Sky Camping March 11th-12th 2013. Pokhara - near Kathmandu

Stan parking at the camping spot.

Sky Camping March 11th-12th 2013

March 11th  flight: http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:mitchriley/12.3.2013/06:14#discussionv

Wil Brown and I had grand plans of heading to Dicki Dande early in the morning and starting a big flight to the east from there, with our bivy gear.  I checked in at the office and they had one tandem flight booked for me, so much for starting xc early.  Wil said he would wait and that we could start from Sarangkot the second round, thanks Wil.  The tandem was nice, and I got above the towers, showing the day had good potential.

When Wil and I arrived at take-off we found Pawel Tomaszewski getting ready for a night out.  His plan was to topland Korchon, but we let him know that he was welcome to come with us.

Take off- Torrie Panni- Dicki Dande- Green Wall- Green Wall East.

On the East Peak of the Green Wall, I was flying near Claudio Mota and Egor Terentyev, and a little ahead of Wil.  East of the Green Wall is a non-standard Pokhara flight, and I really enjoyed being with a Green Wall gaggle then tearing off towards the unknown.  In the next thermal Pawel came on the radio and said he was coming with us, it was good to have another friend and good pilot along for the adventure.  Its rare to see other gliders east of the Green Wall but sure enough we saw Mac Zietera putting together a large free triangle.  Stan Radzikowski came on the radio saying that he was crossing Besisahar, about 13 km ahead of us.  

Pawel, over some un-landable terrain.

In a few crossings we were planning our route over Besisahar.  I preferred fueling up at Gally Gown and then pushing across the valley to a big SW facing rocky face, after which I would have to push into the valley wind to get back on course line.  Wil wanted to fuel up at Baglum Panni and follow a more direct route.  I made my choice because I have been stuck at Baglum Panni, without useable thermals, a couple times and this time looked that same.   No clouds at Baglum Panni.  So I went to the clouds above Gally Gown and Wil went for Baglum Panni.  Pawel made the best decision and hung back waiting till our choices bared fruit.  I was able to climb and make the crossing to the big SW face, which had some rowdy thermals, a fact I latter learned was considered in Wil’s decision.  Crossing Besisahar was going into new country for me, a vast area that I had not flown (exciting).  Wil was the only member of the group who had flown past Besisahar, in a 90km flight tour S.E. one month ago.  

Pawel followed me and I watched Wil jump over the back of Baglum Panni super low, catch a thermal from a valley spur, and get back in the game, impressive.  Pawel and I were rocketed aloft and made the upwind push to meet Wil.  Stan came on the radio saying that he had waited for us, and our group grew to four pilots.  In a couple more crossings we found ourselves on a long ridge with a lower cloud base and a 10km glide to the next usable terrain.  We found a place to land and Wil and Pawel landed.  The place was soarable so it allowed multiple attempts at landing while the crowd of local spectators grew and grew.  Once all on the ground, safe, and glowing from a great flight we hugged and high fived, and passed around some whiskey, celebrating a great day of flying.  4 hours and 70km straight distance, and toplanding at 2000m with a perfect SE face right in front of a nice takeoff.

I cant help but laugh when I think of him now.

I tried my limited Nepali on the locals, then pretended I didn’t understand when marriage to an attractive young women was offered.  We had running water near by, and started collecting wood and water for a fire and cooking.  One boy stuck around when all the other locals.  He helped us collect firewood and asked a lot of questions containing the verb to fly (udne).  I shared some chocolate among the group, including the boy.  The boy’s chocolate tolerance must of been pretty low because after that he was bouncing off the terraces.  When we just wanted a small cooking fire the energized boy would put giant piles of dry leaves on the fire and elated in their fiery demise.  When we wanted to sit around and talk out the day, the boy wanted to dance and do acrobatics. 

We split into two cook groups.  Wil and I had a great meal of noodles, pasta, cheese and crackers.  As we ate great food, in a place we didn't even know the name of, under a crimson sky, it was easy to appreciate how good life is.  Much of our communication and thinking is concerned with names.  When someone asks about the trip they ask where we spent the night.  I don’t know the name of the place, and its not on maps I’ve seen, and I like it that way.  There is a freedom of thought that comes from defining a place based on your experience of it and not based on a name.  When you have a name you automatically store the memory of a place within certain boundaries.  When you do not relate a place to a name your memory of your perception is clearer and more real.

Camp made

I slept in the open, under the magnificent starry sky.  Hanging out next to a campfire and sleeping under the stars feels right, feels natural.

Day 2.  Flight:  http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:mitchriley/13.3.2013/04:18

Photo: Stan Radzikowski

Stan was nice enough to wake us all up to see the sunrise.  The coals were still hot enough to restart the fire and start making tea, oatmeal and noodles for breakfast.  After breakfast Wil, Pawel and I walked into the village and bought food for the next night, noodles, fresh onions, potatoes, tomatoes and hot peppers.  The small store had everything we wanted, at a cheaper rate then the Lakeside shops we frequent.  Once back we all decided that we would try to fly as far East as possible.  After packing my harness it seemed like a good time to launch.

I launched first from a small SE facing clearing above a large SE facing cliff.  Once flying I explored the area for lift while Stan launched and flew straight to a strong thermal.  We were soon at cloud base.  We glided in slightly different directions to explore the 7km glide that awaited us to the East.  Once low we went back to the launch thermal and repeated.  This lasted for 1.5 hours as Wil and Pawel struggled on the ground with changing wind.  Eventually they listened to out insistence that there we good take offs further down the ridge.  They finally got airborne.  Its interesting that I felt frustrated and impatient up there in the air, hanging out at cloud base, while my friends sweated their asses off trying to just get airborne.  On any other day spending an hour and a half at cloudbase flying a new site would be wonderful, but on this day I allowed my plans for the rest of the day to take more importance then my joy in the presence.  If I had been able to stay in the present then the time would have felt well spent.  Instead I kept looking at that next crossing, trying to will Pawel and Wil into the air so that we could travel.

Eventually we were all in the air and on glide over another spectacular river gorge.  We climbed again and worked our way around the mountain.  While fueling up for the next crossing I left a thermal near cloudbase and pointed a straight line for the crossing, while getting lifted up inside the next cloud.  No one was near me so I let myself get the extra altitude while alerting my friends that I was going into the cloud.  I rose 200 meters in that cloud, in a straight line.  When I came out there was another cloud in front and below me.  I was able to soar that clouds windward side then fly through a tunnel between it and another cloud.  WOW.  I went out on glide feeling immense gratitude for that experience, and 200m higher then everyone else.  The next mountain was more shallow then others and it was difficult to find an established thermal.  Wil arrived low and he and Pawel were soon scratching, and struggling to stay up.  They would land down in the narrow river canyon, and have to spend the night near by, walking 3 hours and catching 4 busses the next day to get back to Pokhara.  Stan and I got high again and made another crossing, that put us low in a windy shallow bowl.  I eventually got up by soaring a shady, windy face.  At the top of this face people were watching me from their front garden.  I was very close to them when I pointed in the direction I thought Kathmandu was and said “Kathmandu?”.  They pointed in a slightly different direction and said “Kathmandu”.  I then connected with a lee side ripper, climbed 1000 meters and flew in the direction they pointed.  It feels good to blow someones mind.  Exposing someone to something that would seem impossible then braking the definition of possible is special, and I like to think that paragliding has the ability to brake the boundaries of possibility.

We were very close to Kathmandu, and had decided that getting near there was our goal for the day.  The next crossing was about 10km crossing a big valley with a paved road, probably the friendliest bottom landing spot we had seen all trip.  We made it to the other side, didn’t immediately find a thermal, and choose to push out and land in the nice valley rather then fight our way up another mountain.  Latter looking at a map, I realized that from the top of that mountain we would have had Kathmandu on glide.  Neither of us had an airspace map, or any idea of the airspace around Kathmandu, so it was probably best to land where we did. 

We packed out gliders while a crowd of people watched, then walked to the road, waved down a microbus, and were soon in Kathmandu checking into a guest house.  Great trip.  Thanks Stan, Wil and Pawel.    

Stan's Blog:http://parakros.com/2013/03/15/bivy-east/