The Rockies Traverse is now LIVE on Red Bull TV! If you’re looking for some pretty thrilling (and at time pretty scary!) inspiration settle in for the full Red Bull Media House film, shot and edited by ReelWaterProductions. Grab it on the big screen, the imagery is stunning. Will Gadd and I were awarded the “National Geographic Adventurers of the Year” for the expedition and it remains the longest connected paragliding expedition that has ever been done. Hope you enjoy!
The Alaska Range Expedition will cover a lot of ground just like this. Photo Jody MacDonald
This is a short episode of the Cloudbase Mayhem dedicated to answering questions that have been posed over the last few months by our listeners that I haven’t been able to either answer directly or get in front of our guests. Questions include how to become a “professional paraglider”, bivvy and expedition tips, how to develop flatland flying skills, the importance of acro skills and ground handling, how to handle emergency situations, how to develop with limited time, how to break through from an “also ran” to a full fledged comp pilot and much more. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think!
A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.
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Show Notes:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:05 — 33.0MB)
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Little guy in big country. Photo Jody MacDonald
In 2012 before I’d even done my first bivvy trip I spent some time in a super cub airplane (small 3 seater canvas plane that is the go-to for Alaska bush pilots) with my brother-in-law Kenny MacDonald flying around the Alaska Range. He would land the plane on top of some of the smaller mountains and I’d jump out and fly around a little bit, then get back in the plane and we’d keep exploring. At some point he mentioned that someday I should try to fly across the whole range. The seed was planted. Was it possible?
I returned in April of 2014 and then again in June of 2014 to take a closer look. This time we flew out in the supercub to the south side of the range with Jody taking pictures in the back six days in a row. The southside seemed the obvious route, but cloudbase was typically below 4,000 feet. The sub alpine was as treacherous as I’ve ever seen. If you landed in there you would never get out. Alders and underbrush so dense it was impossible to move around. Clouds of the biggest mosquitos I’d ever seen so thick you would go insane in half an hour. And the alpine was nothing but glaciers and snow. I just wasn’t possible. But then one day we flew through Rainy Pass to the north side of the range, west of massive Denali and Foraker. In no time Jody was puking in the back of the plane it was so turbulent. The air was unstable, cloudbase was over 15,o00 feet and the terrain was much, much dryer. It was like we’d flown into a different world. It was still stupidly remote and the rivers and glaciers were uncountable and massive, but there was flyable terrain and there were strong thermals. Operating on the ground would still be miserable…but maybe if you could stay high? From a paragliders’ perspective it was possible. Maybe. But then we discovered a new problem. There was nowhere to land the plane, and Kenny is quite possibly the best bush pilot up there. If it’s landable, he can land it. So I’d either have to do the whole thing unsupported or we’d have to figure out another way.
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/99533705[/vimeo]
Doing it unsupported was appealing, but daunting. There isn’t a single village or store on the entire route- some 480 miles as the crow flies, from the north end of the Lake Clark National Park across the Kichatna spires, Foraker and Denali and on to Highway 1, which marks the end of the Alaska range and the beginning of the Wrangells. I estimated it would take at least 4- 6 weeks to complete the route (based on nothing but pure optimism), and given I can only carry about 5 days of food (due to space and weight), that meant hunting. Kenny and I discussed this possibility in length. At that time of year the salmon are not high enough. And all the game big enough to supply calories are down low- in serious bear country. The only thing up high are ground squirrels, which wouldn’t provide enough sustenance for a month+ given how hard the travel will be. So then we started thinking about putting in food caches in advance, but the only way to do that was by helicopter. And the dream died right there.
Kichatna Spires
Six months later I got a call from Kenny. He wanted me to buy a helicopter. I asked if he was taking hallucinogens. I knew two things about helicopters- 1) they are very expensive and 2) they are very hard to fly. But it turns out small helicopters are not as expensive and Kenny can fly anything. He makes his living as a bush pilot mechanic so he can also fix anything. If I bought the helicopter he would keep it in his hanger and keep it maintained and he would learn how to fly it. As this was the only feasible way I could have a go at paragliding the Alaska range, as well as the fact that I had the choice of investing my money for the future or I could invest it in having some seriously cool adventures, the choice ended up being pretty easy. I bought the helicopter. Dream comes alive again.
Our planned route, across the north side of the Alaska Range
Then I started looking at maps and weather. A LOT of maps, and a LOT of weather. As you can see from the snapshot above, a lot of sections are not obvious. And then you’ve got the problem of Denali. It isn’t legal to launch or land in a national park. So we have to walk all the way across it (180 kilometers as the crow flies, but well over 250 by ground), or fly all the way across it. There are some MASSIVE rivers along the whole route that will be totally uncrossable in spring. And there are too many MASSIVE glaciers to count, so I’m not even sure it’s possible to walk across to begin with. So ideally we fly the whole thing like Will and I did across the Canadian Rockies. But it’s Alaska and Alaska weather is notoriously bad and we really have only May and June to get this done before the rainy season starts, cloudbase drops, days get shorter, and the winds pick up. Which means in all likelihood to get this done we can’t do it in the same style as the Rockies Traverse, we’re going to have to walk. A lot.
I returned to Alaska this November again to get a bird’s eye view of the western end of the route with Kenny, which seemed to be the gnarliest and least-obvious line. I was hoping we could fly through the Revelations, to the NW of Lake Clark but they turned out way too steep and rugged. There are zero top landing options and zero launches. So we dove into the Neacola range and although not obvious, there seems a way through. I dropped breadcrumb waypoints with my Delorme the entire flight (5 hours) and then dropped them into Google Earth later to have a closer look. Gnarly indeed, but I think it goes.
We’re crossing a TON of these. Looks fun right?
Once I got Red Bull onboard with the expedition I needed a partner. Red Bull wasn’t too psyched on me doing it alone, which was how I pitched it. Apparently filming someone talk to themselves isn’t all that fun for the audience. Some awesome pilots were psyched and ready to go, and I wish I could do it with all of them (on the short list was Aaron Durogati, Paul Guschlbauer, Mads Syndergaard, Mitch Riley, Matt Beechinor and Nate Scales) but in the end Red Bull preferred an “American Cowboy” so I called on fellow nutball Dave Turner. Dave and I raced together in the Red Bull X-Alps last summer. He’s got the California distance record, has crossed the Alps four times by paraglider and foot (including once by tandem!) and is a legend in the solo big wall climbing scene. Fearless and skilled, I can’t imagine a better partner for such a monster undertaking.
That decided the last few months have been figuring out logistics. Where to put the food caches. What distance apart? How many? How to make them bear-proof but also biodegradable (wood so we can burn them?) so we don’t leave anything behind. We’ve got one hard rule with this whole thing- once we get dropped off at the start, we are allowed zero outside help other than restocking our batteries and storage cards for the cameras. No food, no supplies, nothing. Which means what we carry on our backs is critical. Obviously we’ve got to carry a lot. Just enough to be not too miserable, but not too much that we can’t manage it as we get more and more exhausted.
The gear
I’ve been laying out what I’m planning on taking and packing it to make sure I’ve got room. Here’s the full list, but the major items are:
What does it all come to? With five days food and minimal water we’ll have 60 pounds on our backs. We should be able to get water everywhere, which makes bivvy expeditions a lot easier. But that might be the only thing that is easy about this mission. To be honest, at this point it’s all just a dream and a plan. In less than a month we’ll find out how hairbrained it really is. We’ll have tracking available from Delorme (see below), so you can see how it all goes down. Stay tuned!
Training acro over the dirt is fun…and a bit scary
When I first learned how to paraglide my instructor (Jeff Farrell at Superfly) gave me a fun analogy about flying that I’ve always loved, and frequently revisit. It goes like this: You’ve got two jars. One jar is luck, the other is experience. When you first learn the experience jar is empty and the lucky jar is full of coins. Each time you get lucky a coin comes out of the luck jar and goes into the experience jar. At some point the luck jar is going to run out of coins and staying safe relies on all the experience you’ve built up. Of course we don’t know when the luck jar is actually going to run out so we have to be proactive about beefing up the experience while keeping some luck coins in reserve.
When I completed the X-Alps last July after the elation subsided and my brain returned to somewhat normal functioning after being fed nothing but adrenaline and sugar and endorphins for ten days three things really stuck out.
In my just-released podcast with Will Gadd I asked him what the most common source of accidents was. His response hit the nail on the proverbial head: “People see what they want to see, instead of seeing what is actually there.” The weather report says it’s going to be good. We’ve got the day off from work. But we get to launch and it doesn’t feel right. It’s cross and a bit gnarly and there are bad signs in the sky. But we launch anyway because it’s supposed to be good! We try to make the day fit our expectations instead of realizing what they actually are and backing down. If we pull it off, another coin comes out of the jar. We may learn something valuable, but we can pay an awfully steep price for that knowledge.
Upside down fun- until it isn’t (shot taken with the Specked Out Foot mount)
To be competitive in the X-Alps you have to repeatedly fly in conditions that wouldn’t normally be acceptable. Actually they just aren’t acceptable period. Like most pilots in the race who pressed hard, I definitely took some coins out of my luck jar and I’ve been at this game long enough that I’m starting to worry my jar is getting dangerously depleted. I decided that first night in Monaco, hearing scary stories similar to my own from Paul Guschlbauer and Aaron Durogati and Gaspard Petiot and the others who came in before me that I needed to stack the odds a bit more in my favor. I needed Acro training. I needed to get as comfortable with stalls and spins as I am with walking the dog. I don’t have a dog, but you get my point.
I just returned from my second trip training acro over the dirt with Cody Mittanck, who you can listen to talk about risk and safety and training and a lot more in my audio podcast with him a few weeks ago. Obviously training acro over the dirt instead of water is not ideal, and is not something I’m promoting. In our case, we don’t have an easy place to train over the water and Cody and I both feel we have the skills and background to do it safely. Cody is one of a handful of pilots in North America doing the Infinity but got confident and capable training for many dedicated weeks over the water in Oludeniz, Turkey. Personally I’ve done a ton of SIV training and some basic acro training and I’m not attempting to learn “dangerous”, complicated acro maneuvers. I’m perfecting stalls and spins, which I’m already reasonably comfortable with.
The night before heading down to Virgin, Utah to join Cody for a two-week training stint I repacked one of my reserves into my Sup’Air Acro 2 harness. I was not in great condition. I’d tweaked my back that weekend skiing and I was exhausted from a brief trip to Vancouver for an evening of paragliding films at the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival where they brought me in to MC the event. Working in poor light late at night I should have recognized as I fumbled hooking the rubber band around my harness rescue bridles that I was not operating at full capacity.
uh oh
A few days later my back was feeling better and it was my turn at taking some tows over the desert. I’d been working hard on controlled deep stalls, a twitchy and very tricky and demanding maneuver to perfect on a small wing (I’m flying a 20 M Niviuk F-Gravity for the acro training), and one that can go wrong fast if you screw it up. On my second tow I pulled into a deep stall right about 1,000 feet over the deck, our prescribed limit for doing anything that could go wrong. Mistake #1. Suddenly I spun the wing hard and wound up in 4 or 5 riser twists, with a mostly stable wing overhead.
I took a quick look at the ground and didn’t hesitate. Time to throw. Cody had taught me that whenever you throw it’s really important to grab both brake toggles in the non-throwing hand in order to keep the wing stalled. The last thing you want as you go to throw is let up on a brake, which might allow the wing to recover dynamically and go into an auto-rotate situation. So I grabbed both toggles in my left hand, reached down with my right and threw the first reserve of my flying career. Then I waited, feeling mildly curious how this was going to work out.
After what seemed like an eternity, with the ground rushing closer and closer I thought, “what the fuck is wrong with this reserve?” and looked back to see if it was fouled or something. And there behind me was a perfectly deployed red and white round reserve- floating peacefully away from me. It wasn’t attached to my harness! Mistake #2. My second thought was a “you’ve got to be kidding me, are you that stupid?” But I didn’t have time for thoughts. I took a look at my risers, avoiding looking at the rapidly approaching ground and thought for a split second that if I couldn’t get out of the twists I was going to die. But then I remembered I was flying a harness with two reserves, which I wasn’t used to (mistake # 3- being unfamiliar with your equipment) and reached down and threw my second reserve as fast as I could.
At this point Cody was screaming at me on the radio. “Keep the wing overhead, keep the wing overhead, keep it in deep stall!” My thoughts exactly and thankfully being all twisted up meant my brakes were locked in. I was basically coming down under a really small reserve. My last thought before I hit was to do the best PLF I’ve ever done. “You’re going to hit hard dude, don’t try to stick this!”
And then I pounded. My second reserve didn’t have time to deploy, it was laid out right beside me in a unfolded line. I bounced a bit and thankfully the dirt was really soft. My body made a horrible thudding noise but I was certainly alive. I got up slowly and realized with some amazement that I seemed to be unhurt. I called Cody on the radio and said the same. “Cody, dude I’m ok!” I panted.
“NO YOU AREN’T OK, that’s the adrenaline, you are definitely not ok, lay back down!”
But I was in fact ok. Soreness and stiffness would kick in as the adrenaline wore off but I had nothing worse than bruises. To both my ego and my body.
The first thought that registered after I’d confirmed nothing was broken was that I was pissed I wouldn’t get any more tows that day as repacking my two reserves was going to take all afternoon. I wasn’t scared to fly again or any more nervous about towing over the dirt than I had been. I was out here to learn, and learning was happening. When is a wing recoverable? How much time/altitude do you need to throw? How to throw? I can’t believe I’ve flown all these years in all the nasty places and in all the nasty conditions and didn’t really know anything more than theory when it came to reserves. But the most important lesson was one of complacency. It was a small miracle that I was alive and nothing more than dumb luck had saved me. I’d made an idiot mistake no slightly respectable pilot would ever make- not attaching a reserve to the harness! How could I be so stupid?
The reality is we all make mistakes. In this case my mistake isn’t forgivable and it’s only funny because I got lucky. The morale of the story I suppose is painfully clear. Check your gear. Be familiar with your gear. Recognize when you aren’t on your game. Don’t take life for granted. Don’t empty the luck jar.
Lucky to be smiling
Will Gadd taking a break on the Rockies Traverse. Photo Pablo Durana
Will Gadd began his flying career in the early 90’s and quickly became one of the most prominent pilots in the world. A Red Bull original gangster, Will is considered one of the best mixed climbers on Earth. He’s a world class whitewater kayaker, mountain guide, speaker, author, journalist, expedition leader and is highly regarded for his views on risk management; maintaining a safety margin; his model of the “positive power of negative thinking”; his studied ability to appropriately assess weather and terrain; and his amazing knack to keep pushing the limits in a unique and pure style. In this information and story-packed episode Will covers a huge array of important topics. Whether you are a weekend warrior or at the top of the World Cup game, this podcast is a must-listen. Just a few of the areas we hit: how to properly assess the day; the most common mistakes people make; creating useful tools to break things down which leads to justified confidence instead of ungrounded optimism; the importance of maintaining a safety margin; flying in wave; how to get rid of fears; dedication vs talent; why having an answer to why the risk is worth it is so important and a LOT more.
If you listen to one podcast this year, put this one at the top of your list. You won’t be disappointed.
A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.
Subscribe to the Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Tune In, or ITunes!
Show Notes:
Will Gadd preps for launch on the Rockies Traverse. Photo Pablo Durana
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:15 — 68.9MB)
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Cody Mittanck deep over the Utah desert. Photo Nick Greece
Cody Mittanck set the unofficial Canadian foot launch record (“unofficial” for a very cool reason- listen to find out) last summer, and he’s one of a small handful (if there’s even a handful) of pilots in North America who’s doing the Infinity- as well as everything else in the Acro lexicon. Cody only started flying in 2009 but he’s as hungry as it gets and his lightning progression into the elite ranks of pilots in the world has been astonishing. In this information and passion-filled episode of the Cloudbase Mayhem Cody talks about progression, being realistic with your abilities, the accidents this fall at US Nationals and why his acro training has been so critical to staying safe on the big flights, why SIV isn’t enough, knowing when to THROW, the dangers of competitions and their value, when to know when you’re ready to step up to a more advanced glider and a lot more. This podcast is filled with incredible insight and is a great look into how Cody has methodically and safely approached getting good fast.
A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.
Subscribe to the Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Tune In, or ITunes!
Show Notes:
Cody prepping to fly in the Worlds. Photo Ed Ewing
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:23 — 82.8MB)
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Ondrej doing what he does best- enjoying life
I first met Ondrej in May, 2015 while training with Aaron Durogati on course line between the Brenta and Piz Corvatch turnpoints for the 2015 Red Bull X-Alps. We spent a few days in pretty horrendous weather figuring out a pretty tough part of the course and I grew to love the energy between these two remarkable athletes. Ondrej only began flying in 2010 but last month he broke the Esfera world record (off-axis Infinity) in Mexico and sends it hard in cross country as well. Not many athletes hit switch so well when it comes to paragliding and in this episode we find out what drew Ondrej to acro initially; how important it is to go well beyond simple SIV courses; why acro is safer than XC; what it’s like to be a supporter in the X-Alps- what they have done right as a team and how they plan to improve; how he’s made paragliding his life on a $6,000 annual budget (yes, you read that right); the danger of being in a comfort zone; life lessons he’s learned from flying; how to avoid the office; how simple it is to get what you want and a lot more. Enjoy!
Watch a ton of awesome videos of Ondrej on his website: http://www.ondrej-prochazka.com/
Ondrej on his way to setting the Esfera world record
A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.
Subscribe to the Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Tune In, or ITunes!
Show Notes:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:31 — 69.3MB)
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The February issue of Hangliding and Paragliding just got delivered with a feature about my X-Alps experience (the first of a two-part series) which is actually an excerpt from a book about the race that has been delivered to my editor and we hope to have published by April of this year. I hope you enjoy it!
Paul Guschlbauer competed in his first Red Bull X-Alps in 2011 with only 5 years of flying under his belt. In his own words his skills were far inferior to most of the other pilots in the race, but fitness and determination and creativity saw this incredible athlete realize a remarkable 3rd place podium finish. The result got him pole-vaulted into the Red Bull family and he hasn’t looked back since. Paul competed in the 2013 and 2015 X-Alps and has competed in other similarly brutal adventure races like the Red Bull Dolomitenmann and the Atomic Waymaker. In 2014/2015 Paul and Tom De Dorlodot completed an 1800 km hike and fly route across the Alps called the “Adriatic Circle”. Paul has become one of the best adventure cross-country pilots in the world and showed his considerable skills this year in the 2015 X-Alps by coming in 3rd place again and giving Chrigel a hell of a run for his money. In this episode Paul grants us an intimate view of what he’s done right, what he’s done wrong, some hard lessons along the way and a lot more like the pressure of making a living from sponsorship. We discuss the compromise between flying fast and safety, a horrifying crash in 2014 and finding his way back, and how he’s learned to fly safer. And most importantly- can Chrigel be beaten? Listen to find out.
For more on Paul, check out http://www.paulguschlbauer.at/
A buck and episode, that’s all we ask.
Subscribe to the Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Tune In, or ITunes!
Show Notes:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:31 — 79.6MB)
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One of many scouting trips for the planned expedition…Photo Jody MacDonald
I am planning the most ambitious bivvy expedition of my life this spring. A full traverse (from west to east) of the massive and seriously remote Alaska Range. Straight line it’s just shy of 500 miles. I anticipate it will take as long as 8 weeks. I’m going to do it fully unsupported- so once I get dropped off, I’m on my own until I finish or have to bail (or worse!). I’ll be putting in food caches in advance every 100 kilometers or so which will make planning and logistics pretty critical. If I’m having a good day do I fly over a cache and blow it off and risk going without food for many days, or do I land, get the food and miss precious time in the air making distance? In May and June in the alpine there isn’t much to eat other than ground squirrels. Down low the salmon aren’t high enough in the rivers and the bears are hungry so I need to stay high.
On Day 9 of the Rockies Traverse you start figuring out what belongs and what doesn’t!
This post is a follow up to an earlier gear post I wrote about the kit Will Gadd and I carried on the Rockies Traverse, the things we carried and hopefully answers many questions I’ve been getting about what’s critical and what’s not. I actually haven’t changed much but it has been refined and I’ve been able to cut more than 10 pounds of weight which is considerable. Here’s the most important stuff in my bag these days for extended bivvy trips. If you would like to download the complete list, go here.
Niviuk Peak 4
Sup’Air Delight2
Please let me know if you have your own tricks for bivvy flying in regards to gear and if I’ve left anything out. Fly far, fly safe, and have fun!