My pilot was Algusta, a ~45 year old Chilean guy of small stature but in good physical shape. The kind of shape a Chilean 45 year old stays in by just keeping an active lifestyle and maybe doing a pushup every now and then. He was more certain of my ability to fly ("as long as we can get a little weend") than his boss. He told me: when we are running down the hill, you are going to feel a lift. Just keep running. Don't lay down. If you lay down, we are going to crash. Keep running until you are running on air. I need you to do this.
Three more times, he told me: when we are running, you are going to feel a lift. And, three times I completed his sentence: just keep running.
It's not easy running because you are effectively attached to each other's hip. But, we practiced staying in sync a few times before the real thing and then sat crouched, waiting for the wind socks to foretell of an upcoming draft.
After about 15 minutes of waiting, he liked the wind and we took off running down the hill. There was some fortunate footing in the takeoff because just as we were about to be off the ground, I was able to place my right foot on a protruding rock and get one last full stride of a push. The whole takeoff took about 8 strides.
Once airborn, hang gliding is a great experience. You're not far off the tree at times (not far when compared to usual flying), and you can look down and watch them go by. The thing lasts about 15 minutes. Landing was a smooth ordeal.
To run through some other things: heli-boarding never happened. It was too cloudy on Saturday to fly and so I went out for a hike instead. There was this trail that's 6 miles long and about 4600 ft up. Supposed to take about 8 hours. I figured that sounded fun. It turns out, that's a lot of up.
There's a saddle point on the trail right before the 1-hour hike to the summit. The summit looked pretty daunting from far away (I remember walking earlier on the trail thinking "where's this summit I'm supposed to go to?" I saw this mountain and thought "there's no way that's it. That's way too high and has all this snow on it" Yea, that was it). But, once I got at the saddle point and started looking at the summit, it didn't seem so bad. Plus, it was only another hour.
Luckily, there was limited snow on the trail and where there was snow, there were footprints to place my feet in that had already compacted. The real kicker was when my lower quad/hamstring started to almost cramp up at once with about 20-30 minutes left to the top. It was the onset of a cramp but it never fully came. I got pretty lucky. Usually, once my legs start cramping, I'm in trouble. But, I made sure to take smaller steps that didn't stress these muscles as much. And, I also made sure to be pretty deliberate with my balance after that.
Anyway, I'll stop being dramatic. I made it to the top and took a few cool pics. The way down was much, much easier.
Oh, Friday, the night before (maybe this was why my legs were cramping?), I made a friend. Tim has lived in Queenstown since he was two and is a 24 year old carpenter these days. The previous Friday he had won a $1000 bar tab at this particular bar (and a $2000 car ("hey, it runs"). The top 20 customers over some time period competed in an eating contest involving eyes, tongues, brains, etc that he won). He seemed bound and determined to finish it off that night. I got to talking to him asking if it was worth the trip to Dunedin or not and he advised against since it was basically a college town and they have finals next week. Then, he started buying me shots. Awful, awful shots.
Thing is, the main guy at the bar is his roommate and he knew all the bartenders there. So, whenever we got a shot, he'd say "gimme your best shot" and they'd concoct some horrible combination that sometimes involved the core ingredient of absinthe and usually involved something liquorice-ish or otherwise syruppy. We must've had five or six of these things. I kept trying to buy but he really wanted to kill his tab. After the tab was done, he refused more drinks cause he was too drunk.
Also, he was hanging out with an off-duty bartender (pretty cute) when I started talking to him. She was on the other side of him while we were conversing for a little while and took the first shot with us. She then announced she had to go but would be back and slapped my ass on the way out (this must've been "hi" because we hadn't actually spoken to each other at this point, but I was soon informed she had a boyfriend). She did come back but she also continuted to have a boyfriend.
Battery's about to die. Quickly, while eating at Lone Star again last night, some 50 year old Oz guy was impressed with the amount of ribs I took down. He invited me over to his table with three others and we talked politics and the current financial crisis. They were all from a small town in southern Australia and came over to do some skiing. I explained the Electoral College system well enough for them to all realize it's a horrible system. They also insisted I play pool with them so I ended up spending 2-3 hours with these guys. They were a fun bunch and pretty good at pool. He wanted me to have his contact info in case I ever came to Australia. He said he used to have a couple hotels and that he always liked the Americans that came to visit.
This morning I drove out from Queenstown. Driving on the left side of the road is really, really weird. Luckily, NZ helps a brotha out.
Along the way, I took some pics.
I'm now in Franz Josef and tomorrow will be fun with glaciers. There's an ice-climbing option on the glacier so eat your heart out Ben Gallup. I'm in the middle of a rain forest. So, right now it's raining (much like my entire drive today). This must be why people don't come visit New Zealand in September.
Must grab food. Starving.
7 comments:
Keep left.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Thanks for the "alive" email. We knew you had went hangglinder and tend to get a tad bit concern when we do not hear from you after one of your life threatening adventures....btw....Dad was worried too...it was not just me! We are really glad you are having such experiences.....love ya!
What's with a ≈240 lb. weight limit on equipment that keeps one from plummeting out of the sky?
heh. that's some good planning on the hike there, jut. tell me you did the whole thing in that tshirt, with half a "liter" of water.
there's this cool trail-rating concept called energy miles - take the mileage, tack on 1 more mile for each 500ft elevation gain, and 1 more still for each 1000ft descent - and you get the equivalent in flat miles walked. so you damn near walked a marathon. which you can use to impress the ladies, if you wouldn't come off as a huge nerd for explaining the concept. ahem.
the car dash warning's a nice tough. in sydney, they had "LOOK RIGHT" on the ground at each crosswalk (or LEFT, for those pesky one-way streets) - which was handy. the occasional street sign reminding you you'd make a new friend if you were in the right lane was useful, too.
and i'm just happy you not an ice climber. my jealousy would have find a way to bore through the planet's core via intertubes and destroy you. and i'm way too lazy for that nonsense.
Those are terrific photos. I can see a couple going up in your abode at some point. Be careful who you drink with...seriously. So far, that's the only thing that worried me...
Have fun...
Uncle J
Ben,
Thanks for the height to distance conversion. It makes me feel better. I can make great time on flat ground but when things start going up, those 240 pounds are really felt.
And, as far as supplies, I had forgotten to completely fill up my water bottle so I started out with 600 ml of water. But, I also had 450 ml of powerade and three granola bars.
I should've gotten a picture of the summit from the saddle point cause that was really the moment of truth. At that point, I ate the remaining two granola bars and downed all my powerade thinking it was best the the nutrients be in me. Then at the top I downed the remaining 200 ml of water I had knowing that the farther down I got without cramping up, the better shape I'd be in.
I did do the entire ascent in that t-shirt but I had a jacket with me that I put on during the last half of the return. Down doesn't keep me as warm as up does.
And, I did go ice climbing but I had to do it inside cause it was pouring rain. It's the only indoor ice climbing wall in the southern hemisphere. I did a 10 m wall about three times before my forearms were gone (rookie-use of arms over legs).
(as for anyone else reading this) I have a three-hour ferry ride coming up with internet access so I'll get a full update with a lot of pics uploaded in a few hours. To summarize my Monday: I started the day on a glacier, hiked through a rainforest to a lake (see facebook profile pic), and then raced back to the car to get to the beach in time for the sunset.
Good stuff.
Andrew,
I think the weight limit is all about having enough lift for takeoff. Once off the ground, it seemed that the hang glider itself wouldn't have a problem with falling apart mid-flight. At least, no one told me anything about that.
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