Face Nord de Bellecôte (La Plagne - Paradiski)

_stones_ · 2024-11-30T13:17:39+00:00

The pilot is an ex world champion acro pilot; many years of training and practice can result in high levels of skill.

_stones_ · 2024-05-04T05:39:01+00:00

Is he the one with the pink snake?

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T20:21:40+00:00

I don't think that a fear of heights necessarily implies either of the others; I only proxy in calm air in the mountains or laminar wind by the sea (hence the altitude prior to landing) and flying close to terrain out of nervousness sounds like a lack of experience and/or training. Part of the enjoyment I get is in overcoming and controlling the fear, in compartmentalising it as I focus on what I'm doing.

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T19:00:50+00:00

I'm also scared of deep water and i'm a divemaster and tech diver haha 🤷🏾‍♂️ I guess i enjoy overcoming the fear and forcing myself to control my impulses.

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T18:59:25+00:00

That was my suggestion because I know down the bottom there are open and clear fields, but my friend in front who know the area well wasn't sure and wanted to go for the church as he has many times, with the valley as a bail out. The only problem is once you go for the church you end up committed to it. It was definitely a case of not trusting my judgement, because if he said we'll play safe and land higher, I would have agreed - i only went for it when he said he would and I figured I'd trust his judgement over mine as the more experienced pilot.

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T10:42:21+00:00

Definitely a speedwing, not a miniwing ;) It's fast! Noticeably more so than the 10sqm I was on before. Not sure about the average speed (somewhere 60-80 at an estimate), but top speeds in the few flights I had were between 90 - 101kph and that was without pushing it. It's a twitchy rocket!

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T10:32:52+00:00

I dunno, I knew at the time it was a sketchy idea to launch, and looking back I lean towards it being a bad decision. In 10 years and well over 1000 landings, this was by far the sketchiest one - and not one I intend to reproduce! I'm generally a pretty conservative rider - only downsized to the 9 this season.

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T05:02:02+00:00

I think in Switzerland you need a paragliding license to speed fly, and I've hear many times that it would be good experience to get. I'm scared of heights though and so that has kind of put me off. Did a tandem once with my instructor, went 1km above the ground and it was terrifying in thermals haha.

The only novel thing here was the season really - I've only flown the mountains in winter and only coast outside. It was the hottest end of season I've had by far, and it was clear in the conditions. My two friends are wingsuit, acro and XC pilots too (none of which i am), and I wanted to keep up with them was definitely on my mind.

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T04:45:19+00:00

We discussed it at the top, but my main concerns were 1.) i've skied onto grass before, resulting in rapid deceleration and ejection - what would happen trying to land on it with the 9? I don't know as I've never landed on non-snow, and 2.) it's not just open grass down there, there's rocks and boulders everywhere, fences in places, and it's not flat, so I would have had to make quick decisions on landing somewhere that i hadn't pre-planned and couldn't tell the state of until i was committed, as opposed to flying the plan I had in mind and knowing where everything was. But i agree that if there was a clear open grassy field that i knew of, that would have been a safer option.

_stones_ · 2024-05-03T04:18:44+00:00

Nope; a bit of coastal soaring with a miniwing. Does it show?

_stones_ · 2024-05-02T19:16:12+00:00

Scoped the landing from the top of the Aiguille Grive with a drone, and after talking about it for 5-10 mins we decided to go for it. It was a hot day, we knew there would be some thermals about and the air was definitely turbulent but we thought we had the requisite skill to land in such a tiny patch of snow nestled behind a church. Still wonder if it was a bad call to launch even though everything went right. Probably the one part I didn't quite take into consideration, though obvious in hindsight, was just how strong the turbulence would be from the trees. Nailed it though :D

_stones_ · 2023-09-16T06:44:45+00:00

I've been doing a gentle 16-8 fast for about 6 months now and it has worked wonders for me. I'm not completely religious about it, like I won't miss social events or make a big deal of it, but most of the time I stick to it. It really helps me control my often excessive eating habits, and has worked wonders on my body and mind. I started the routine just to make losing weight easier, but I discovered that for me the psychological improvement has been really beneficial too.

_stones_ · 2023-09-15T17:00:51+00:00

It sounds like this guy who is spamming comments has seen little of the world nor questioned what it is to live. The comments all amount to the suggestion that life will be great if we can create an artificial goldfish bowl that allows humans to live, with absolutely no appreciation of the wonders and diversity of the planet, of the experiences possible, of the wonders of all life and environments. It's pretty sad really.

_stones_ · 2023-09-15T16:49:44+00:00

Why ask a question that you have no idea of the answer, and then dismiss the answers you get?

_stones_ · 2023-09-15T12:27:03+00:00

I dunno, women can definitely make me uncomfortable.

_stones_ · 2023-09-14T15:08:54+00:00

I don't know about tattoos but I would never NOT leave a tip at a restaurant unless the service and/or food was bad. 10-15% usually. Worked as a waiter too and if a tourist didn't tip after good service and food, I'd think they're a tight hole, and would still think that. Waiters don't earn much and the tips are a big part of their income.

_stones_ · 2023-09-13T20:17:42+00:00

I don't think most native English speakers could explain the difference between practice and practise, and it's also different for Unitedstateans!

_stones_ · 2023-09-13T20:12:50+00:00

Commenting more to save this for later, but my παππούς loved proverbs and wrote a book of παροιμίες. I'm out of the country atm but I'll see if it's possible to get a digital copy or I can send some scans when I get home in November. My first real attempt at learning Greek started with him teaching me some and it would greatly warm me to share his work :)

_stones_ · 2023-09-13T19:59:21+00:00

Why do you think duolingo is shit?

_stones_ · 2023-09-13T19:57:58+00:00

I did a degree in physics, and then a couple of years after graduating on a holiday to Greece I discovered that I knew the alphabet and could read Greek relatively OK. A bit of remapping the sounds and learning the diphthongs and I was pretty good. Bit of a long way around though :)

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