Reflection 2009

What a year. What an amazing, unbelievable, tumultuous, powerful year. I exceeded everything I thought possible. Starting in January doing a 10 day vipassana course in Lumbini Nepal with my dad I realized limitations are something I create myself, nothing more. They are simply in my head, and I realized how powerful the link between mind and matter, how much thought influences life. And often with a great realization comes a test. In Feburary I had such a test- plans changed, death of a new friend, heartbroken by a woman. But it's how we react isn't it? Accept, move forward, choose life... I do.

The winter means predictable tandem flying in Nepal. The spring brings a change in weather and freedom to fly solo and for adventure. I was ready. And then I was overwhelmed, the group flight across Northern India in April was amazing. It's a natural progression of my dreams, every year more and more becomes possible.. 500km in 8 days was just right for me this year. The plan was to stop at the border of nepal and the goal was achieved. To summarize, using a paraglider to travel the Himalayas, through cultures, time and space, imagine it.. then it's more than that..

But there's paragliding and then there's paragliding in Pakistan, theres's simply no other flying in the world that compares. May to September I spent chasing that dream. My endurance was tested as the weather was incredibly reliable in July and August. After a few flights reaching exhaustion I thought I had found my limits, then I pushed beyond, then I found new ones... It was more flying then I've done all the previous years combined in terms of nights camped out, new exploration of routes, and time at altitude... Yeah for me it was big. I lost a few kilos with all the activity and got fit, and then I got burned out.. By the time my Dad came in September I was ready to slow down and rest. We had a great trip visiting old friends and spending some time in the air.

Next it was a short trip to Kerala (South India) to meet some new friends, fly a new site and rekindle the romance that had burned me earlier in the year. Weather wasn't ideal but the hospitality and event organization was. In October I was back to nepal to enjoy some predictable tandem flying in Pokhara. Flying conditions were great and tourists were plentiful, it can be a great way to make money when it goes well. The romance however didn't go well and life presented me another great chance to work on humility and acceptance in the form of a good emotional ass kicking. In a theme for this year limits were tested and pushed beyond what I thought possible. It seems always in a crisis I seem to choose well and choose life, that's a nice thing to know about myself.

Leaving Pokhara after 2 months and 130 flight to go for another meditation course in Lumbini was appropriate. Nothing dramatic during the time there and progress was slower than expected but I get the feeling that this is a natural progression for me. Slowly, gradually. What is learn in meditation with eyes closed is meant to be applied in life and bring improvement in life outside of the retreat. It is not a way to drop out or avoid the world but rather teaches how to strive in this world, in this very life. In it's basic essence vipassana meditation is a battle between wholesome and unwholesome emotions. It teaches how to strengthen the wholesome ones and weaken or eradicate the unwholesome ones. Oh, and it's hard...

Leaving Nepal and going to Thailand in December to rest was even more appropriate. As I write this I've spent a few weeks relaxing, learning to kitesurf and preparing for an even bigger Himalayan odyssey in 2010. My friends Mike, Antoine and Lynn shared a house and some time with me. They've returned to India, we'll meet the end of Febuary to start our adventure. I'm staying a family I met in Kerala who live in Bangkok. A little solace, a little peace I've found. It's been good and it's been nice to relax...

Then talking with my sister and mom recently we realized it's been a while since we've seen each other, and possibly January was the best time to get together in the coming year, so in a quick timely decision my sister will be flying from Cameroon (where she works) and I'll be flying from Thailand to spend 12 days in California with my mom and step dad the beginning of the new year!! Very cool how all this can come together.

So that's a reflection on this year. For 2010 I suspect things will get more interesting. I have some ambitious plans and a big part of that is trying to share my experiences online and in video. There's so much to be inspired by, so much to do, it's an exciting time to be alive.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2010!
Love,
Brad

Flights with my Dad

In September my dad came to visit me in Pakistan, you can read about our trip in 2007 here http://davesander.blogspot.com/ He was supposed to come in 2008 but had an accident which delayed his trip till this year. Needless to say he was excited to make it back and in a short time we were able to do everything and more we hoped.
Here's a pic from a flight, and wow does a picture tell a story. Me and my dad looking relaxed and happy which we were, my dad using oxygen (we had been to 5900m and no problem for him where in 2007 he got a little hypoxic at 5400). He's also wearing some really warm clothes which I was sponsored by a Canadian clothing company Westcomb Outerwear. It's fantastic stuff and I hope to get some great use out of it click the link to see a nice picture of me they are using for their webpage. Below us you can see the road we took off, if you look from left to right above us you can see the route we flew. Upper right is a 6000 meter mountain under a cloud, we circled that mountain.. twice. It was cool, Dad loved it.. what more can I say?




Here's a tracklog made from my GPS and overlaid on Google earth. Now you see the opposite view from the picture above. You can see our start, the circle around the mountain and our landing in Booni. You can even see the glaciers on the mountain but man are they bigger in real life.

I meant this to be a longer post but I'm not that motivated to write, I spent 2 months in Nepal flying commercial tandems and now I'm in Thailand learning to Kitesurf.

More coming soon!
Brad