The Miracle of Flight

A few weeks ago I got the incredible opportunity to run off a mountain and take flight. It was an amazing experience I would recommend that everyone give it a try... just make sure you have a good pilot. As the following photos will show I got to go paragliding in Golden B.C. off of Mount Seven. We weren't sure if it was going to be able to happen because of wind, which was going to be a real disappointment because we got up at 5:30 in the a.m. We made the drive up to the top of the mountain, which was worth it for the view alone, and there we waited.
My pilot Will wanted to be real sure about the wind, which I really appreciated. While we were up there though some guys who run a tour company showed up and said "it's a great day for a tandem!" and it was on.

Here I am harness on ready to fly. Thanks Kim for lending me your jacket.

Will giving me some instructions about the take off procedure. "So when I say run... run! And don't stop until I say." He said this because the people who were going tandem before us were making things really difficult for the guide they were with. It is really awkward to be fair though. If you want to know what it is like just tie yourself to a total stranger, one in front of the other kind of like spooning, and then run. Ya! good times.

So here we are lined up and ready to run. We stood there like this for about 10 minutes waiting for the right wind.

Will shouted "Go!" and I started running... well actually I tried to start running but just then the shoot filled with air and it totally stopped me dead. But I remembered my training and just kept my legs moving until we were about 15 feet up... then Will remembered to tell me to stop. I think I might have kicked him or something. Gord had a good laugh over this.

Well there it is. Thanks to Gord for getting these shots with his phone since I left my camera in the truck in town.

bye for now,