: www.hynerclub.com/openhouse.html APR 26-28 > BURNSIDE ANNIVERSAY (A Southern Para Pilots Invitational) Dunlap, TN - Henson Gap - Let's come together to celebrate friends, flying, food, and our beloved Burnside launch. The Tennessee Tree Toppers invites you to join us April 26-28 for a weekend full of celebration. We're taking this opportunity to celebrate our launch, as well as our Southern Para Pilot Friends. We’re eager to see you all, exchange stories from our times in the sky and celebrate the communities that make our sport so special. SPP members fly free for the weekend. Loc: 1570 Window Rock Rd, Dunlap, TN 37327 More Info: culovetn@gmail.com, https://tttmember.org/calendar/ CANCELLED > EAST COAST HANG GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP at Ridgley, Maryland. USHPA Sanctioned HG Race To Goal – AT. This event has been cancelled by the organizer. Organizer: Dan Lukaszewicz | Lucky_Chevy@yahoo.com Website: none JUN 15-22 > APPLEGATE OPEN at Woodrat Mtn, Ruch, Oregon. USHPA Sanctioned PG Race To Goal. Mark your calendars. The tradition of great racing continues in the Applegate Valley at Woodrat Mountain in Ruch Oregon. Come fly with some of the best pilots in the USA. $50 discount coupon available for returning pilots from 2018. Register Dates: Feb 2 - Jun 15, 2019 Organizer: Dan Wells | pdx.dbw@gmail.com Website: http://wingsoverapplegate.org/

AUG 10-17 > BIG SPRING NATIONALS (Pre-Pan-Americans) at McMahon Wrinkle Airport, Big Spring, Texas. USHPA Sanctioned HG Race To Goal – AT. The 17th Big Spring National Series, site of the 2007 World Hang Gliding Championship, the finest cross country hang gliding competition site in the US. Big Tasks (world records), smooth thermals, unrestricted landing areas, easy retrieval on multiple roads, consistent cumulus development at 1 PM, air conditioned head quarters, hanger for setup, free water and ice cream, welcome dinner, live tracking, many drivers available, strong safety record, highest pilot satisfaction rating. Easy airport access to Midland-Odessa airport, inexpensive accommodations, plentiful infrastructure (restaurants), great community support, superb meet director.

Register Dates: Nov 1, 2018 - Aug 10, 2019 Organizer: Belinda Boulder | belinda@davisstraub.com Website: https://airtribune. com/2019-big-spring-nationals/info/details__info

JUL 6-13 > US OPEN OF PARAGLIDING CHELAN at Chelan Butte, Chelan, Washington. USHPA Sanctioned PG Race To Goal. Register Dates: Mar 1 - Jul 6, 2019 Organizer: Matty Senior | mattysenior@yahoo.com Website: http://300peaks.com/

SEP 15-21 > SANTA CRUZ FLATS RACE / MARK KNIGHT MEMORIAL at Francisco Grande Golf Resort, Casa Grande, AZ. USHPA Sanctioned HG Race To Goal – AT. We’re back at the Francisco Grande Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona for the 12th annual Santa Cruz Flats Race. Come on out and join us for some unique technical flying and loads of fun in the desert.

Register Dates: December 15, 2018 - August 15, 2019 Organizer: Jamie Shelden | naughtylawyer@gmail.com Website: http://www.airtribune.com/santa-cruz-flats-race-markknight-memorial-2019

JUL 12-14 > INKLER'S POINT FLY-IN at Chewelah, Washington USA. Come join us for 3+ days of good ridge soaring and thermal flying at Inkler's Point! Camping available right adjacent to the LZ. One or two new sites in the area will also be available to fly covering most wind directions. A pilot or two will be on hand before and after the dates of the event to show off other sites in the area - all within 10 road miles of downtown Chewelah. This is a USHPA Insured site. USHPA membership is required. More Info: www.centeroflift.org

SEP 23-28 > RED ROCKS FALL FLY-IN in Richfield Utah. more specifically Quality Center 540 South Main. When *September 23-28 2019 Why * Because flying Paragliders and Hang gliders is awesome. Who * Paragliders and hang gliders from all over the world. We are expecting over200 Pilots this year. How much * 60 Dollars for the whole week. Plus 10 dollars per ride up the mountain to give to the driver. More Info: www.cuasa. com, Stacy Whitmore 435-979-0225 stacy@cuasa.com Jef Anderson 435-896-7999 jef@cuasa.com

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PARTS & ACCESSORIES

CLASSIFIED RATES rates

start at $10.00 for 200 characters. Minimum ad charge is $10.00. ALL CLASSIFIEDS ARE PREPAID. No refunds will be given on ads cancelled that are scheduled to run multiple months. For more info, visit www.ushpa.org/page/ magazine-classified-advertising CLINICS & TOURS

BAJA MEXICO > La Salina Baja’s BEST BEACHFRONT Airsport Venue: PG, HG, PPG: FlyLaSalina.com. by BajaBrent. com, He’ll hook you up! Site intros, tours, & rooms. bajabrent@bajabrent. com, 760-203-2658 PARACRANE Paragliding Tours > Nick Crane, USHPA Advanced Instructor, Veteran Guide | Costa Rica 2/11-2/21 | Brazil 3/4-14 | Europe 6/2-16, 9/9-19 and 9/21-10/1 | www.costaricaparagliding.com | nick@paracrane.com FLYMEXICO > Valle de Bravo for Winter and year round flying tours and support.

Hang Gliding, Paragliding. Guiding, gear, instruction, transportation, lodging. www.flymexico.com +1 512-467-2529

GUNNISON GLIDERS > X-C to heavy waterproof HG gliderbags. Accessories, parts, service, sewing. Instruction ratings, site-info. Rusty Whitley 1549 CR 17, Gunnison CO 81230. 970-641-9315.

SCHOOLS & INSTRUCTORS HAWAII > PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING > Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Full service school offering beginner to advanced instruction, year round. 808-874-5433 paraglidemaui.com

NEW YORK > MOUNTAIN WINGS > Since 1980. Only flight school left in tristate. PASA certified advanced instruction. Moyes and North Wing. mtnwings. com mtnwings@verizon.net Ellenville 845-647-3377 NORTH CAROLINA > KITTY HAWK KITES > The largest hang gliding school in the world, teaching since 1974. Learn to hang glide and paraglide on the East Coast’s largest sand dune. Year-round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. 1902 Wright Glider Experience available. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Learn to fly where the Wright Brothers flew, located at the beach on NC’s historic Outer Banks. Also visit our NH location, Morningside Flight Park.

(252) 441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, kittyhawk.com/hang-gliding

NEW HAMPSHIRE > MORNINGSIDE > A Kitty Hawk Kites flight park. The Northeast’s premier hang gliding and paragliding training center, teaching since 1974. Hang gliding foot launch and tandem aerowtow training. Paragliding foot launch and tandem training.

Powered Paragliding instruction. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Located in Charlestown, NH. Also visit our North Carolina location, Kitty Hawk Kites Flight School. 603-542-4416, www. flymorningside.com

TEXAS > FLYTEXAS TEAM > training pilots in Central Texas for 25 years. Hang Gliding, Paragliding, Trikes. Hangar facilities Lake LBJ, Luling, Smithville www. flytexas.com 512-467-2529

NEW YORK > SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK > 40 acre flight park; 160’ main training hill; Bunny hills in all directions; Best facility in NY; New Alphas & Falcons in stock; Trade in Trade up; www. cooperstownhanggliding.com

VIRGINIA > BLUE SKY > located near Richmond , year round instruction, all forms of towing, repairs, sewing , tuning... Wills Wing, Moyes, Icaro, Aeros PG, Mosquito, Flylight, Woody Valley. www.blueskyhg.com

Fly beyond! with the Oudie

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Final

[ contributed by MARK FORBES ]

Passing the Torch: Estate Planning to Ensure the Future of Free Flight “Ain’t none of us getting out of this alive.” It’s a fact that we’re not going to live forever. We make up for it by living life to the fullest, pursuing our passion for flying for as long as we’re able. The next generation to fly will face increased pressure on our flying sites as population growth and development expand.

Sites that were out in the hinterlands, far from population centers, now find themselves becoming prime, valuable real estate. Over the history of our sport, we’ve seen many sites lost to development. We’ve all heard tales that start, “Back when we flew at….”, and end “until they built houses there.”

Planning now for the future can help to preserve sites, by purchasing easements, acquiring land outright, making essential improvements to keep a site usable or building supporting infrastructure to create a new site.

All of this work requires money, and one of the ways we can support the work is through Planned Giving. The Foundation for Free Flight is launching its Planned Giving campaign to support the future of our sport.

Planned Giving is a general term that covers many different kinds of donations. The “planned” aspect is that it is pre-arranged and documented, usually in a will. The most common kind of gift is a bequest, where a dollar amount or some portion of an estate is donated. The Foundation for Free Flight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity which can accept donations to further the goal of preserving our sport. Those donations can be made to the general fund for the support of any of the Foundation’s core purposes, or donations can be targeted to specific purposes.

The Foundation’s core purposes are Site Preservation, Safety and Education, and Competition. Within those broad categories are funds for various site-development projects, support for instructors and training programs, and funding for hang gliding and paragliding

competitors. Donors can specify what their donations should be used for, if they desire, and those funds are restricted to the designated purpose.

Estate planning is complex and there is no substitute for competent legal advice. If you don’t already have a will, and many people don’t, you should definitely get that done.

There are low-cost commercial products like Quicken Willmaker which will generate the necessary forms for a simple estate. There is even a free online option, https://www.doyourownwill.com. While the Foundation can’t offer legal advice, the trustees are happy to work with you to provide information that your estate planner can use.

While bequests are the most common, there are other types of planned gifts. You might set up a trust which accepts a sum of money and pays out a fixed annual amount for the remainder of your life. When you’re gone, the balance of the trust goes to the charitable cause you’ve selected. A trustee you select manages the fund during your lifetime, freeing you from that worry in your last years.

Living trusts, donor-managed investment accounts, annuities and so on may also be used, but donors should seek the advice of legal counsel to set them up correctly. This generally applies to larger estates over a few million dollars.

Whether large or small, a bequest to the Foundation for Free Flight will help to ensure that the next generation of pilots has access to flying sites, and will support the work of instructors teaching those who come after us.

Your contribution will sustain the sport for decades to come. If you have questions or need advice on how to set up a planned gift to the Foundation, contact Jayne DePanfilis, Executive Director.

Email jaynedepanfilis@foundationforfreeflight.org or phone 559-677-7546.

󲢫 Whether large or small, a bequest to the Foundation for Free Flight will help to ensure that the next generation of pilots has access to flying sites, and will support the work of instructors teaching those who come after us. 󲢻 66 US H PA P I LOT

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