Tuesday 29 January 2013

Mountains are cruel as well as beautiful

The 2012 Bir season has finished...

and I did  fly to Manali !
It took 2 attempts due to the testing conditions, but determination and commitment were rewarded, and Richard could finally relax and watch me struggling 30m below him, to gain that vital few meters and cross the last col just before Manali, to land in the new 'field' at Vashisht, right next to town.


This was the highlight of my trip, but earlier on there were plenty of lows in a season that was initially stronger and more unstable than any I had experienced before. Two friends, and one of them a long-time client, died. Sadness seems an inadequate word to describe how I felt, but I have talked about it a bit on my OzoneBlog .
So I was very thankful to Richard to have the skill and certainty and ***** that got us to Manali, and made me realise why I love paragliding in the Himalayas so much.


Such flying can be very challenging, and is sometimes exactly what we are looking for.
But then, sometimes, nature turns up the volume and throws us a wild card, as this 2011 u-tube clip from the Russian  Alexey Druzhinin shows. He was attempting a new challenging bivvy circuit through the Spiti valley, a route that has been talked about for years, but never flown.
look at this video of the valley wind in the Rampur valley.
 I landed there in spring 1997 with Bob Drury, right in the center of town  on the cricket pitch, and it was sweet.
Paragliding conditions are not always predictable!


And then in 2012, he flew it ! 
info at...http://laxmatbly.livejournal.com/36828.html and if like me you don't understand Russsian, google translation helps make a little more sense.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



So to Spring 2013...hunting the out/returns!

I fancy going back to Bir, which will be my first spring visit for 15 years!
I know the place a lot better now after many autumn seasons, and would like to go and try some serious out/returns...  or as section 7D of the FAI sporting code defines them, 'Free distance using up to 3 turn points'.
And that's because Billing take-off is in the center of a 120km long, 5000m high himalayan ridge, the first one straight off the flat-lands, and therefore doesn't seem to qualify as a true out and return. 
But to me, a 'flat triangle' has always sounded silly and complicated . An out and return is honest, it tells you immediately what it is.
So I shall be doing O/R's.
  
 Spring is soon,only a couple of months away, so if any one is interested please get in touch ASAP.
Very seasoned pilots who would be up for trying to break Debu's current 211km record might be more interested  in an 'xc style camp', with less emphasis on guiding, and more on knowledge sharing...
whilst for experienced 'club pilots' , for whom a 150km out/return should be very feasible, the normal Himalayanskysafari guiding service/pricing can be available. In fact I am sure 200k would be very possible on a good spring day with a high cloudbase. Especially since we have the offer of extra guiding assistance from the very man himself, Mr Choudhury.

Here is hoping!!!

john silv
skyguides@hotmail.com


would you trust this man even if he is a record holder?








No comments:

Post a Comment