We left Bolivia just before new year's eve, hitting the road towards Chile and the city of Iquique. The road leaving the Bolivian altiplano towards the border of Chile was absolutely incredible. Massive volcanoes and colored peaks at more than 4000m was our last view of Bolivia. After that, a long descent started in the direction of the Atacama desert and finally a last drop to the coast and Iquique.
At the border
Down to the desert!
In Iquique we decided to stay at the paragliding pilot nest that is the Flightpark. An hotel constructed out of shipping conteners with a beautiful view at the sea and prime access to the landing zones.
We started straight away with new year's eve which cost us our faithfull radio.
After all the festivities it was time to fly; it is the main activity in Iquique after all. The plan of the day: in the morning fly Alto Hospicio for a few hours of thermic flying and even some possible cross country, land at the flight park, have a nice lunch a little rest and leave to Palo Buque (the massive dune) to fly till sunset. Hard life!
Take Off at Alto Hospicio
After flight treat
The birds, such useful buddies!
I tried for a few days in a row to fly cross country from Alto Hospicio, it was much harder than I expected, it is not only ridge soaring for many kilometres. It is a mix of thermals and dynamic lift (which is weird so close to the coast) and there is some key points to pass, big peaks generating important rotors. With the training, every day I was managing to go a bit further. Finally on the third day I managed to pass the hardest of the points: punta gruessa, this gave me the access to Palo Buque and the rest of the ridge. I flew a bit further than Palo Buque and came back. A nice out and return of 40km. On the way back Geo called me on the radio telling me that my friends from Scotland Sofia and Sebastian had just arrived, so I decided to make a "grand" arrival and land in the flight park. Mission accomplished after about two and a half hours flying I was in the hotel with my friends, a great day! The track
On the ridge coming back from Palo Buque
Full speed on my way to the Flightpark
Landing Home!
The team:
On the evenings in Palo Buque I decided to start to practice helicopters (an acro trick). The first ones that I did were not too bad, I even thought for a moment that it would be quite easy to learn. But it proved to be much harder than I thought! I had a few complicated helicos with way too much oscillation. It is really a hard trick, that requires a lot of concentration and a great deal of finesse. Anyway I managed to do a few and started to get to know some new stuff. To master this kind of trick I should have the opportunity to practice more and maybe a wing more fit for acro.
The evening flying in Palo Buque was some time very turbulent, but we had a few perfect days where it was possible to go play in the so called "mystic dune", a huge dune made out of perfect sand.
We had an amazing time in Iquique, met loads of pilots from different countries an learned many things on the coastal/desert flying.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire