A                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 A new year and a new venture …guiding in the big mountains of the Karakorum. I want to try and take what we have learnt guiding in Bir to the big mountains of the Karakorum in Pakistan, with help from Brad Sander. So if you would like to come and fly in the clearest air on the planet, and see up close the strong sun sparkling off untouched ice peaks, then there are lots of links and info at  www.skyguides.co.uk

These prayer flags outside my kitchen window were put up for the pioneer Bruce Mills, and his himalayan home. They will help remind me of  a long life well  lived, and his survival when you have played so hard is real success. RIP mate.

This is beautiful Nanda Devi. I have seen it from a paraglider twice before, the first time from 40km away whilst doing the first bivvy crossing of the Indian himalaya with Bob Drury, and then the second time from much much closer, as I bombed out into a frighteningly massive gorge at the entrance to the Rishi ganga.

I should know better, I know. But we are sometimes moths to the flame…and this flame is so beautiful.

So its time to be sorting kit. The Ozone Delta is my wing, perfect blistering performance that will hopefully get me out of the tight spots by gliding right over them, whilst having the secrurity of handling to get in super close when needs must to catch the nasty climb. And this year I am going to fly it with the new Supair Delight, a new super light xc bivvy harness. If it can last as long as my Altirando that has taken me around the himalayas for the last 4 years I will be well pleased!

Xavier, a long time french paraglider pilot, competitor, photographer,pwc organiser, and all round star guy is missing in probably high remote mountains in the Andes. And, typical of someone who has spent the last 20 years as a flying vagabond, his rescue insurance is too small and fast running out. What would he do if it was one of his pwc competitors ? Everything in his considerable power to find the poor pilot and bring them back to safety…and only then throw the  pwc manual at them.  Make a donation to help find him at the PWC website. http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/

Xavier has been found, unfortunately dead, high up on a 6000m mountain, camera as ever in hand.He always lived life full bore,but also with consideration,which I think is very rare. I first ‘met’ him high up in Chamonix before either of us flew paragliders, Xav hanging out a chopper door whilst I hung on tiny finger holds cursing the noise and downdrafts. Years later at a pwc launch, he came over laughing holding large photographs, saying he had proof of what I did in a previous life.It was always good seeing Xavier.

 He lived a brilliant life,  following his own path, and died doing what he loved best, high up in the wild mountains, camera in hand. I am personally made up that he could still be ‘irresponsibly adventurous’  in todays constantly connected world, willing to cut loose and embrace the adventure full on. I am sure he will smile at the out-pouring of love and concern he has generated. As he did in  life, he continues to bring  the paragliding community together in a big big way.

I have just had a weekend bivvying out in the woods, waiting for the summer to start, and to fly over this amazing landscape of valleys and mountains once again.

Sitting here around the fire, looking over at the col in the distance, it is hard not to think you are in the foothills of the himalaya, somewhere like Bir.

I can remember flying over that col a few times, usually a thousand feet above it on classic days…one time  a hundred feet below. And it makes me realise that we dont always need to be flying , the  memories seem to endure.  To watch a Raven or Buzzard can sometimes almost be as thrilling as pulling on a brake line, and banking into a turn.

But evenso…bring on summer.

post script…and less than a week later summers here, and i fly over those distant mountains to do a 54k out return over the wilds of the migneint. Even with an r10 it felt a battle, so I salute the 52.5 of Chris Canata  in 2006. Hopefully with the longer days soon on the way that paultry 1.5k can be extended a little further.

The Ozone Magnum chasing Es Tresidder and Sam Smith

His name is Es, and he’s a Mountain Equipment athlete with a taste for climbing ice in winter, and mountain running in summer.
He has the Cuillen ridge record already in the bag, and this year it’s the welsh 3000 summits run that he has in his sights.

15 mountains…
40 km…
3000m of ascent… 
      
and a record time of 4hrs 19 min that has stood since 1988 when Colin Donnelly took it from Josh Nailer with a massive margin.

When I was asked to come and work as an aerial camera platform I was more than interested because I too had studied the route with a view to attempting it, using a paraglider to reduce the punishing distance, but still landing at each summit to visit the top as the runners must do.
But even with a wing it didn’t look easy…and dangerous!

And it wasn’t to be easy for Es Tresidder either,finishing  an hour behind time…strengthening Colin’s massive reputation which must be an increasing phyche-out.

Lynwen Brown’s day was also not easy, the strong stable thermals inducing a debilitating sickness as  she looked into the veiw finder…and terminating our cross country following the runners.
We made a landing near a mountain stream for a welcome early bath…and I am sure for Lynwen another reputation was enhanced, that of Alun Hughes.

10 secs in 'the elavator' since the title photo... www.bamboochicken.tv

If you happen to be one of the many pilots who have ordered a flying dvd from me, at www.flyskyhigh.net , then this little cubby hole under the staircase of a small welsh cottage is where they come in. It looks an unorganised mess I know, but everything important to me is here, in this one square metre of space… including my R10 factory label.
I have had many many gliders over the years, and there are about 3 that stand out as significant,wings that were special. One of them was made by Gin for Edel…another by Hannes for Nova…but never have I kept the ripstop strip as a talisman, because this R10.2 is something truly special.
It seems so obvious now, having flown it, and been blown away by the performance increase, that ripping out half the chord lines is going to work just as well as taking out the span lines back in the 90’s, with the Zenon. Hannes did this using diagonals, which are now in almost every paraglider today. And now the OZONE TEAM have done a similar magic trick with plastics, retaining the airofoil like the diagonals, but without the use of line. Luc, Dav, Russell and the Ozone team have now created a legacy as significant as Hannes, that will surely survive into modern paraglider design.

The R10 is brilliant. Never have I had desperate requests to buy my wing, from good comp pilots wanting to jump the R10 order queue. It speaks for itself.
I am flying the wing of the future.

(And downloading airspace maps to my gps, of lands very distant from my house!…can this thing fly!)

But not a nice one…a huge potentially unstable one that is growing daily after a major landslide, just 10km north of the flying site in Karimabad. Miracuously, only 19 people have been reported dead, but for them and their village this is a major disaster…look at the precariousness of the situation at http://pamirtimes.net/

It appears the lake has another 82 vertical metres to grow before the spillage point…and if the new dam wall is unstable it will be a huge volume of water that could engulf the valley down stream.Already villages are becoming submerged in the new lake. I really feel for the people of Hunza, and hope the water can be released before it becomes much higher.

and this is it coming down onto the KKH…photo first published by PAMIR TIMES…and found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/01/100129_hunza_landslide_pic_rh.shtml   along with many others…the dam wall looks alot more than 83m to me,knowing how big the terrain really is…and there was a village up there…this is so bad.

HUNZA LANDSLIDE  2

 much more info and video files updated almost daily at http://pamirtimes.net/

BIR>>>HIMACHAL PRADESH>>>INDIA

The monsoonal affect finally vanished punctually on the 8th of October.

It was time for the local people to bring in the harvest, and everywhere hay was being made,and piled high for the coming winter. The flying conditions were classic Bir, and each day on landing the LZ became a little bigger and easier as the grass was continued to be cut by hand.

On the 20th October an even bigger day arrived, and 6 of us set off over the back to Barot, then further back to the main Dhaludar mountains, a 5000m chain that links Dharamsala to Manali.

There was Jules and Debu, Jim and Eddie, Wolfgang, Mike and myself, racing along this awesome ridge at 5300m, glorying in the majesty, shouting at the wind. The Solang landing at the end of the Manali valley came along too soon, and Jules and me crossed the Rotang, continuing to Keylong in the big snowies, a site that Bob Drury and Ulric Jessop had pioneered in the last few years.

Jim took lots of photos, and i will upload them when i find a usb port! They will speak volumes compared to my words.So now there are 3 ‘routes’ to Manali, the high route, the low route and the SUPER HIGHWAY, flown by Julien robinson, Mike Laengle, Debu Chandery, Jim Mallinson, Eddie Colfox, Wolfgang and me on the 20th october 2009…Bir is truly Brilliant!

What can you say about the Xalps except respect.

Respect for the pilots, respect for the supporters, respect for the organizers who have the sheer balls to host the event in the first place.

I started following it this week because Hugh asked me for some knowlegable  words for a news report.

I totally failed him, but did become hooked, and started wondering what made this race so special, creating a vibe far higher than the PWC.

The obvious reason could be the massive physical element, the dreaded walking day after day… but indirectly.

If there is the least chance of it being flyable, then you are going to fly, not only because it might be faster, but because it is easier by miles than plodding along the valleys, trying to work out the route on the map, getting lost and knackered.

In the air things are simpler, everything laid out below you, passing effortlessly by.

Except for the conditions.

This is what makes it so special, almost unique.

Flying in conditions that a normal meet director would never condone.

When the only other option is to pack up all your kit and start carrying it, the desire to get airbourne is very much higher

And this is where the xalps comes close to a remote bivvy trip, where there are only footpaths, and no roads. You end up flying even on bad days, right to the very end, till the thunder is sounding almost overhead, and the gust front is racing along to meet you as you spiral out the sky. On trips like that you truly live the flying, become as one with it, dancing between the land and the sky, day after day.

So my knowlegable words Hugh?

I really don’t have them.All I do know is that if pilots that I know personally like Ogi and Julien are looking pretty average at the moment, then average is a very good thing to be. Ogi’s won pwc tasks and finished the last xalps, getting all the way to that hallowed ocean before the 48hr deadline, whilst Julien has made some of the hardest,boldest, and most beautiful flights on the planet…and is on his 2^nd xalps.

This is one hell of a difficult race

PS…As I speak Christian is still flying whilst Alex is walking …and the gap that Hofer had almost closed is opening up again before him.

Power to the sky!