Is there anywhere to do this on San Jacinto?

[Flyhigh]

Is there anywhere to do this off the top of San Jacinto?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwWLnaME0CI

[hvydrt]

Is there anywhere to do this off the top of San Jacinto

I don't think so, but you could probably do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIXwge-b ... re=related

[madmxe]

LOL,,I could even do some of those.

[Flyhigh]

So in all seriousness does anyone know of any places you could launch near the tram station? Bit of flat ground before a drop off? From what I can tell the winds in the winter are fairly calm morning and evening 5-10 in the afternoon?

[hawkbill666]

I take it you are an experienced paraglider pilot?
You find a place, please let me know since I want to watch, I will run ground video for your flyby

[Flyhigh]

I take it you are an experienced paraglider pilot?
You find a place, please let me know since I want to watch, I will run ground video for your flyby

I have been speedflying for about a year. San Jacinto with a tram ride up would rival what the europeans have. Though our window of acceptable weather conditions looks to be short. I am not very familiar with jacinto though. Ive never been on top and am just now looking into the weather history.

Thats why I'm posting here hoping you guys could give me some info on winds and possible areas for launches?

[zippetydude]

Hi Flyhigh. Thanks for the post, it looks like a great sport! From looking at the video, it seems like you need a snowy landing zone, which makes it a lot tougher here SoCal. For a seriously sheer drop off, the north face of San J offers about 10,000 to play with, it's one of the steepest escarpments in North America. With regard to snow, though, there would be no landing zone, just granite boulders and cactus.

If you went off the south side toward Tamarack, there's a fairly open section, but it's not very steep and not long at all - at the speed you guys fly down it would amount to a two hour hike in the snow to get to the top for about 30 seconds of crazy downhill fun. Hmmm.

San Gorgonio has no tram and would be twice the hike up, but going off the north face there would probably suit you well. If you like snowshoeing or cross country skiing, then it would probably work. If you're hoping to simply drive up and get a ski lift to the top so you can make a few wild runs, it would be a no-go.

If you do decide on a place, this is a friendly board - be sure and post and I bet a few of us will be there to see you give it a go and help any way we can.

z

[Flyhigh]

Thanks so much for the reply Zippety. Absolutely looked at San Gorgonio, we are all up for hiking BUT as you stated hiking usually means LOTS of hiking for a few minutes of flying. So while its fun we are trying to find places to do lots of flying. Thats why the tram is so appealing.

Technically speaking there are two forms of this, one is speedriding= flying with skis half the time on the mtn, half the time above. And speedflying= foot launch flying, staying in the air the whole time and then running out the landing. Most of the time in socal we are speedflying, we just footlaunch and stay airborne. So SNOW IS NOT REQUIRED! If there is heavy snow on top, too much to run through, we could launch with skis, then before landing kick them off to run out the landing on dry ground below.

My biggest concern with Jacinto is from all the pictures on i've seen it looks to be very rocky on top. Do you think there is a location off the North side where we'd be able to have a little room to run a few steps, or lay out and ski off? Also I believe the tram goes to 8k, launching somewhere near the tram would be ideal as we could land and hop back on the tram to do it all over again. Hiking down the path to san j peak is a possibility but will obviously cut down on the possible flights per day.

Thanks so much for your post!

[Norris]

In the winter in a high snow year the top of San Jacinto is basically snow, so yes, you could launch off the top down the North face. It drops off at about a 45 to 50 degree angle. But as Z points out, you would have to land in brush and rocks and cactus.

[Motivated Adventurer]

Wow.

What about Cornel peak? I know it's a rocky hike but it's only about 3 miles from the tram. The drop seemed to be similar to what the guys in the video were doing whenin flight except it's a whole lot rockier, sharper, and when I went, not nearly as much snow.If my memory serves me right, near the base of the mountain that were some sand dunes that dirt bikers made a track on. That might be the best bet for landing on the north side, however there is that really heavy crosswind going across the 60, all those windmills, surounding terrain, chance of missing thedunes, bikers on the dunes, and the 60 itself to worry about.

All said, I'd like to see a video of some one actually doing it and living without getting hurt.

BTW, can this be done snowboarding?