Sky Camping Central Nepal January 20th-22nd

Sky Camping Central Nepal January 20th-22nd
Day One January 20th

I woke up in Lakeside, Pokhara, Nepal with a bad case of diarrhea.  The Liquid shits were bad but the nausea was worse.  I had plans for another flying adventure  with Ivan Ripoll and Nando Silla Martinez, so I forced down a simple breakfast at Sun Welcome, hoping that the hard food would set things straights.  Mistake!  Ten minuets later I was back in my guest house puking up breakfast.  I decided to take 6-10 drops of Grape Seed Extract to kill the bad organisms in my gut, of course the GSE would kill most of the good ones also.  I walked our of my guest house to find Wil Brown and Andy Pag loading a taxi on there way to launch.  News of the bivy plans had spread and these two plus about eight others were packing gear for a sky camping adventure.

On take-off I had a black tea and meditated, focusing on my breath entering and leaving my body.  Any trace of nausea had passed, and I was feeling good.  Bella and Jamie Messenger, the super couple, were preparing their Icepeak 6 and Enzo.  I was impressed that these two were planning on landing and launching in bivouac style with those hot ships, their names and “skygod” have been used in the same sentence more than once.  Bella had enticing meals from Backpackers Kitchen on display to encourage company at her camping location.

Take Off - Torrie Panni - Dicki Dande -Green wall.

Ivan making the deep crossing to Korchon

I was getting up on the Green Wall while Bella, Jamie, Stan Razikowski, and Ivan were high over the main peak.    Bella and Jamie decided that it was not the best day for heading East, it looked great to me, so decided to go west to Korchon.  I was intrigued.  Bella and Jamie took the front line, Stan went deep, Ivan went deeper.  Soon I was high on the main peak and Wil Brown was right below me.  I followed Stan's line, I had lost sight of Ivan, and Wil Followed.  Half way across as I was admiring the gorge of the upper Seti Khola when I saw Ivan emerging from the mountains and heading my way.  Ivan, Wil, and I worked some tight bullety thermals, and slowly gained altitude.  Ivan and I have flown together a lot by now, but Wil seems to be disrupting the flow, turning tight when we want to spread and search.  I hear Ivan yell at Will, as I spy a vulture downwind getting rocketed up.  I follow and that thermal drifts me back and up to Korchon at 3,200m asl.

Landing spot

Stan, Jamie and Bella were exploring the area around the top landing spot.  It had strong thermals coming from three directions, a cloud 10-60 meters off the deck, and 5-20cm of snow.  This was not going to be easy.  I made a couple of low passes and the air was fairly rock and roll with multiple thermals converging and strong lift.  Twice I thought I had it only to enter strong turbulent lift meters from the ground.  I thought I found an area and time where the lift was coming from just one direction only to fall out and face a snow slide downwind landing.  I dusted the snow off and watched Ivan recover from a spin just in time to flare for landing.  Jamie came over the radio and said he wanted a safer wing for this landing, Bella agreed and added that it looked like it would be a freezing night in the cold, and they flew off discussing restaurants in lakeside to eat at.  Stan said he was not prepared for snow and also flew away.  Wil was left feeling the air and trying passes at landing.  Eventually he landed on the lee side against a hillside, and out of sight.  There is no doubt that it was a dangerous place to land.  Three competent pilots had landing they were not proud of, and other excellent pilots decided not to land.  I usually consider myself a fairly conservative pilot, but sometimes we all have moments when we choose to take on a little more risk then usual, this was one of those times.  Tacitus, the greek philosopher said; "The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise".  For us he could not have been more right, the following 24 hours were great and the experiences would not have been possible without that tricky landing.

Ivan Ripoll

Soon Wil walked up to us and we all shared the stoke of being high in an incredible place.  Ivan and Wil meet for the first time.  About 5 other pilots flew over us and decided that top landing and spending the night was not what they wanted to do.  We packed our gliders and were soon sitting around a fire drinking hot tea and rum.  My foot wear, Altra Lone Pine's(minimalist running shoes), were not at all appropriate for snow, so I spent some quality time by the fire drying, and singeing my socks and shoes.  Watching the sun set as the cloud above us released a few snow flakes, and the mountains peaked out behind the clouds was unforgettable.  Ivan apologized to Wil about yelling at him in the air.  We discussed the merits of sometimes thermaling in larger cycles so that you can find the good cores, and so that you can feel the communication of your lightly loaded wing, and make space for a friend to join your thermal so that you can work together to find the strongest lift.  We also discussed the benifits of turning tight circles in a core with a rock solid fully loaded glider.

We had a scrumptious diner of maggie noodles, pasta with tuna and tomato sauce, then chocolate for desert.  We were fairly comfortable in the basic shelter that night, and I fell fast asleep as soon as I zipped up my sleeping bag.  Water inside did not freeze while a liter bottle left outside completely froze.

Day Two.  "When in doubt, go deeper."  Nick Greece

I awoke and could not help but go outside and watch the dawn slowly rise.  All the clouds had cleared and even in the moonlight Fishtail, Annapurna South, and Annapurna Two were clearly looming over our little perch.  A serge of gratitude swept over me.  To be there, in that place, with my friends was wonderful and amazing.  Life itself is a miracle.  The fact that my body is made up of matter that has been traveling thorough space and time immortal, and I am aware of this time and place.  And that awareness and will has allowed me to land a unpowered backpack aircraft in this powerful place, WOW!!!  I am grateful beyond words.

The valley bellow showed the first hint of pinkish glow.  soon the mountains were glowing pink, seeming to be right above me.  The steep South face of Machu Pachare seemed to radiate pure power, pure energy.  I sipped hot chai tea and took it in.  Breakfast consisted of cookies, chocolate, and a granola bar.  I enjoy the ritual of expedition eating, splitting everything in equal parts, then appreciating what each member brought.  Birds started soaring the east face right in front of us around 8am.  After packing and cleaning up I told Ivan and Wil that I thought it was time to fly.  They wanted to air more conservatively but my insistence won out and we laid out our gliders.  Mine a blue and white Niviuk Peak 2, Ivan a blue and green Ozone Mantra 3, and Wil a Blue and Yellow Ozone Mantra 4.

 Ivan launched first at about 9:30am and was easily soaring above launch level.  I launched next and hooked into a nice thermal that took me up to 4,000 meters.  I pushed deeper to a higher shoulder as Wil launched.  From high above it looked like Ivan and Wil dove over the back low and heading deeper.  I laughed and remembered Nick Greece's saying "when in doubt go deeper".  I think Nick means both physically, higher deeper terrain often produces better thermals, and physiologically, crossing roadless expanses or gliding into unknown country often produces the most rewarding experiences.  Basically letting worry rule you body mind puts you on the ground, but letting yourself go deep and use your body mind for flying and only for flying allows you to fly to unimaginable depths.  Thanks Nick.  Soon Ivan and Wil were up with me and the three of us worked our way higher and deeper, higher and deeper, getting closer and closer to Machu Pachare.  The three us us were working together perfectly, spreading and searching when necessary and coring tight lift when appropriate, it feels great to share the skys with pilots that you are in-tune with.  Fresh snow covered most of the ground so the thermals were weak and not going more than a few hundred meters above the terrain.  At one point Ivan radioed that he hands were very cold and he might have to leave soon.  We did not respond, instead we kept flying higher and deeper, higher and deeper.  My max altitude was 4,400 meters, the views were stunning.  We decided to go on glide for the ridge behind the green wall.

Photo Ivan Ripoll

That glide was spectacular.  Staring down into the Seti Kola gorge, and up at some of the tallest mountains on earth was otherworldly.  Shaking out my hands I had sharp stabbing pain in my left finger tips as blood thawed.  I made a mental note to make some brake pogies for next time.  We quickly found a climb deep behind the Green Wall and pointed for the next big crossing to the East.    

Matt “Farmer” Beechinor stresses the importance of the glides in long XC flying.  If you can arrive at your next point a few hundred meters higher, or in this case 10 meters higher,  it can make the difference between finding a thermal right away or scratching, searching and sweating for an hour.  He is right, and I should have remembered his advice as I was eating snacks, taking pictures, and talking on the radio during that glide.   Bella came on the radio and asked what time we were thinking about launching, I chuckled to my self and responded that we had been flying for an hour.  Bella and crew were at Dicki Dande gearing up for a big day and possible night out.  Then Stan radioed from Sarangkot and said that another crew were going to try to meet up with us from there.

We arrived low on a WSW face at 10:45 am, opps.  Wil and Ivan flew close to the tree tops while I flew at a more conservative distance.  They got a rowdy thermal out, I was left scratching that face for an hour.  I had to forget all my clearance rules and get aggressive to just get up.  I remembered Bill Belcourt saying "you gotta bring it".  Well I brought it, surfing rowdy bullets at tree top level up over the inversion.  Thanks Bill.  Soon I was above 3,000 meters watching Ivan and Wil glide out of sight, as my sweat chilled.  Ivan and Wil had pointed out in a direction of approximately 2400m hills.  I was scared of the inversion so decided to push deeper and stay on higher terrain.  It worked beautifully with climbs topping out above 3,500m as clouds formed all around me.  Soon I was Gliding for Ghalegoan.  I caught sight of Ivan and Wil lower in Bagnepani obviously low and stuck, dejavu.  I left my thermal and went to wallow with them.  We explored the area well, spreading out and checking all obvious trigger points.  We could not get over 1900m.  Soon enough we landed at the school field in Baglungpani and were surrounded by Happy children.  What a flight, we flew over 4hrs in January and it was only 1:30pm!

We walked to the same village as last time (see first blog post), and they remembered us at the restaurant and started getting sleeping quarters ready.  They even asked where the other spaniard (Nando) was and who the new guy was.  Ivan and I tried out our newly learned Nepali, and we shared some good laughs over chow mein.  We then went to a sunny grassy slope on the edge of the village, drank whisky and talked about the epic day.  Then kids showed up with vines that they were playing tug of war with.  We joined in and it was great fun.  These children are very strong, incredibly sure footed, posses an infectious happy spirit, and are undeniably divine, it was a privilege to be included in their fun.

Photo Ivan Ripoll

Andy Pag came on the radio saying he was high over the East Peak of the Green Wall and thinking about flying to us.  We tried to encourage him.  30 minuets later we got a text that he was eating at a restaurant in lakeside.  That lakeside suck can be strong, watch out.

After play time I took a nap in the room.  I awoke just in time for Dahl Bhat.  It was great Dahl Bhat, with fresh local chicken, but my stomic was grumbling so I only had one portion, how rude.  I was exhausted and went back to sleep, with a churning gut.  

Day Three  Fly Your Flight

Our sleeping quarters.

I awoke at 2am with diarrhea.  Of course my digestive system was mad that I had killed its good microbes two days earlier and was now paying me back.  After about 10 trips to the squatting toilet the sun finally started to rise and it looked as if it would be a good flying day.  We once again decided to hike up to Ghalegaon.  I knew that I had to drink lots of water to prevent the diarrhea from dehydrating me.  The air was clear and the road was still wet, not dusty, from the recent rains.  It was a great hike, and we saw vultures, and eagles thermaling above us.  We stopped at the water station, filled up then hiked directly to take-off, on the non-village side, to avoid the troubles we had last time (see previous post).

We arrived at take-off a little before noon and started setting up.  I emptied my bladder to find my urine was dark, smelly, and thick.  SHIT!!  I made a mental note to drink water anytime I was not thermaling.  I launched first and was soon over 2,300m.  We decided to fly West, toward Pokhara.  Before the first big crossing I was circling in a weak thermal when Wil and Ivan found a strong one that took them straight to cloud base, when I arrived the climb was nowhere to be found.  They went on glide and I searched for another thermal.  I had to calm myself and tell myself not to hurry, "just stay up and fly your flight Mitch".  In the Western US I fly by myself a lot, so in a way it feels very comfortable.  Fifteen minuets later I was gliding.

Looks like Wil was doing some cloud flying too.  Photo Ivan Ripoll

Cloud base was about 2,200m, and clouds were aplenty, since I was flying alone I was getting another 50-200m inside clouds.  Four or five crossing later I was looking at the back side of the Green Wall.  Will was working up a ridge to the North East that connected to the back of the main wall.  Ivan was trying to fuel up at Meem Gurung to attempt the South East route to the East peak.  I left my cloud and glided right over Ivan directly the the East Peak and worked my way up its east face, which is feed by a little valley.  I saw other gliders above the East Peak and reality hit, we were back, this trip was almost over.  Soon I was on glide to lakeside, and we all played with our gliders over the lake before landing.  After landing my pee was clear and copious, success, I had drank about three liters of water and rehydrated.

Getting back home.  Photo Ivan Ripoll

Back in Lakeside we were stopped by many pilots and congratulated on our flights.  It seems that word had spread and we had gained a small amount of celebrity, among the tight knit pilot community of Lakeside.  I think many pilots interests are picked and many other trips will be done soon.

We went to a pizza place and began discussing plans for the next adventure.......  

Thank you to Ivan and Wil for the great company, spectacular team flying, and positive attitude.  I feel privileged to have shared these experiences with these guys.