Pitter-patter of rubber soles running over coarse granite with the light jingle of aluminum bouncing along in unison and then whoosh, flying over one of the most picturesque landscapes that planet earth has to offer, hang gliding over Yosemite National Park.
It’s a definite privilege to take part in such an activity in the park, since no other form of aviation is allowed in Yosemite. The only other way to see the park from the air, is to be injured enough to warrant the rescue helicopter.
The highlight is definitely the launch off Glacier Point, that faces Half Dome, and then getting to fly past Yosemite Falls.
Launch is at 7,200′ and the landing zone is at 4,000′ so everything is faster with the thinner air and requires more attention to launching and landing.
Thanks to Chris Valley for monitoring that weekend, and to Eric Wiese for helping me retrieve the car!
I shot this on the GoPro and the Canon 7D and I use the gorillapod as a mount on the keel.
lucas, saw your blog and send a message, didn’t know if you got it. Shortwise what do you prefer hanggliding or skydiving. Willy you continue skydiving and later on wingsuiting or will you progressing in your favourite spport which is hanggliding? best regards, bernie
Hey bernie, I did get that message and thought I’d respond here. Yea, hang gliding and sky diving are two different beasts with their own appealing aspects. No doubt, sky diving is not flying, it is falling, no matter how you cut it, even with wingsuits, they are falling. Falling can be fun, but it is a limitation that hang gliding does not share on a soarable day. If given the choice in a day, I’d probably always go with hang gliding. From my experience in both sports, there’s just so much more to the sport of hang gliding.
thx Lucas for responding. I send you the same question on you tube because I did not look at this blog again, sorry for that. I have to say your videos are realy amazing, the surrondings of Yosemite for example are wonderful. But I must admire your skills in HG, you can completly exploring your surrondings in your beautiful country, and to be honest looping with a HG is definetly extreme stuf,surely not for everyone. Anyway I am fan of your blog, because it reflects great images with a high degree of technicityfrom the editor…. thx for sharing this