News 2007 - 2008

Nepal News update

After the wettest monsoon since records began, we arrived back in Pokhara to find that Sarangkot and the surrounding area had been hit by over 40 separate landslides. With over 50 houses destroyed and several deaths it looked serious.

Arriving at Maya Devi, we saw that we were lucky and only superficial damage had occurred, some of our neighbours were not so lucky. Bhupal and Nanni had done an incredible job clearing up and we were back up and running in no time. See below for more details.

It has been the longest and busiest season we have ever had in Nepal. Starting in September with a tour to Bhutan and then back in Nepal for the start of our tandem operation at the beginning of October we have seen only 9 non flyable days between October 1st and April 15th!!!

October and November saw a record number of tourists enter Nepal. 2 years of peace have meant that the big tour operators have returned and the relaxed and safe atmosphere has also returned.

As of writing, Nepal has just completed their first elections in 10 years. Most surprisingly the Maoists won. The people have decided to give them a shot at running the country. Fortunately the Maoists have declared that they will not rock the boat anymore and welcome the free market, tourists and foreign investment. All good news.

Nepal Open 2008

1st Debu Choudary (Niviuk XP)
2nd Jamie Messenger (Ozone Proto)
3rd Charles (Gin)

With over 60 pilots from 14 countries and great weather we completed 3 tasks out of 3. With task 2 being the longest we have set before, at 45km we sent pilots around Korchon and the Green Wall.

It was close until the last day when Jamie and Debu showed their PWC racing style by both standing on their speedbars while surfing lift back along the Sarangkot ridge. Jamie had a blow out and cravated his wing, which could not be recovered, so opted to land. Debu after 4 years of coming runner up took how his most coveted of prizes!! Well done.

Tandems

It was great to some old faces return to fly tandems for us this season. Serge from France and Claudio from Venezula, as well as new pilots, Sami from Turkey and Brad from US.

It has been great to work with what is widely regarded as the best Tandem outfit in Nepal. To see our team sky out when many other pilots with less experience and skill bomb out is always satisfying and I would like to thank my core team of pilots that I have worked with for so long, Ajay, Debu, Jamie, Ilya and Serge. Great pilots.

Tours

We ran more flying tours and introduced more pilots to Nepal than any previous year with the weather playing it’s helpful and consistent role.

We started earlier than usual, with or first group from Sky Club Austria. A good group of friends, lead by the young and extremely enthusiastic Heli.

The traditional soiree around the Galem campfire was a treat. With the entire village treated to a repertoire of German and Austrian folk songs. The rachshi (local liquor) helped tune in.

This season, I decided to run the tours with 2 guides. Jamie made a big difference to the way we could get the most from a day in dividing clients of differing abilities. The number of pilots commenting that they thought the tour was the best they had been on or that a particular day had been their best flying etc. felt great.

It was good to welcome back VIP paragliding from British Columbia in late January. But the highlight of the touring season was the 3 week expedition we were running for the British Joint Services Hang gliding and Paragliding centre.

The goal of the expedition was to fly in a Bivi style from Tansen to Kathmandu. Only 220Km as the crow flies, or 1000km if you drive!!

Arriving in February to great weather, we immediately set up Paragliding Boot camp. An intensive 10 days of XC flying followed by more XC flying. We had to get the lads into flying shape. Typical of the British forces, they were more than up for it. Jamie and I tried our best to knacker them out, but each morning they kept coming back for more.

So after 10 days of 3-4 hour flying days, with the lads doing their longest and what several of them described as their best flights ever. We then headed out west to start on the real adventure.

I had been looking forward to this trip all season and it did not disappoint. It felt like the old days. Pioneering new sites and routes, not knowing where you would end up each day. We started out with great conditions but as we progressed they worsened. Still we completed 75% of the route by air. Discovered new sites and got the buzz back.

I would like to thank Jamie for his excellent guiding job, Sam for his retrieves and putting up with all that smack talk and most of all the lads from the Joint Services, a great bunch who made the trip.

Maya Devi

As described at the top, Maya Devi started the new season under 6 inches of mud, after the worst monsoon on record had caused numerous landslides in the area.

We were actually lucky in that the power of the landslide above Maya Devi had been partially spent by the time it reached us. So rather than boulders hitting us, we had small stones, mud and water. Only superficial damage occurred, after the flood dumped 6 inches of cement like mud throughout the buildings, Nanni, Bhopal and their friends spent a week cleaning up. A great job and thanks guys.

We expanded the seating area for the café, to create better views of the landing site. The menu was slightly changed from last year and we have employed several local women to help out.

As well as our home, we like to think of it as a gathering place, a hangout, a nice place to while a way some time.

Thanks for all those folk who enjoyed Maya Devi this year.

Galem

This year we visited Galem 5 times, sticking to our ethos of not taking more than 25 people a year. This has worked out well as the reception we have is exceptional and genuine. This experience of the real Nepal has had a dramatic affect on the pilots we have taken up there.

This year the sponsorship program that we established, where any pilot can sponsor a kid from the school for the year, expanded massively. We now have 20 children from the Shree Sitala Lower Secondary School Galem in sponsorship. We take the best achieving kids from the poorest families and pay for their school year. This costs about £45 a year and means the difference between them going to school or not.

A good friend of Frontiers, Paul Roberts went on my behalf to the School prize giving day. He took his folks who were so impressed with the school that they decided to pay for all the children’s school uniforms. That’s over 240 kids kit!! Thanks guys, that’s more than generous.

Memorable flight

In March we went up to Korchon with the Army lads, it was bitterly cold but the morning dawned clear. A 8:30am launch into 2m/sec thermals was dreamy. Oh what a view.

Cheers
Adam
May 2008