Paragliding Niton

December 15^th, 2021

I woke up yet again to rain falling outside.  I figured that paragliding wasn’t going to happen and I planned on renting a bicycle to do the Ruta de Cascadas (Route of Waterfalls) which is one of the must do activities in Baños.  I spent the morning figuring out accommodations for upcoming destinations while hoping that the rain would abate.  I received a response email from Edgar at Paragliding Niton and he asked if I wanted to join him as he had a potential tandem flight to do.

 

Luckily the rain did subside and by chance, his office was right beside my hostel, it couldn’t have been much closer.  I was actually a bit surprised how unobservant I had been, on the stairwell up to my room I should have seen the paragliding stickers on his windows across the street.  I introduced myself, we loaded my wing and set off.  Our conversation throughout the day was almost entirely in Spanish and I was surprised that we communicated fairly well.

An awesome little paragliding model in Edgar's office:

 We were meeting his passenger at the launch and at first I wondered how the logistics of retrieving his vehicle were going to work but during our 45 minute drive to the site he mentioned that is was a top landing site.  Cool, but that also adds a bit of extra pressure flying a new site…what if I sink out and don’t top land.  Oh, worry about that later, if it happens.

 

There were already a couple of wings in the air as we arrived, a tandem and a solo wing.  The launch was a gently sloped farmer’s field with short grass and just the odd cow patty to watch out for.  A dog came up to greet us and I was impressed that Edgar had a bit of dog food in his vehicle for his canine friend.  A young couple was already there, and the woman was going for the flight.

 The launch:

Tungurahua Volcano:

We got set up and the wind was coming in fairly strong at times, so I offered to be an anchor for Edgar on his takeoff.  He seemed to be a very skilled pilot and they had a great launch.  Now it was my turn.  My wing came up crooked a few times but eventually I had a good inflation and began running down the gentle slope.  It was a fun take off for sure.

In the air, the obligatory foot shot:

Some days it can be a thermic site but today it was a dynamic one, meaning that there was a strong wind coming up the slope and we stayed up by flying in the upwards component of the air.  It’s known as ridge soaring and it’s generally very relaxed flying.  You usually remain around the same altitude and make passes back and forth along the hillside.  It’s called ridge soaring and some pilots refer to it as “ridge boring” but at a new site, with these views, it was far from that.

After 15-20 minutes Edgar landed with his tandem and not wanting to keep him waiting for too long, I came down soon after.  I was pleased with my landing approach as I nailed it first time.  When top landing, you want to be a bit conservative and come in too high than too low as you can always make another pass.  At this site there was row of trees you had to pass over just before the field which made it a bit trickier.

 Another pilot taking off:

 A tandem make a pass by:

We hung out for a bit longer, watching some other tandem pilots flying around.  One younger guy was skilled, but not overly conservative for flying a tandem.  He made some low passes by the passenger’s friends which happened to be right behind a big clump of trees where there can be rotor (turbulent air, like eddies behind a rock in a river).  As I was packing up, I also heard the moo of a disgruntled cow and looked up to see the tandem wing just flying away from it in a pendulum motion…not sure if he touched the bovine or just upset it with his proximity.  Oh well, no harm, no foul.

Gorgeous!

It was my first flight in Ecuador and it was a great introduction.  The views of the valley below and of the 5000 meter volcano Tungurahua got better and better as the afternoon went on.  Super sweet.

Muchas Gracias Edgar!