I found this photo of a rainbow and did some "art work" on top of it, showing 4 Hang Gliders, "Flying Down The Rainbow", in 1973.
I took a picture of it with my Samsung 7 camera phone, and wallah.============================================================================================================================================================================
- A day off of Ajax 1973.png (431.21 KiB) Viewed 1478 times
The Story
We loaded the gliders on to Clint's International pick-up, drove up the switch backs and river bed of Black Bear Pass,
parked at the base of Ajax (13,500'),
a "breathless" one hour hike, the guys set up the gliders, did their pre flight checks, "The Wind Was Right",
and one by one, they were off, and I watched again with awe, these crazy friends of mine with wings, glide to town.
As I pondered my two hour, hike & drive back in the old International, I realized that the 8 minute flight that they took was, by far a much safer way down. 
The Hang Gliders were, from bottom to top,
Clint Wolf and his "new and improved" Standard Comp 2.
Robert St. Onge in a Seagull 3,
Jim Guest (RIP) in a Seagull,
John Dunham in (?) (Albuquerque NM) ,
and me the roadie, left alone on top in black. ha..
A note;
The fledgling Telluride Air Force (and their roadies) had been flying from different mountain tops overlooking Telluride, but when they incorporated into a 501 C (3), got backing $$$ from donors, a USHGA 1 million dollar addendum, AND LLoyds of London, they were allowed to access, through the ski area, "Gold Hill" launch site (12,200').
They had hit the, "tri-fecta" at the right time in the right place, the only caveat was that they could not wear their Ski Patrol jackets when they were preforming their "dare devil", Hang Gliding Magic.
This new H4 only site drew flyers from all over the world and the TAF guides checked every one of them for their H4 rating, and sent others back to Torrey or Point of the Mount for more training. Nobody complained and the flying just got better and better.
Lookn' back,
in 1989 when the "Paragliders" first came to Gold Hill, they should have been made to have their own, separate insurance package, and underwriting,
but when TAF, unknowingly, invited them in, they came in droves, and the rest is history.
Chuck Yeager flew tandem with "captain Jack Carey" and said that it was, "the flyinest' flyn' he'd ever done.
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In my opinion, the modern "Hang Glider", is the most beautifully crafted piece of "art work" and engineering, and the elegance of how they fly is an artform in itself.
Thanks for creating this topic, Everard.
C:+o).
.
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by Everard » Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:35 pm 
