So I decided to hike up the Green Monster for the first time. I was using my EZ bag, which was a mistake. I should have packed the wing for a hike and fly. Paraglider pilots complain a lot about hikes. It turns out that it is only a 15 minute hike to the top of Green Monster. It's just super steep, and the trail was very exposed and crumbly in places. On the way up, the wind didn't feel strong, but right at the lip it was blowing 16+ mph and gusting even higher. That's too strong for me, and I'd never launched here. So I made the decision to hike back down. It's a bit harder hiking down, but it's still not that bad. The worst section is a really narrow crumbly part close to the top.
Anyway after I hiked down, I noticed that the wind had picked up since my first launch. I should have just waited at launch, but it was good exercise and I got to explore. So I walked over to Coyote, and launched. No one was around, and I cruised back and forth on the tiny ridge for 30+ minutes. Some people must have seen me staying up, because I could see ~6 pilots hiking up to launch. Just as they were ready to launch, the wind died down a few mph. None of them were able to get up, and I sank out after their 2nd pilot launched.
When I landed, I found that I had accidentally recorded all the hiking/flying on Strava. I meant to turn it off after the hike.
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| I swear this was an accident, but it looks cool. |
Then I hiked back up to do another sledder just for fun. I'm slowly getting closer to the hours requirement for my P3 rating.
