Sky Crack

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Messages 21 - 30 of total 30 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
jgill

Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
Nov 6, 2017 - 01:24pm PT
Mark, are you back at work or still out sailing the skies? Geological museum?
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Nov 6, 2017 - 02:16pm PT
Scott Franklin: as of 2009, living in Boulder and installing solar.
“Guys are always harnessed up, so it’s a really good fit with climbers because just managing ropes — there’s a lot of skills in that,” said Scott Franklin, a former professional climber who founded Lighthouse Solar, a Boulder, Colo. company, a few years ago.
https://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/solar-companies-draw-rock-climbers-too/
matty

Trad climber
under the sea
Nov 6, 2017 - 02:59pm PT
Longer version of the eagle video where you can see the eagle freed after the crash landing. Crazy video, must been very scary on the way down for that guy. Glad that he was nice to the bird.

[Click to View YouTube Video]
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Nov 7, 2017 - 12:14am PT
Never got around to trying it. Worked for awhile with a very intelligent guy from the Seattle area that was heavily into para gliding. His tales made it sound like a lot of fun.

edit: my guess is he now finds para gliding his crack fix.
ms55401

Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
Nov 21, 2017 - 08:00am PT
bump

and question -- what are some good international sites? I've heard that Mexico and Argentina have exceptional launching pads, curious what else might be out there beyond US borders
skywalker1

Trad climber
co
Nov 21, 2017 - 10:23pm PT
^^^^ Canazei, Italy in the Dolomites looked pretty popular (Sassolungo, Langkofel, Sella Towers group). We were climbing and camping there and people were in the sky all three days. This one person flew pretty close to us, like nodding distance (seemingly) while I was belaying and I was like "well sh#t I feel very boring right now". Very graceful. The valley floor is at least 4000ft below and I just watched (and belayed). [youtube=https://youtu.be/dCAJbbcNMNA] I now watch them from my living room off Lookout Mt in Golden and it looks soooo cool!

Question: Base104 any others who fly is it really that they contract you into buying gear at their place to train there? Planning on lessons in San Diego (My family and I are being "relocated"), and did a tandem on a recon trip.

S...
nah000

climber
now/here
Nov 21, 2017 - 11:07pm PT
re: good places outside of u.s.-can... once you have a good chunk of flying and an siv course in, my advice is goto valle de bravo in mexico if you want to get consistent weather to learn cross country flying in. there are probably other places, but i'm not aware of anywhere in the western hemisphere that's as consistent, as cheap, and has the flight possibilities that valle does. that said it'll be crowded for a reason.

there's also good flying in costa rica... tons of other places of course, but those are a couple that i've flown at...



re: flight time to waiting time... they don't call it parawaiting for nothing! that said, it all depends on the site [yeah, i know: no shIt]. but seriously some sites [the aforementioned valle de bravo, some coastal sites, i've heard point of mountain in utah, but don't know that one for sure] you'll fly up towards 70-80% of the time that you want to during certain seasons. whereas a lot of sites, especially big mountain sites you'll fly closer to 25% or less unless you are very good or very crazy... point being in general paragliding is definitely a sport that you need to couple with travel...

you also have to in general treat it kind of like fishing. sometimes you go for a nice drive or hike with your wing... and sometimes you actually get to fly... :) and really when you're starting out, it's kind of like soloing: while it's tempting to pressure yourself into "overflying" your abilities as compared to conditions, because you're frustrated not being able to fly... and you might even "overfly" once... you probably won't do it again. hahaha!



re: buying wings under contract from the school you learn at... this may happen, but i can't say i'm familiar with it. that said there can be a lot of "emotional" pressure to buy from the school you learned from in at least some, possibly many, cases. or at least i know i was given a stern frowning at when i went out and bought my wing from elsewhere... also some schools offer discounts on first wings as part of the learning package.



all that said, and given i don't currently fly, this sport is one of the reasons i'm looking forward to getting old... i just don't have the time that it takes right now, and ime it does take a large commitment of time... in part because of the parawaiting aspect, but more importantly due to it being something that has significant consequences even if it is a relatively forgiving sport... and so you need to stay current with your skills, so it's harder to just pick up and drop at will, until maybe you are very, very good...



but one of my favorite memories from when i did fly was seeing an old arthritic former helicopter pilot who had flown in nam but who at that point in his life could barely walk... he probably took 3-4X as long as anyone else to get his wing set up, his lines laid out and be ready for launch... [and so why is this a favorite memory?]

because when he was finally ready, did hobble towards launch and then finally did take off...

he was just one more bird.

[however clumsy relative to our actual feathered friends any paraglider is :) ]
GuapoVino

climber
Nov 23, 2017 - 09:27am PT
all that said, and given i don't currently fly, this sport is one of the reasons i'm looking forward to getting old... i just don't have the time that it takes right now, and ime it does take a large commitment of time... in part because of the parawaiting aspect, but more importantly due to it being something that has significant consequences even if it is a relatively forgiving sport... and so you need to stay current with your skills, so it's harder to just pick up and drop at will, until maybe you are very, very good...

It doesn't have to be extremely time consuming. Some sites have a small window of time when they're flyable, like a few hours in the morning or a few hours in the evening. If you live close to sites then you can hit one in the evening after work or first thing in the morning. I evny the guys that have a choice of sites within a short drive. They don't have to plan any trips to go fly. I have a few that are a few hours away so I only get to fly those on the occasional weekend. For long trips, once you learn the weather paterns at a particular area you can fly when it's flyable and then do other things the rest of the day. I try to avoid sitting around the flying sites all day long and try to show up just when it's flyable.
BASE104

Social climber
An Oil Field
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 26, 2017 - 03:56pm PT
OK. I haven't posted here in months. It is freeing to not log into this forum for many months. I mean, just look at some of the people here, like Werner or DMT. They post on every single thread, usually acting like they know what they are talking about regardless of subject. Do you have any idea of exactly how much of their lives they spend on this forum? Do they have a life? I couldn't care less about this place anymore, and it has gone way downhill over the last 5 years. I swear it is an addiction, like anything can be. If you log on more than once every day, you need to get outside and away from your computer. I was spending way too much time here, and others were obviously spending most of their days here.

I've learned a lot since I last posted. I've almost reached my P3 rating. I'm going to Valles de Bravo in Mexico in December to finish out my P3.

I still haven't seen an accident. A local guy broke an ankle from a downwind landing the other day, but I didn't see it. Don't do land downwind. Everyone knows that. Nice guy though. He was on a speed wing, which had something to do with it. I'm not sure how many flights he had on those wings.

I've seen zillions of safe flights though. Collisions are the biggest hazards I've seen so far. Too many wings in the air at once, and one as#@&%e who doesn't obey the right of way rules will cause that. I can't stand those guys.

I've done 2.5 hour flights. Yeah you need a vario. Whoever that was who dissed a vario was an idiot. You can get an audio only vario for 75 bucks, and they are the size of a small watch. It helps you to stay in light or zero lift, and helps you scoot through light sink that is too light to feel.

I still fly a 3 line low-EN B wing, an Ozone Buzz. That is a super common wing, and I've been flying it since halfway through my P2 training. I'll move up to a higher aspect ratio wing next year to improve XC performance.

Risk wise, as long as you don't mountain fly, it is pretty safe. A little more dangerous than skydiving, but WAY safer than BASE. Similar to generic rock climbing if you stick to good sites. Mountain flying is its own beast, and you deal with lee rotor, massive sink, lots of things that you won't find on a normal site.

I have never come even close to getting hurt. I've stuck to well flown sites and always get a good site briefing before flying. I normally watch someone else fly it first. Like climbing, the risks of a site are known before you do it. If you don't, you are being an idiot. The popular sites are flown a lot and the risks of each site are well known. You avoid making those mistakes, and it is fine.

It is a really good sport for guys my age. Super peaceful. My son is out of the house and working, so I'm free to go have adventures again. There is nothing quite like getting into the house thermal and going up like a rocket, then staying up there until dark. My skydiving experience has helped me when in the air and when landing. Most accidents happen on launch and landing. Still, kiting is hard. I just got back from a kiting session in a flat field.

Popping your wing up before launching is by far the hardest thing to learn. It took many hours of kiting to get halfway decent at it. There are ground handling jedi's, who can play with their wings and do all kinds of stuff with it on the ground. It all comes into play in real life, so you ground handle about 3 times as much as you fly.

Here is a short video of a launch I did recently. I don't wear a go-pro, so I don't have any video. A buddy shot this with his phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdEE-B-ABJs
nah000

climber
now/here
Nov 26, 2017 - 11:15pm PT
fair point GuapoVino... that a lot of people actually have interesting/consistent flying nearby is a concept that is hard for my prairie living brain to remember... ha!
Messages 21 - 30 of total 30 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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