Couloirman

My speedwing(12 m/(115 sq ft projected) gin nano) is pretty much just a stiletto with trimmers on the risers and a hip attachment point, add on my skis and mtn climbing gear and Im loading it at about 2:1 flying it along cliffs as high as 14,400 ft. That being said, the requirements are what they are, these guys aren't flying with skis on which ups the danger 10 fold IMHO, and I suspect part of it is that since they will be filming, and they will be loading they're canopies that heavily, you better be able to keep up with the team. Cant wait until I get enough experience to join a trip like this...

well, regardless of the rating of the slope, or how steep the slope is, as long as you can get moving at a decent rate, just ground handling the canopy while skiing is pretty damn fun too, and a great way to practice for when you wanna step up into steeper terrain and do a lot of touch and go's, which is where the real fun is... Oh, and I live in Colorado, have a snowmobile to access the backcountry, and will be speedflying all winter/spring if anyone wants to join me. Shoot me a PM if interested, I have some amazing descents lined up...

what do you mean black or red, is that how they grade ski runs at resorts where you are from? I dont have the luxury of resort speed riding here in the states, but the the springo has a good glide ratio, if you can get going fast on a shallow slope with the wing over your head and stab the brakes youll go airborne, but not for long. My favorite places to do it so far(Im no expert yet mind you, only done maybe 60 ski launches this season so far on my 12m nano) is a shallow slope to get the wing inflated and make sure its all good, then a big rollover onto some much steeper terrain so you can hit the brakes to take off, turn and go along the terrain and do some sweet proximity flying.

depends on how good you are. If you drag it around a lot, it will wear faster, if you are good, and get it in the air fast without dragging it around a whole lot it wont wear very quickly at all. Bottom line=dont worry about it, you should be much more worried about running over your lines or canopy fabric with you ski edges. Lines are tough, but ski edges are tougher so be careful and always make a careful inspection of your wing prior to flight, and after any time your ski edges may have touched it.

i stalled out a gainer on my back on my first balloon jump and was able to flip onto my belly, get stable and deploy at exactly 5 seconds(I counted the time from my helmet cam video). 195 is the price they give to tourists who want the whole flight, just ask if you can sneak onto a load a sightseers to get to 3k~ish for $70 and give a $10 tip.

slight hijack: what constitutes a "jump"? Do ground launches count? BASE jumps? Obviously these questions shouldn't be relevant for an A license jumper (theoretically ), but I personally would like to get my D license some day, and am curious as to whether or not I can count my foot/ski launches, and BASE jumps in my log book towards a license. I assume not, but I have heard different things from different people. Thanks.

http://www.skates.com/Off-road-skate-p/21lg.htm these look like they could be a lot of fun for ground launching...

very true, but a skydiving style harness might be a lot easier to launch with, with risers attached at the shoulder, rather than like the ground launch specific harnesses that attach at the waist. Id hate to launch my nano on a snowboard, but hook it up to a skydiving harness and you'll have way less wing distortion(not none, just less) when you are turned 90 degrees to the fall line, than you'd have with a paragliding harness. Im pretty sure the general consensus is skis=paragliding harness, snowboard=skydiving harness. But what Id do, is buy an old skydiving container for like $100, cut off the container portion leaving the harness intact and just sew on a stuff sack. I know you said that you wont, but for others out there, please, DO NOT use your skydiving rig with your reserve sitting there in its packing tray, you are just asking to break your back when the inevitable happens and you hot tub onto your back. check out this website also: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=11529&highlight=snowboard

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3697017

79.99 I can handle, thanks a lot. Ill be sure to post the good results...

anyone made their own? I refuse to pay the $300 for the bonehead model, its just not worth it to me for that much money, so Im just seeing if anyone had any ideas for a homebrewed version. I was thinking something involving a weight lifting belt and a plastic cylinder with a tripod head epoxied to the top(I have a bullet cam and a regular video camera and would use either, the bullet cam would certainly be easier to mount and not get in the way as much), but if anyone had any better ideas Im certainly open to suggestions, thanks.

Im in the same boat with my new sabre 2 150. I flake it really neat, then when it comes time to put it in the bag, I start too lose it, but REFUSE to restart, so furiously grab and stuff at anything that is coming out. Its not pretty, but if you just control your slider, dont get lines tangled in nylon, and somehow get it in the bag then its all good. The worst looking packjobs(I really mean atrocious) have been opening the best for me recently, and the best looking, neatest textbook pack job that I had put me into 3 line twists. Good luck, and dont give up.

are there any stories of a backwards canopy and a person trying to get out of their harness and turn around to put their rig on the front of their body and land it that way? I know Ive seen footage of someone climbing out of their harness and hanging from his legstraps then getting back in, so it seemed like someone could have tried it. Sounds like a bad idea to me, but Ive heard of dumber things being done...

thatd be really fun to try on a water landing, on land... not so much

I don't think it matters who you are. As skydivers we all have a unique bond to one another, and even if you're a total newbie but see something obviously dangerous you have a moral obligation to tell that person why what they are doing is dangerous and to try to get them to correct it.

and the worst part is that the note doest have to say anything like "your bag was opened and checked by bag checker #13728" which means they have no accountability when they decide to steal something. I once had over $1000 of climbing gear stolen from my bag, a uninformative note was in there and I couldn't do anything about it because no one knew who it was who checked my bag.

I was just talking about this very question, and yes it has. As I have taken up more and more dangerous recreational activities, I take less and less risks in everyday situations. EX: I drive slowly, very slowly. To the point where my mom was in the car with me this past summer, and I wasn't passing someone going slow on a highway with one lane in each direction, but dotted yellow line in the middle and she made the comment "you'll jump out of a plane no questions asked but you wont pass this smelly truck?" My whole family got a laugh out of that one.

flying canopies next to clouds, so fun. It seems that I like high pulls more than freefall recently, mostly because I get to enjoy scenery like this...

uh oh, everyone sell all your skydiving gear and buy ground launching wings, and base rigs, it may soon be the only way to fly...

a lot of the guys working the tunnel are instructors. tell them exactly why you are there and they will focus your tunnel time toward aff specific goals. do practice pulls, look at your wrist a lot, turns on heading, etc... i failed aff level 4 cause i was a spinner, went to the tunnel for 10 minutes, then crushed my remaining levels. definitely go do as much tunnel time as you can. if you do 10 or 15 minutes, at $10/min, and it prevents you from failing even one aff level, then it paid for itself.

A couple quick Q's: 1) why did PD remove the Spire from their website? and 2) why would the spire be recommended to be flown no higher than 1.5 WL when its based on a velo, a wing that typically gets loaded much, much higher than that? Especially with its small sizes, and intended use of being flown with skis on, pilots are going to have a whole lot of weight on them with mountaineering gear, avy gear, ski gear, food, water, etc... I can't imagine many pilots small enough to be loading an 8 or 10m wing in the winter at 1.5. Is it just to cover their asses for when someone gets hurt? thanks

its just not spectator friendly. Take some big shots at espn to a swoop comp, impress the living hell out of them, and maybe they'd let that get in for a season, but like everyone said, theres no money in advertising bc theres no one to sell anything to. That and most of the people(teenage males) watching the x games are too young to jump anyway and you have an event destined to fail. Id REALLY like to see swooping at the x games though, maybe then Id actually give a crap about them.

1-10: random student AFF gear down to a 220 Spectre. 11-20: sabre 2 190 20-40ish: spectre 170 40-present: sabre 2 150 at 1.33 Not going down in size for another 2-300 jumps at least.

I 80 it is then, 3 or 4 jumps at 3 or 4 DZ's along the way would be a perfect way to pass the time on the long drive. thanks guys.

thats exactly the kind of thing Im looking for, thanks guys. Any more DZ's would be great too. As for splitting gas, Id be more than happy to caravan across the country stopping for jumps and beers along the way, but have a completely full tacoma I have to get back to CO with, so not really sure how Id fit another person in it but thanks.