Did It!

Well Debu completed a new Indian record 211km! Click to see his tracklog.

And I completed my adventure, check out my Ozone Blog here

Or the Across Himalaya webpage here with a more detailed trip and pilot description.

Now I'm in Bir India with a few rest days before leaving around the first of May for Pakistan and the Hunza Valley. Pakistan will be interesting this year so I'll be posting regularly. For those of you soaking in the news from CNN and the like try this blog for some perspective on the situation there
http://watandost.blogspot.com/

Across Himalaya Update

Congratulations to Debu Choudhury for recently setting the max distance record from Bir/Billing. 176km out and return, check it out at http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:drdebu/31.3.2009/05:25

Debu has his sites set on the 200km mark and if he gets the right weather I'm sure he'll get it, recently Ajay Kumar and Matt Senior have joined him in Bir so that will definately give him the motivation to go big on the right day! As well the usual cast of characters is in Bir. I arrived in the night to a party at Sian's. A couple days flying and now I've started something really interesting.

Currently I'm in Jammu 160km NW of Bir with a group of 6 other pilots whose aim is to fly to the border of Nepal, 600 km in 10 days. Check out
http://acrosshimalaya.org/home.html

If the weather is good I will be away from email for a couple weeks and hope to have an interesting update by the end of April!

On The Road Spring 2009

The day is April 2nd. I'm in Rishikesh, India. It's a rest day. I've ridden from Pokhara Nepal and tomorrow I will ride to Bir. Starting with facts is easy. I've just finished "working" as a tandem pilot and will spend the summer living out my dreams flying across the most amazing mountains in the world. My freedom and joy is palpable.


Here is a picture of what I look like after riding for 2 days. It's the last day I'll wear this Pink Floyd concert shirt because it's threadbare and ripped, "nothing lasts forever" goes the lyrics of a PF song. I got it in 1994 when I saw them with my friend Bill in Denver.

About the ride: Day 1 I left at noon, rode 9 hrs and slept under the stars. Day 2 I started before dawn crossed the border and 16 hours later made my destination to be rewarded with a hot shower. Riding is easy, I am focused and alert. The world plays out before me like a movie. Beautiful mountains and agricultural scenes, a cast of characters to big to list. Children, lots of children, some in uniform going to school, others working in fields, they will never go to school. And scenes like this-





Start from the bottom, it is my motorcycle and all my worldly possessions, I have a tandem and solo glider with harnesses, both new modern gliders in excellent condition. I have a computer, 2 camera's, 2 GPSs, 2 Varios, 2 Radios, clothes, books, food, sleeping bag and pad ect., ect. Higher in the picture is a large pile of burning trash, next to the pile of burning trash is a small boy, apparently his life consists of looking through this pile of burning trash for something of value.

Here he is, working the smoky edge and finding what is revealed when the plastic burns away. Is he finding something valuable or just playing with the fire? Can we even contemplate his life? The wind shifts and I'm now in the smoke, its acrid and within a moment makes me nauseous. For seven years I worked in smokey dusty conditions as a forest firefighter but wood smoke doesn't compare to this, I'm afraid if I stay even a moment I'll do permanent harm to my health. I get on my bike and start to leave.


As I do I see the scale of the trash heap, it's the size of an American football field, there's maybe a dozen kids scattered around, beside is a shanty town where they live. A kite catches my eye, the kids have fashioned a kite and are playing with it in the middle of the field. The wind changes, the forms are obscured by smoke. I ride on.



To summarize, I've never been able to summarize my experience here. Riding across India is like a reset button for life, whatever personal problems I'm caught up in take on a different perspective. I am shocked, I am in awe. I struggle not to judge, to keep my eyes open, keep trying to observe. What problems did I think I had a minute ago? How is it that I am this lucky, that I have so much, and others live a life I can't comprehend?

Spring is Here

It's almost April and with that some great flying and conditions improving. Here in Pokhara Nepal I'm flying tandems and Parahawking, as well as getting in a few solo flights. Recently I flew with some fellow Americans who are researching a book on education in Asia. Tadahshi and Katrina took some lovely photos. You can see them at-
http://tadashiphotography.blogspot.com/

My Pakistan visa is completed so I'm ready to go the first week of May. Every day that passes I get more excited as anticipation builds. My confidence and goals for the year are... big.. to say the least.

Since Pakistan is in the news so much these days I've included a bit of background to the current situation, have a look at http://watandost.blogspot.com/ for more info, this is a recent article included on the blog

How we helped create the Afghan crisis By Stephen Kinzer

How we helped create the Afghan crisis
By Stephen Kinzer, New York Times, March 20, 2009

WITH THE United States facing a terrifying set of challenges in Pakistan and Afghanistan, this is an opportune moment to look back at how the United States itself helped create the crisis. It is an all-too-familiar tale of the behemoth lashing out in ways that seem emotionally satisfying and even successful at first, but that in the end decisively weaken its own security.

The tale begins in 1979, when Americans were caught in a sense of defeat and malaise. They were still recovering from the shock of losing the Vietnam War, only to absorb another one with the stunning overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the seizure of American diplomats in Tehran.

On Christmas Eve, however, something happened that seemed to open a new horizon for the United States. Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan and installed a pro-Moscow regime. Here, suddenly, was a chance for the United States to fight a war against the Red Army.

In order to forge an Afghan force that would wage this war, the United States needed camps in Pakistan. Pakistan was ruled by General Zia al-Huq, who had proclaimed two transcendent goals: imposing a "true Islamic order" in his country and building a nuclear bomb. He had also just hanged the elected leader he deposed, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This was the man the United States would have to embrace if it wanted Pakistan to support the anti-Soviet rebellion it hoped to foment in Afghanistan. It eagerly did so.

The United States also accepted Zia's demand that all aid sent to Afghan warlords be channeled through his intelligence agency, the ISI, and that the ISI be given the exclusive right to decide which warlords to support. It chose seven, all of them in varying degrees fundamentalist and anti-Western.

The ISI also came up with the idea of recruiting Islamic militants from other countries to come to Pakistan and join the anti-Soviet force. Its director, Hamid Gul, later said his agency recruited 50,000 of these militants from 28 countries. One was Osama bin Laden. Most of the others - brought to the region as part of a US-sponsored project, then armed and trained with US funds - shared bin Laden's radical anti-Americanism and fundamentalist religious beliefs.

During the 1980s, the CIA waged its most expensive and largest-scale campaign ever, pouring a staggering $6 billion into its anti-Soviet guerrilla force. Saudi Arabia, at Washington's request, contributed another $4 billion. Finally, in 1989, the insurgency succeeded and the Red Army withdrew from Afghanistan in defeat. One million Afghans died in the decade-long war. Five million fled to refugee camps in neighboring countries. Many found food and shelter at religious schools sponsored by Saudi Arabia, where they were taught the radical Wahhabi brand of Islam. Those schools were the cradle of the Taliban.

After the last Soviet unit withdrew from Afghanistan, the overseer of the CIA project there, Milt Bearden, sent a two-word message to his superiors at Langley: "WE WON." For a while, that seemed true. In 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who had helped conceive the project, dismissed those who worried about its long-term effects.

"That secret operation was an excellent idea," he said. "What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?"

Those "stirred-up Muslims" are now the enemy that the US faces in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They threaten America's national security far more profoundly than the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ever did.

Jimmy Carter approved the idea of sponsoring anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan poured billions of dollars into it. George H. W. Bush turned his back on Afghanistan, allowing it to degenerate into the chaos from which the Taliban emerged. Bill Clinton refused to confront the looming threat with anything more than an ineffective cruise missile raid on one of bin Laden's camps. George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan, succeeded in toppling the Taliban regime, and then, rather than staying engaged, immediately turned his attention to Iraq. Their policies showed the short-sightedness that has for more than a century been a hallmark of American foreign policy.

These American policies, more than any other factor, created the daunting crisis President Barack Obama now faces.

Stephen Kinzer is a longtime foreign correspondent and author of "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq.

The Ups and Downs (Part 1)

I haven't posted in a while but it doesn't mean a lot hasn't happened. In fact how do I cover what has happened and not miss all the important bits? September I was flying in Pakistan with 2 friends Oriol (Spanish) and Paul (English) it was great to be back enjoying the people and the flying in Booni. Then it all changed, I was preparing my wing to launch, Oriol had climbed out high above, Paul was working a thermal close to the hill. Paul lost control of his glider and crashed. As I made my way across the steep rocky slope to him I wasn't sure if he was alive or dead, when he talked calmly and I knew he wasn't going to die everything was ok. Well, his L-2 vertebrae was crushed and the bone splinters pushing against his spinal cord had paralysed him from the waist down, he was in a lot of pain. But you see he was alive, and everything was ok. I remember thinking at one point during the rescue, when this is over I'm going to drop out for a while, do a vipassana course and get my head together. 7 days later he was on an air ambulance back home to the UK, Oriol and I never left his side and Oriol accompanied him on the flight to england. Those 7 days require a story of their own. I cannot begin to thank all the people who helped, especially the amazing people in Pakistan who made rescue, treatment, and repatriation a reality. Without their help it couldn't have been done. My heart is filled with love every time I think about the difficult journey and all those who helped in our time of need. I am humbled.



Immediately after I went to Bhutan where I met my Mom and Ken (my step dad) for whom was their first visit to the Himalaya's and my first visit to a country I've been dreaming of for years. Doing a 12 day all inclusive paragliding trip with Adam Hill and Frontiers paragliding was just what I needed. No hassle, no decisions to be made and an unspoiled paradise with unique flying was the right prescription after the stress of the Pakistan trip. My Mom and Ken loved it as much as I did. Flying is in my family's blood because my mom, who's afraid of heights, loved her first experience from the moment we left the ground. Getting to share my love of flight with all my family has been so amazing, no longer trying to explain why I do it, once in the air it makes sense and they can understand why I choose this life.



Without a stop I was back to Bir India for my first serious paragliding competition. The comp was a learning experience, just a little advice for anyone in their first comp, "Don't leave low and in front of the lead gaggle!" I'll look forward to another experience in the future, it's a great opportunity to work on building patience and humility.
The more interesting story was that 5 friends from Pakistan were invited as special guests. The camaraderie of the flying community extends beyond borders and nationalism. To see Pakistanis in India shaking hands and being welcomed by Indian military personnel was... well it was just awesome! It gives hope and reassurance in the inherent goodness of humans and our ability to get along and get past differences when we find common ground.






From there I went to Bangalore where I fell in love, an amazing girl I met last year, finally the time was right to spend some time together. Only staying for a week because I needed to get back to Pokhara Nepal and start making some money. November the tandem business was in full swing and so were Parahawking flights. It was a great time to catch up with friends and share the love of flying with tourists from many countries. Kevin, the Egyptian vulture, has learned and matured over the last year, how lucky am I to have him as a flying partner! 5 weeks later without a day off I was ready to leave Nepal and take a break from flying. I was excited to return to Bangalore to see where this new romance would lead. And for that another post.. soon!

a threat, a goodbye and a new blog

"Please be aware of the increased threat level", the message on the PA repeats every few minutes. "threat level raised to orange." Wow that sounds pretty bad I think to myself, orange is pretty close to red I wonder what it is I'm supposed to be afraid of now? I'm sitting in the Denver Airport terminal waiting for my flight to Pakistan. Doing a little research on the internet I learn a little about the Homeland Security Advisory System, there is a good article on wikipedia here. So is this all just creating unsubstantiated fear? "In an article for CounterPunch, Kurt Nimmo links prolonged states of elevated, high, and severe risk to an increase of anxiety and paranoia in the general American population. He goes on to criticize the Bush Administration and its use of the Advisory System as manipulative and complicit in supporting a culture of fear in the United States." And what happened to the killer bees that were supposed to invade over a decade ago? Or is there something to this, the threat level was raised to orange July 11, 2007, because of "reports that Al Qaeda has rebuilt operating capability, strength to level not seen before the September 11, 2001 attacks; strongest since summer of 2001."

Wait. Could it be true that after years of military action we haven't actually made the world a safer place? Could it be that dropping bombs on people doesn't actually reduce the terrorist threat but creates more terrorists by impoverishing people and giving them a real good reason to hate the US? If you know me you know my position, education and raising the standard of living is the way to eliminate terrorists and make the world safer. In years of travel and living I've seen that all people are the same, we want a basic standard of living, then we want good relations with friends and family and meaningful work or activities. All people are like this, no one actually wants to hurt anyone unless they have been hurt or don't see a way out of a horrible situation.

But I'm losing my train of thought and it's not really easy to sum up briefly here. For those of you who have seen me this summer I have to explain something. Since getting off the plane in California in July I've felt a continual level of unease and awkwardness, I have not felt like myself. I can say that now because I feel who I really am returning right now as I sit and write this. It's the promise of travel and adventure that brings me out of my stupor. I compare it to visiting an animal in a zoo, you see the animal and it's really that animal... but it's not acting like itself and seems out of place. It's simply not in it's natural enviornment and no matter how well fed and cared for it is it's not really living. With that being said you are all invited to come and see me in my natural enviornment! I can help you organize and prepare for the trip and arrange logistics if you do come. I understand the difficulties of getting time off and that for some of you travel is not a natural state so I don't expect it.. but the offer is there.

And it brings me to a point.. who exactly am I writing this blog for? It started as a way to keep my friends and family informed of what I was up to. Unlike mass emailings it's actually only read when people take the time to check up on me. However recently it's been read by a lot of people who don't actually know me, and that's perfectly fine, many of you reading this may soon get to know me and become friends.. But I've been provided a nice opportunity to make a split. As part of my sponsorship by Ozone I've been given a blog to update, and it cracks me up because I'm on the same page as Felix Rodriquez! It's great, that guy's a legend in this sport and I'm a hack! But what the hell I'll go with it. And so it makes sense to write about the paragliding there and my personal life here. But I hope it doesn't make it too difficult for anyone checking in. So, you really have to go over there now because you can't imagine the paragliding trip I have planned for the upcoming fall, so if you've made it this far... click The Ozone Team Blog to see where I'm flying and learn what the other Ozone pilots are up to.

The Way Back

Ok again condensed version. The 24th of June I flew back to Booni, well not all in one day I camped at a beautiful meadow at 4100 meters near the Ishkomen valley, slept in my glider and it kept me toasty warm, Here is the video and flying with John Silvester then landing in the meadow.

The Way Back from Brad Sander on Vimeo.

So the day after I run out of tape but have a great flight. I land in Mastuj, near Booni, to visit the Ul Mulk family. Kushwaquat Ul Mulk was the last royal governor of upper Chitral, he is an amazing man and at 96 still does everything for himself, speaks flawless english and has an incredible spirit. I figure any chance you can hang out with a 96 year old who is still mentally sharp your bound to learn something, it's his strong spirit that keeps him young and I always look foreward to seeing him. His son Sikander is now the elected governor of the same area and was my host when I first arrived to Booni May 2007, as the captain of the polo team he will be playing in the Shandur festival in July but I'll leave by then. So here's my bed the second night of my return Bivy flight!









And now I'm back in the US and suddenly the world fades away, for some reason in this country it's easy to believe we are the only the only ones that matter. It's reflected in the news and in conversations and peoples attitudes, to say the least it's hard to convey where I've been and what I've been doing. I am trying to spread the message that my Pakistani friends have given me, "Go back to your country and tell them we are now what they see on TV" I swear that's what people in Pakistan say all the time, that and, "Your from America? Well, we don't like your government but we know you are good people."

Ok so I'm trying to pass that on. I've had a great time visiting friends and going to 2 family reunions. I haven't had a summer in the US in 8 years without being busy working on a fire crew and it's been nice enough to be here but I'm ready to leave now. What else? Oh why did I come back to the US instead of stay in Pakistan which was my plan.. well, my Dad had a paragliding accident here, he broke his back because he messed up a landing. Lucky it wasn't severe, surgery to fuse 3 vertebrae together and a quick recovery, he's in amazing shape for 66, and he's doing everything for himself. We go to the gym most days and he does his usual cardio/weight machine workout, minus lateral twisting motions, which he'll add in a month or two. So he's very lucky and I'm greatful, prognosis is for a full recovery and no limited motion. He's not sure if he'll fly solo again but he doesn't have to decide right now, for sure he'll make more trips to Asia and we'll fly tandem together. So that's why I'm back here.

What else? too much to tell, I was sponsored by Ozone paragliders and recieved a new lightweight Addict 2! It's the glider I would have bought if I had money so that worked out pretty well, I almost bought Luc Armant's light Addict 1 last winter after his epic himalayan bivy flight. For those pilots wanting sponsorship here's my advice, fly a glider you love, buy what you think is the best tandem on the market which also happens to be from the same company (Ozone Magnum). Then do something unique like fly really high and far in some remote far off country. Then write an email asking for a wing. Sweet!!! The world makes sense sometimes!

And the vultures? Well there is progress on that front too. This year there will be a vulture restaurant in Pokhara and we will be working to save the remaining vultures in Asia. There are some hurdles but it will get done... You can all help contact me to find out how, mainly it's money but there are other needs also.

So for that and more stay posted.. just a few more days and I get on that plane to Pakistan!!!