It has been a strange summer.
A summer that was filled with big expectations, but as often happens with paragliding, expectations that could not be fulfilled.
At least, that is, the expected ones !
What actually happened was more than I could have ever expected…2 flights that I am not going to forget for a very long time!

Shispar…May 2008

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CA4G28fM_eI

I had gone out to Pakistan with Alun Hughes the film-maker, to fly in the mighty mountains of the Karakorum with our lightweight Ozone Magnum. Eddie Colfox was with us, flying his Vega 11, as was Brad Sander, on an Ozone Vulcan.

The conditions were not initially great, making our plan of a gradual acclimatization to altitude impossible – we were wanting to go to 7000m + without having the hassles of using supplementary oxygen.
And not only did we want to physiologically acclimatize ! We needed to psychologically get used to this place too. Although Alun was no stranger to icy big mountains, having spent time on the north col of Everest filming, and flying through the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in western Nepal with me, he was going to need time to adapt to the concept of being catapulted to those scary rarefied heights in less time that it takes most of us to get in the car and go to the supermarket.

But it wasn’t to be.With only one flight under his belt or in his camera, along came a good day that I wasn’t going to waste, and it was full bore to the summits.
I had seen the Shispar col before in 2006, and it was on my list. It was at least 6100m, on the west flank of the beautiful 7611m mountain Shispar Sar. From the Hunza valley its hard to see Shispar, but from the back side, on the north, it’s one of those prominent giants, a mighty candle egging my fragile combustible paraglider in for a closer look. It was as simple as that. You see something that beautiful, and you just want to get as close to it as possible.
But in this case, the only way in, was, as usual, from the sunny south side, up an 18 km glacier, over the high col (the lowest point), then glide round the mountain along the Passu and Batura glaciers, gawking at the spectacular views. Forget it I wont , thanks to Alun who could somehow keep it all together and get it down on film.

The Magic Line…..June 2008

(for me to do this route I had to seize the day, and fly with the magical words of Amy Macdonald ringing out in my ears…”if you really wanted to ,there is nothing left to do…lets start a band”…I heard it all the way)

Mad as it would have seemed at the time, the Shispar col was just a beginning.
I had first seen my magic line in 2000 whilst looking at maps, dreaming of new routes that a paraglider might fly.
It was totally obvious, a massive taunting 130km white line, linking the 2 major places of the Karakorum, Hunza to Skardu.
The first glacier was the Barpu, 25km long, leading up to Spantic ,7027m high. And then, on the other side, the Chogo lungma glacier, a big, high, 40 km long monster, and one that you would be dropping into from the wrong end… the top.
To me, it became the ultimate defined task, a route defined by the landscape, a flight that to ‘not make goal’ was unthinkable.
I tried it twice in 2001, but got almost nowhere, and started to think that my ‘magic line’ was impossible.
I began thinking of the Hispar instead.

As were Phillipe Nodet and Julien Wirtz, who in 2006 droppeded into it from the other end, making a dash towards Hunza.It was inspired, brilliant and audacious flying, pushing forward the frontiers of a crazy crazy game. It upped the limits of what I thought was feasible, and got me looking more closely at the sky.
And then I saw it one evening.
My ‘magic line’ had a mirrored reflection, a transient cloud street that set up late in the day, showing the free ride to Spantic. After that, I reasoned, a very long glide down the Chogo lungma, and I would be back to safety.
But I didn’t calculate for the strong sink caused by the north wind once I had crossed into the lee, or the fresh new snow that had brought down the snowline, giving me much further to glide.

I should have calculated a lot of new things, but thats what happens, we are all still learning, bringing a new piece of information back home at the end of the day. Hopefully !

I shall not forget that flight,ever,it is seared into my mind.

Bir. Oct/Nov 2008

Phew….its time for some enjoyement, back to the green and inhabited valleys of the Indian himalaya.
This autumn, I’m flying with Jim and Eddie of himalayan sky safaris http://himalayanskysafaris.com/
in Bir, where everyday its flyable, everyday its relaxed, soaking up the veiws in this untouched corner of the world. I cant wait to get lots of flying in. To fill up before winter.

And I have been back looking at maps again, starting to dream …. about those valleys over the back…valleys without glaciers…full of welcoming faces.Bring on Bir !

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CA4G28fM_eI