The Magic of Freedom - Karakoram Paragliding Adventure
[Music] our sky is filled with boundless Freedom it has a mystical state that is forever changing and the currents that run through it are like that of water flowing through a river sometimes soft other times raw and unforgiving these forces can be harness and if you dare to play with them well as they say disguise the limit climing well now wing is feeling incredibly heavily loaded clouds are coming in definitely want to uh get up and get landed ASAP otherwise it's get scary it's scary flying in these strong conditions at times you have to concentrate and you have to focus and you can't make mistakes that's it nice whe bring it in nice one buddy it's getting super stormy that wasn't easy uh but we made a nice landing here we're at 4,900 something like that than man that was exciting that was a bit exciting wasn't it that is an accelarating way it's again 2,000 M me oh my God we just need medy to make it here safe now uh fingers crossed for him so it wasn't easy down there4 me oh wait wait wa wait wait that is freedom really is there it's just pure magic no other way to describe it it's magical it doesn't feel like you should be able to do that but we can so we do [Music] [Music] [Music] this [Music] just um experimenting we've been flying a lot with our skis like this and be able to put them on and off in the air and be able to fly with them confidently in strong turbulent air without them putting you off is quite important for this type of flying that we've been doing it means that we can take off again much more easily if there's a back wind or if it's a flat glassier or a flat snow slope and it just means that we can more confidently land uh without thinking that we're marooning ourselves we are a group of five paragliding pilots who have returned to the kakur mountains in Pakistan to continue developing the small niche of using paragliders to access Himalayan Mountains and although we are one group we all have our own visions of what we would like to achieve in these mountains the truly magical thing about this place is a sense of Freedom it's really just the case of how far your imagination can stretch and what risks you're willing to take it's a new approach of the Mountain uh normally for to go in the dran we need maybe 3 day of Ike where in the mountain and after we need maybe one week to to climb the Jan but with the paraglide it's possible to take take off now for example at 12:00 uh flying and land on the danan maybe 6,500 M just climb to go in the summit and come back so I can do a 7, in one day and for me it's a new s and I like to discover the new new approach of the the mountain so that's Anton's plan for the trip he really wants to climb the mountain of Duran meanwhile though will medy and myself have a slightly different plan and then this other Mountain over here Mayan ches which has got some interesting ski potential and it's got lots of good Landing places probably close to the summit but also at the bottom of it it's about I don't know an hour and a half's flight away it's not that far we flown past it lots of times it would requet going there Laden up with skis ski boots and all that kind of [Music] stuff on our walk up to the takeoff we met a local pilot named Sid he recently took up paragliding and is Keen to learn more from [Music] us the clouds that are more like a tower you see the one on rakap posi there yeah that one leaning over yeah they're more dangerous because they have more power oh they suck like a tower like a tower yeah like a massive vacuum sucking all the air from below when a cloud that is more flat Blen is less dangerous but for now it's good yeah for now it's good yeah where you from I'm British you from British yeah and and Jake is also British and medy here is from France oh I see yeah when you turn if the air is going up you don't come down but if the air is coming down and you turn you sink a lot so that's why the most important thing is to try and turn gently very gently and in the air that is going up today I think maybe I will try one [Music] [Music] hour my plant go in the air huh loaded up with our skiing equipment medy will and myself set off on a mission to fly to Mayan ches which is about 25 km away from the takeoff at just under 6,000 M Mayan ches is an impressive Mountain that's likely never been skied before in order to get there we first need to catch several thermals to gain enough altitude to travel the distance hey well n it looks like we can make it to M what do you think I'm G I just want you seems like the wind's pretty good for landing uh I'm going to try now once I have the height landing on top of a mountain is one of the most technical things we can do with a paraglider it's also one of the most dangerous [Music] [Applause] all right I'm down medy this is Jake JY shot [Music] [Music] D so good just packing our bags away a little bit worried we don't know where will is hopefully he's okay and uh we're going to walk to the summit it's only just there then me and Med will ski maybe it's going to be good snow let's see Hey medy Jake uh I can't get up there I just can't quite make the last Meers to the summit I will see you back in kabad have a good ski and this is the bizarre thing about using a paraglider nothing is guaranteed and I think traveling in this way this is what makes it so addictive you never know exactly if you're going to be able to harness the sky and go where you planned to go but when it works there is almost a magical element to traveling like this it's not far off having a broomstick what the peach Myan chees 5,900 come man we have a big storm coming behind us uh we have quite a committing Ridge to start the ski and then it should be very beautiful I'm super excited so so cigarette for for good r [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the transition from floating through the air to the sliding on snow with such ease is almost absurd it's a sensory overload in this place I feel like we are free to move through the world and its different elements and dimensions totally unencumbered by the usual rules so we need to be quick now and we need to get out of here this is the trouble with this kind of par alpinism is that when you land up on a mountain you didn't get there by foot so you can't necessarily get down by foot sometimes you can but where we fit ourselves now I think we'll be difficult to do that go on medie oh no no no [Music] no [Music] ja my cherry just of us we were on top of that on [Music] again [Music] W hey medy I think we can outrun this bad weather if we head towards Barber what you think W it's crazy day let's go so we're crossing onto Barbara Peak now hopefully we get a climb there and if we do maybe we'll be a to go skiing again to ski on one huge peak in a day is a beautiful thing but the potential of skiing on two Himalayan Peaks that are located over 30 km apart from each other is something no one has ever done before [Music] [Music] that wasn't too smart Med sa yeah fine I just need to move across onto a little Plateau I'm just below the summit not my best landing One Destin one destination one [Music] one [Music] for [Music] there is one [Music] one there is [Music] amaz so how did yesterday gu big mistake I was in the pl with everything have a good altitude everything but I didn't manage to land at the first try and after it was not possible to climb another time at good altitude but I now I have a lot of experience of yesterday so maybe I can do it at this point in the trip we don't have so many days left and the weather has become unsettled there is only one more weather window in the forecast and it's short in the meantime though we have invited the local Pilots over for a lesson with the line on elevator it's important to have minimum 60 kilo to stay alive okay 60 kilo this is guys don't have a school or some center for the test so we try to give some tips so this one is not good no it's good it's not good yeah it's not good well it's good it's good to break because it don't break in the sky so it's good so we have to CH this this one parag gliding equipment is expensive no matter where you live and the pilots here rely on secondhand equipment that has been donated to them for the resistance if I have a line likea it's maybe 200 Kil like that if you do that is 15 kilo totally different so it's not possible to do something like that to connect a line like to do something like that you have to do epure what is it I show you okay everybody understand and now it's perfect we will try on this one because we need to change one and we can do that with all size the next day we awake with blue skies and a good-looking forecast the plan is to go on the D check if the cloud bu is high and if it's high I will land the close to 6,000 maybe 500 500 close to this place and after climb with just key on the summit of of danan but we will see if I have a good acclimation or not and also if the condition are good because lot of snow and I'm aone because I climb at 7,000 is not like climb 6,000 lot of clothes lot of things maybe I take something to stay long time we don't know if it's possible to have a techn Anon is a Pioneer in the sport he has already drawn more lines on the map of Pakistan with his parag glider than probably any other pilot I clim at 5 [Music] in order to climb Dean in one day he will need to land high on the shoulder of the mountain to do that he will need to fly from one area of lifting air to the next the skill is to be able to find these areas of lifting air from the snowy ridges that surround Iran the way air moves in the sky is very similar to flowing water it's complex but there are patterns [Music] I live at 6 I will pass the Ridge Climb to the cumulus and maybe land on the but I will be the Le side because I have a back wind let's go for B [Music] he's [Music] good this side is not comp now you have to find the th manage to find the good Anton is now at 6,000 800 M he needs to find a place on the side of the mountain that's safe to [Music] land how you need go place my side now I will go in the dire of the Smit there it's a long way maybe 4 hours if I go fast Jack or somebody if you hear me I'm on the dran everything is okay but it's more steep than I expect I think I will manage to go theit if I'm lucky but not sure to take off today fast like this one and it's not possible to see and here we have a small bridge and he can we can we can collapse when we are on this one I don't know what is the best V go 10 m exit I love to be alone in the mountain but when it's safe not when it's like that [Music] it's such a d [Music] [Music] hard 77 doesn't 250 [Music] so 170 m [Music] more and maybe it's 1 hour because it's the deep is still very deep not sure I will sleep on the mountain because it's too late already 5:30 I we arrived maybe at 6:30 or 7 theit I'm on theit my camera doesn't works because I think it's too cold uh the snow is very deep and it's difficult to walk I begin to down [Music] now okay okay well antoan has cracked it he's on the summit of Duran right now which is that shining Mountain and uh he's been a it's been a an example of tenacity [Music] [Music] will for an for an just trying to see how anan's doing he's up there hopefully he's found his tent I don't think he's reping unable to contact him and with the possibilities of crevasses and altitude sickness we all started to worry for antoan safety hello Anton do you copy how is the conditions of there everything all right with you normally when we're just flying down from a mountain back down to town we get going really early and first light here at the moment is about 4:00 so fact it's 10:30 11:00 now and he's still not taken off shows that he's either really exhausted or he's had some other kind of problem with the weather showing signs of deteriorating our concerns continue to [Music] grow I come back from thean I had a very very bad night I sleep at 65 for me it's very difficult but the bad weather is [Music] close totally Dead Two commitment can see the storm now we can see the DI the last moment to take off too many snow I think the most difficult difficult day of my life the last two day and in the night how were you the night no night but you were sick I was sick all the time if I drink only one just like that of that of water immediately yeah yeah for me everything and this morning very difficult a lot of wind like 50 km of katabatic so impossible to take off so we have to pack my tun down find another take off uh lower you can see now it's totally black and if I didn't manage to take off at this moment maybe I stay for a long time for me it's it was not a good things because it was two commitment with the snow with the wind with the storm of today and for the next day so I'm not very I'm happy of course because I did the submit but I don't like to do something like very commitment and uh you have a lot of risk and it's not my uh of the the the life so I'm not I'm happy but not too much COC fresh I think he has had a bit of a scare understandably cuz when you purposefully maroon yourself on a 7,000 M Mountain on your own with a parag glider feel like you're descending into serious altitude sickness and then the wind doesn't allow you to escape that's pretty scary stuff that's pretty nightmare stuff so uh I think he's probably extremely happy but extremely grateful and so he's just feeling a bit flat right [Music] now this look at this this is good what's going on M well half an hour after andan landed we've got the uh the Hun of speciality these h huge wind bursts that would just knock you out of the sky if you were flying at the time it's D progress in life is often associated with doing harder and more complex things sometimes though it's good to reflect back on why we started something in the first place seeing the local Pilot's desire to enjoy their first taste of magical flight is a good reminder of this [Applause] wo we started paragliding like uh 1 and a half years ago um we have been watching uniform Pilots uh since our childhood in the air and they inspired us to you know explore these mountains all around us we are self-taught we don't have a professional school here unfortunately and whenever we meet unior Pilots like you we have opportunity to learn a lot of things like they come they teach us you know skills in bits and tunks so we Le this way go like that it's good we managed to take off don't stop don't don't stop how many paragliding Pilots are there now in h uh now around uh 15 Pilots so my landing area is near to my home so when I was kid I always watching them so it's you know I was feeling that I need to do it and after that I I do and I I make my dreams true so I'm so happy shared passions undoubtedly transcend coaches the design to experience Freedom through flight is a global phenomena it's exciting to make new friends in this place and see them spreading their own wings [Music] [Music] [Music] you for
2025-04-02 23:07
