Chitral Pakistan

Some of you have been waiting to hear about Pakistan, wait no more. And I say this not to be dramatic or romantic, though if it comes out sounding romantic or dramatic I don't mind because I mean to be factual and at the same time move you. I feel as everything that has happened in my life has prepared me to reach and react to this point and time in my life. Here- Chitral Pakistan, Now- no other moment but this. I could not have handled it before, that is why I hadn't come, It had to be now, any year earlier I wouldn't have had the flying skills to deal safely with this area, any year earlier I would have been preoccupied with thoughts of work or relationships in my life. One year ago I looked through a guidebook for Pakistan and had seen a track log someone posted on the internet of a flight near Nanga Parbat, this sparked my interest. Looking back I can see how everything since then prepared me to be here, now. Thank god I missed comming to India in the fall because it was a wash. Lucky I didn't decide to get into smokejumping this year because I would have missed this. Anyway enough enough enough, Fuck expecations, and realize that because this is going to create some for you; this is the most amazing place I've ever been. And now the words come hard because how do I back up a statement like that? The people, the history, the diversity, the godamn mountains! The experiences are a bit hard to describe, everything sounds so much cheaper when it comes out in words, in my head the feelings are.. intense.

Good, anyway now I've built it up a little too much for you, perhaps I've peaked your interest? I had a very clear idea the other day during a flight, well two really, one was that I have forgiven all who I have have perceived to have wronged me, I wish them success and happiness in life. The second is that I will bring more people to fly here, either directly on a tour or by sharing information about it so you can travel independently. Yesterday I made a website, it took only a couple hours so it is not by any means professional, but I need to get the word out now while there is time to plan for September October. I think getting people to come on a tour will require word of mouth from you my friends who I've met over the years and traveled with. The logistics are very easy and I've made some helpful well connected local contacts. I'm sure I can provide I good product, that is to provide logistical support to get to an amazing place and connect travelers to the local culture for an amazing experience beyond just the flying. What I'm not sure about is if I can get anyone to sign up! Please help by sharing this with anyone who may be interested. Check out the webpage at http://paraglidepak.blogspot.com/

I guess I haven't talked about the flying at all, I've put some more pictures on my fliker site under Chitral that should give an idea. In 2 midday flights I found the flying to require a lot of attention, because it's so dry thermals are strong but multiple cores and turbulence require a lot of attention to stay with. There is more sink around compared to recent flying in Bir, as well I found different winds at altitude. Getting over 5000 meters was pretty straightforward on both flights, one flight I gained over 6000, the valley floor is 1500 meters. The biggest XC I managed was a 40km out and back. Fernando and I found a new launch two hours up valley from Chitral near a village called Booni. It is at 3800 meters and has a lot of potential however bad weather made for just a top to bottom flight for us. In 3 weeks we've flown only 5 days with several others being flyable but the last 2 weeks unstable weather has meant unflyable days. Many locals say the weather is unusual this year, more rain and clouds than normal. I expect the fall to be a bit more stable than the spring and hopefully less turbulance but still high cloudbase. People have flown over 7000 in late October from the Hunza Valley so Chitral should be the same.

So who's going to be here in the Fall!?

My Video

Well here I am going all high tech, I found a program to stitch photos together and also put a video together to show on youtube. Enjoy...

A Season to Remember- Bir, India Spring 2007

I write this as the cloud cover has given a little relief to the heat and given a break to the epic flying conditions. A moment to catch my breath and catch up before the next phase of this incredible trip begins. I can easily say the last 2 and a half weeks I've had the best flying of my life. This has also been the most enjoyable of my 4 visits to this flying site. I'm staying at a new guesthouse just outside of the Tibetian colony, far enough away that for once barking dogs don't wake me every night but close enough that the Emaho cafe or landing field are a 5 min walk. A great location with tea gardens on one side and a Tibetian monastary on the other. As always in the spring there are fewer pilots here than in the Fall the eagles are migrating west in groups up to 50 and the vultures are friendly as ever. About 22 pilots this season and oddly enough 5 have shaved heads and gotees, I trimmed my beard to a goatee but didn't have the courage to shave my head! Most of the Pilots I actually know from previous trips here. But about the flying!- a little summary of the highlights in April the 17th I flew my biggest distance making Dharmsala and back in under 4 hrs, 20th climbed 1000 meters in a cloud for a unique experience getting to see my silloutte with rainbow around it(called a glory), 21st made a bigger distance and better time to Dharmsala (90km), 24th flying high and close to the main spine of the Dhaula Dhar range(4400 meters). 26th Bir to Manali in less than 4hrs taking the low route(5275 meters). 27th local bus back to Bir 7hrs. 28th Bir to Manali taking the High route! (5282 meters) 30th Dharmsala and back in 3hrs 30min. I have track logs and can send them if any pilots are interested, it's a .kml file that can be opened with google earth. The high route flight to Manali is the highest most technical flight I've done, it's interesting to be over 5100 meters thinking I might not be high enough to make the glide I was on! Needless to say there is no where I'd rather be than here doing what I'm doing. Kind of a funny story, the same day I went to Manali I had crossed to the back with another pilot, thinking we might make the flight together, however he decided to go west and stayed close to the main ridge as base was high. Flying 20km west of Dharamsala to the end of Dhaula Dhar ridge he turned and was returning to the East when he took a collapse at 3700 meters, upon reopening he had a cravate and started to spiral, the ground was very close so he threw his reserve and landed on a snowfield at 3600 meters! He put his reserve back in the container, scraped out a platform to stand on, set up his glider and took off after an hour and half of working. Continuing the flight back to Bir he completed his best distance of 130 km averaging 25km/hr including pit stop!! Not to be outdone a new american pilot with very little experience got caught in some unfamilar conditions and decided his best option was to fly to the valley behind takeoff and land near Bharot, local transport and hiking back to Bir was an all night ordeal arriving at 5am! My friends were happy for my great flight but it just goes to show this has not only been a memorable season for me. And now I'll try to post some pictures to my photo site then I get packed and leave to Pakistan with my Spanish friend Fernando. More updates to come but I don't know when.

On The Road

Early April
To experience Western Nepal and Northern India by motorcycle is beyond description, the facts are this; 6 days riding one day 2 hrs the rest between 10 and 12. Lots of breaks and traveling at speeds around 20 to 70km/h usually about 50 that's 30mph, pretty slow. 2 days I spent in Bardia National Park in nepal where I saw tons of tiger tracks lots of deer monkey and several Rhino, totally uncrowded park and great experience.

I should really try to describe how it felt to drive those roads and see how the world lives. Most of the land I passed through was Agricultural, in Western nepal all the work is done by hand, currently it is the wheat harvest so everywhere the fields were active with people cutting threshing and carrying. Sometimes the threshing is done by ox trampling and sometimes by an old woman with a stick, can you imagine? It's like vistiting a museum "And the Taru people of Nepal used to build there houses with sticks, grass and mud, they plowed their fields with Ox and..." no wait, they still do! Crossing into India 2 obvious changes, people don't smile as easily as in Nepal and modernization exists along side with the primitive. It is possible to see a harvester in one field and people cutting crops by hand in the next. The disparities of wealth are much more apparent, in Western Nepal everyone seems to equally have nothing where in India some people have and others don't. It was hard to keep my eyes open and keep seeing without judging, so much is mind blowing mind boggling, so much suffering so much hardship. Everything seems to be overloaded and overworked. Well I stop there it is just beyond my powers of description, I would reccomend it to anyone, highly memorable and thought provoking. I was not able to take many pictures for fear of creating the illusion that I could capture the experience!