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  1. #101
    Join Date
    May 2011
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    CO
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    2,206
    Quote Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles View Post
    We actually pay drivers at Wolcott. You could probably make a few $s. It is kinda weird deal and I only know half the story. It is private land owned by some old school Eagle County family. They just paid most of the cost to grading the road so you can drive all the way to launch. It gets flown a lot on southwest evenings. I'll PM you when it looks like it might happen. I soared for 2 hrs. there on Tuesday.
    Foggy, nice meeting you Tuesday!

  2. #102
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    CO
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    2,206
    And wtf, they banned top landing mont blanc!? How many people have died climbing it? I'm sure more than one.

    Edit: After looking into it some more, it appears to have already been illegal to fly over/top land there (maybe only in July and August?), but nobody cared since base was at 6000m+ and, well, fuck it, YOLO.

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
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    8,714
    Quote Originally Posted by zartagen View Post
    Foggy, nice meeting you Tuesday!
    Ha...funny

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
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    8,714
    It is Friday. How about some cutaways? So French.


  5. #105
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    670
    Quote Originally Posted by zartagen View Post
    And wtf, they banned top landing mont blanc!? How many people have died climbing it? I'm sure more than one.

    Edit: After looking into it some more, it appears to have already been illegal to fly over/top land there (maybe only in July and August?), but nobody cared since base was at 6000m+ and, well, fuck it, YOLO.
    Can't wait for them to post a gendarme up there to ticket those illegal top landings.

  6. #106
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    BZN
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    1,379


    Not to be a downer, but until I saw this video I thought paragliding, etc. seemed extremely cool. Now I don't know if I'd have the risk appetite for it. I'm guessing this is wildly unlikely to occur, but is there anything that could be done in the event that wind shear/a near-instantaneous reduction in airspeed causes the chute to collapse?

  7. #107
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    CO
    Posts
    2,206
    I'm not terribly experienced, but I've seen a reserve chute work in a crazy situation right next to a cliff. The pilot hit some rotor turbulence and had an asymmetric collapse on the terrain side. He got tossed into a riser twist while flying at the wall, threw his reserve, then ended up bouncing his way UP the rock face before he grabbed a tree. Nothing but some scrapes and bruises. Just an anecdote, but I've heard of a number of other successful reserve deployments.

    Paragliding is still definitely dangerous. I try to fly as high as possible to give lots of time to sort it out or throw the reserve. I get nervous when I'm as low as that guy in the video. I'm also religious about checking the weather, whether I'm flying or not.

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    8,714
    Paragliders are amazing aircraft with a very narrow range of safe operating conditions. If you fly outside of the safe conditions, you are asking for trouble. If you read the comments from that video, you will see that (from the pilots own analysis) the meteorological conditions that lead to the glider collapse (his malfunction) were forecast, verified (weather balloon) and ignored.

    The ground is hard and the air is invisible. Altitude is your friend. Powered Paraglider Pilots in the flatlands are notorious for cruising low. You need to be hyper aware when you are so low that your reserve may not help.

    And yes, there are things that could be done to both prevent the collapse and recover. I'm not gonna go into the analysis of the pilots technique or the specifics of the recovery only to say that things could have been done differently.

  9. #109
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    670
    Simply put, that accident was 99% pilot error. Always always check winds at altitude before flying, otherwise the sky shark will get you.

  10. #110
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    CO
    Posts
    2,206
    Had an amazing flight up to 18k' from Bellyache today. I was massively underdressed for the freezing temps combined with a 20mph wind chill, but it was absolutely incredible.

  11. #111
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    8,714
    Amazing flight! 18K is big time!

    A mentor of mine says, "I was having a great flight, I got cold and then I had to come down, never again." It is hard to put on a puffy and winter gloves when it is 80 out and you have no idea if you are going to get up or not.

    I was gonna PM you but no reason it can't be public. RMHPA is gonna have an informal fly-in the weekend of 9/14-9/15. We have the group campsite reserved at Pumphouse. We can fly all the K Town sites plus fishing, rafting, kayaking, swimming etc. It is about the best time of the year to be down there. I suppose I'll throw it out there that if anyone is interested in paragliding, it would be a good opportunity to check it out. Might even get to fly some tandems in exchange for driving shuttle.

    Also, the Red Rocks Fly In in Central Utah is the week of 9/23-9/27. If the conditions are good, which is frequent, those sites are about the most fun one can have.

  12. #112
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
    Posts
    30,881
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    I KNEW a paraglider, Johnnie my neighbor

    A damn good fly-in/wake last july for a neighbor/paraglider/paddler/skier/climber/fish biologist/all around wildman and a damn good barista

    Johnnie from Smithers pretty much lived life on the edge, he probably should have been killed by un-natural cause's but he was just too damn good ... instead he was taken much too young by cancer

    the day of the party was Shitty weather so flying off the ski hill and landing at the catholic school was iffy but it came together at the last minute, 7 of 8 local flyers made it to the LZ and right on over to the wake which was 50 ft away

    The old timers hockey club donated 2 kegs of craft beer, great food, a live band, probably 100 people, great storyies told ... johnnie always had great partys

    I miss him
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    N side, Terrace, BC
    Posts
    5,145
    ^^
    So sorry for your loss Al. Sounds like a damn good guy. Take care buddy.

  14. #114
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    19,201
    Quote Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles View Post
    Amazing flight! 18K is big time!

    A mentor of mine says, "I was having a great flight, I got cold and then I had to come down, never again." It is hard to put on a puffy and winter gloves when it is 80 out and you have no idea if you are going to get up or not.

    I was gonna PM you but no reason it can't be public. RMHPA is gonna have an informal fly-in the weekend of 9/14-9/15. We have the group campsite reserved at Pumphouse. We can fly all the K Town sites plus fishing, rafting, kayaking, swimming etc. It is about the best time of the year to be down there. I suppose I'll throw it out there that if anyone is interested in paragliding, it would be a good opportunity to check it out. Might even get to fly some tandems in exchange for driving shuttle.

    Also, the Red Rocks Fly In in Central Utah is the week of 9/23-9/27. If the conditions are good, which is frequent, those sites are about the most fun one can have.
    Caught at least 10 landing at pumphouse on Sunday. Conditions looked perfect.
    Is it radix panax notoginseng? - splat
    This is like hanging yourself but the rope breaks. - DTM
    Dude Listen to mtm. He's a marriage counselor at burning man. - subtle plague

  15. #115
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    8,714
    If you are bored and enjoy freeflight, this is worth a watch. One of the more French things I've seen in a while.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeRO-qlsvyk


  16. #116
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    602
    Quote Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles View Post
    If you are bored and enjoy freeflight, this is worth a watch. One of the more French things I've seen in a while.
    Very cool ! although the speed flying part doesn't appeal to me, I would like to stay airborne longer ,the concept of combining flying and skiing an awesome idea .

    I've not tried paragliding and would love to try sometime . I'm a fixed wing glider guy since the mid 70's I like the speed and ability to travel long distances . I'm not as aggressive as this guy though.

    "It's only steep if you're backseat"

  17. #117
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    CO
    Posts
    2,206
    Bumping up this thread with some photos from flying this summer.

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    Kiting at Telluride waiting out some weather

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    Flying smoke bombs over Telluride on the 4th.

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    17,000' and change over Copper

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    Sunset over Kremmling

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    Looking south from Mt. Princeton (Sorry about the rotation)

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    Surfing the flatirons

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    Enjoying some glass smooth air above and through the clouds off Mt. Victoria.

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    Sunset glide to Vail while Foggy and company were getting boosted to 14k' in the glass off at Wolcott

  18. #118
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    19,201
    If you ever get back to Wolcott and want a shuttle or just a beer, I'd love to meet you and see Foggy again.

  19. #119
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    19,201
    If you ever get back to Wolcott and want a shuttle or just a beer, I'd love to meet you, and see Foggy again. We changed a tire right there on his truck during the very beginning of an epic mag get together in '09. You should at least have my number if shit goes weird. I'm right there in 20.

  20. #120
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    12,609
    There's been a crew of paragliders on Swan Man between Breck and Dillon a few nights this summer on my way home from work. 10 of them one night. Any of yous guys up there?

  21. #121
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    slc
    Posts
    17,891
    Sick!

  22. #122
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    Sep 2009
    Location
    PNW -> MSO
    Posts
    7,889
    That is cool. Post more pics, plz

  23. #123
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    8,714
    Woah, I missed this years updates. I'll try to get some pics in here. This is a video that shows the emotions of flight. This is an experienced pilot. I never see Zartagen, he is always skied out by the time I show up. MTM, I'll contact you next time we are going to Wolcott.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScSFxpJ3aS4

  24. #124
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    Nov 2002
    Posts
    8,714
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Here is a good one

  25. #125
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    670
    Was that at Red Rocks?

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