This page contains Paragliding In The Callejon De Huaylas which was published in the summer 200 was published in the Huaraz Peru Map-Guide.
Paragliding In The Callejon De Huaylas
Standing on top of a snowy peak in the Cordillera Blanca is an incredible experience. The only thing better is to fly over them in a paraglider. After twenty years of mountaineering and countless summits, I found new adventure and freedom in the sport of paragliding. With a dozen launches spread throughout the Cordillera Negra and a few high sites in the Blanca, the Santa Cruz valley is a soaring pilots dream.
The beautiful Rio Santa Valle, known as the Callejon de Huaylas, is famous among climbers the world over. The local paragliding has just begun to gain international acclaim. Every year more articles are written exclaiming the wonders of the High Andes, and every year more pilots make the pilgrimage to explore the sites surrounding Huaraz.
The backdrop of the snowy Cordillera Blanca rising to the east makes this one of the most spectacular areas for paragliding in the world. The region is little known among European pilots, and even less in the US, but the reputation for huge flights, high cloud-base and countless launches is growing. Most climbers and trekkers visit the Cordillera Blanca in search of high mountain views and alpine terrain. Few venture into the neighboring Cordillera Negra, where the best panoramas and flying awaits.
The sport of paragliding, or parapente as it is known in Spanish and French, began its development in the 1980's. By the end of the 1990's equipment and skills improved to where pilots began the search for bigger flying potential. Paragliding involves non-motorized free flight using just a fabric canopy and the solar power of the sun, which creates thermals for lift. Using thermals, pilots can fly to cloud-base and cover great distances. Often in the Andes cloud base reaches over six thousand meters.
Because the equipment fits into a backpack, paragliders are perfect for vagabond pilots in search of soaring sites far from home. Even though they are portable, it is still more convenient to drive up to launch sites. Numerous roads leading into the mountains around Huaraz are perfect, as are the treeless, grassy hillsides of the Cordillera Negra.
After many climbing trips and summits enjoyed high in the Andes, I discovered paragliding and returned to explore the vast flying potential. Now, after several flying tours in Peru, my favorite area to fly in is the Callejon de Huaylas. Flying from the Cordillera Negra, the spectacular Cordillera Blanca feels close enough to touch. With typically good conditions, pilots thermal to cloud-base then head off on cross-country adventures.
Pan de Azucar, above Yungay, is the best known and most used launch. One of the lowest sites, pilots are rewarded with close up views of the Huandoy Group when they thermal above launch.
Almost every road into the Cordillera Negra leads to a good flying site, usually a perfect field already cleared of rocks high on the ridge over looking the valley below. Sites often have one thousand meters of relief to the landing zone. The best launch for cross-country flights to the south is more than two thousand meters (6,700 feet) above Caraz. Frequent buses, local collectivos and plentiful taxis make arranging transportation to launch and getting back from flying simple.
A large backpack carries the glider and harness, a comfortable seat (pilots sit upright) with foam back protection. Most pilots also carry a reserve parachute, helmet and several instruments as well: the variometer tells pilots whether they are going up or down and how fast as well as flight time and altitude reached. The GPS gives location but more importantly also allows pilots to estimate ground speed which reveals the wind speed. We often use radios to coordinate retrieves and for safety, as well we sometimes use oxygen for long high altitude flights.
Pilots find smooth air and little lift in the morning. It's best to arrive on launch in time to check conditions and get gear together. Before midday, thermals release from the valley below, and with the thermals raises the potential for soaring. The thermals mix the air and create turbulence as well as lift.
A breeze indicates the beginning of a thermal cycle. Pilots wait to launch at the start of a cycle, then inflate their canopies and lift off the hillside. Because paragliders fly so slowly, it isn't difficult to get air-born. The sensation of stepping from the earth to the air is always magical. Once aloft pilots search for the round thermals of rising air, then turn in tight circles to stay in the lift. We weight shift in the harness and pull on brake toggles connected to the gliders trailing edge to turn. Often birds show us where thermals are and we join them, soaring high in the sky.
Learning to fly a paraglider is easy; the concept of staying in lift in order to soar is obvious. The challenge comes from the constantly changing environment we fly in and our inability to see the air or the thermals. We do have clues to where thermals are likely leave the ground, and can see cumulous clouds that form at the top of them. Still, luck is essential as we fly around looking for lift.
After twelve years making little circles in the sky, trying to go up instead of down, and seeing how far I can fly before landing, I'm as intrigued as ever by the miracle of flight. The Callejon de Huaylas has endless potential for discovery and paragliding adventures. The reality of soaring among peaks as high and beautiful as the Cordillera Blanca is mind-blowing.
As we say, "Keep your eyes on the skies" and maybe you will see the bright canopy of a paraglider soaring overhead among the snowy peaks of the Andes.
Jeff Cristol and his Peruvian wife, Ursula, own and run Adventure Tour Productions Company where they offer guided paragliding tours in the United States, South America and Asia. Jeff is a tandem pilot in Telluride, Colorado and photographer and videographer specializing in climbing and skiing. Jeff first visited Huaraz to climb in 1981; they live in Telluride, Colorado and travel whenever they can. To find out more please visit: adventuretourproductions.com or email at jeff@adventuretourproductions.com
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