Spectacular Aerial Images From Record Breaking Flight

Neighbors and friends Jon Hunt and Nick Greece, just set a world record paragliding run that was just over 200 miles long and over 7 hours of flight time. Nick was tagged to document the trip with his camera, and he got some incredible shots, shown below.

Paragliding is sort of a combination of hand gliding and parachuting. You ride the winds, thermals, and updrafts to keep your rig flying. An experienced flyer, and the right conditions, can mean miles and miles of journey.

In this case, they wanted to try and break a record and set a new bench mark in distance. This meant carefully planning a route, lots of training, and bringing everything with them that they might need for the incredible heights that they hoped to achieve, along with dealing with a 2 day hike out if the landed early in the wilderness. This included oxygen, trail rats, hiking gear, a hydration system, flight computers, and GPS.

They left from a ridge in their back yards in Wilson, Wyoming. They then flew for 7 hours passing over the Tetons, Gros Ventre Mountain Range, and along the Wind River Range to eventually land just outside of Rawlins, Wyoming. Grand total distance was 204.6 miles.

They hope to set a longer record next spring in Owens Valley, California. A 250 mile possibility presents itself there.

Now maybe I am the only geek here, but the one question I would love to ask them, is how do you pee in that thing when you are being buffeted by high winds at a height of 18,000 feet?

Click any image to see them all larger.