In the late 1980′s and early 1990′s I went paragliding in Jackson, WY a few times with Kurt (spacing on last name) and then again with Cam Eddie and his “steering” harness wing up Curtis Canyon. I did some unintentional “steering” right towards the ground and nearly hit hard but it was not yet my time to get worked physically. That time would come. I did decide that if I was going to continue paragliding I needed to learn from professionals (not that Kurt was not a professional, I just wanted to learn from more experienced professionals). On the advice of John Bouchard, former owner of Wild Things Clothing and an early paraglider in the USA, I went to SLC and took a week of lessons with Claudia Stockwell at Point of the Mountain. Claudia was kind enough to trade me the week of lessons, which entailed receiving my Level 1 certification, for a new snowboard.
During my test I asked Claudia via radio from the air if I could go into a hard spin with the then (1991) state of the art Nunki. She said yes. I did and after a few spins I came out of it hard and was oscillated back and forth and nearly came over the top of and onto my wing, scaring not only myself but everyone else watching. I survived and landed on the spot or X that I was aiming for and was granted a license. I never bought a wing, which is probably a good thing. Every time I had a couple grand in the bank I went on another climbing and snowboarding expedition.
After borrowing a wing (paraglider) a couple years later I realized that I better not go paragliding any more because I was not putting the time (any really) required to keep sharp. I was duller than a butter knife. The flying around Jackson Hole is way more technical and demanding than where I learned, at Point of the Mountain in SLC. The thermals and rotors and general mountain weather was a totally different story and required a level of expertise and experience I did not have and was not going to get being focused on climbing and snowboarding.
TWIN FALLS BASE JUMPING EXPERIENCE (ALMOST)
A couple of years ago I was with my friend and climbing partner, Jack Jefferies, a world champion sky diving champion. After a climbing trip to Cody in early spring we went to Twin Falls to go Base Jumping. Jack and I got all suited up and walked out to the middle of the bridge. Jack was going to have me go first. This perticular day the locals were not even jumping due to the windy conditions. I looked to Jack and suggested he go first, with over 15,000 skydives and hundreds of base jumps (compared to my 20 paragliding flights over the past 18 years…most of which were in one week in 1991!). He said OK and jumped, barely penetrating the windy conditions. I wisely decided not to jump.
As you can see in this video, Jack is totally comfortable and I am totally awed by the jump he just made and so not ready to do it…yet!
TANDEM PARAGLIDING FLIGHT AT JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN RESORT
Last summer I did a tandem paragliding flight with Matt Combs with http://jacksonholeparagliding.com/ He did the “death spiral” and reminded me that it is nice to do things with professionals and not take matters into my own hands before I am ready. Matt is an ace pilot who also owns and drives the “Jackson Hole Limo Lounge” – a rolling party that my wife and I and several friends celebrated New Year’s in this year. For more information: http://www.jhlimo.com/
This wingsuit flying is something that is intriguing but not calling at this time in my life. But when I see video like this one below I get the idea to learn to base jump so I can fly. These folks are FLYING!!! It is simply amazing.
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
