Around the World on a Paraglider
I had heard about “Around the World”, the holy grail of flying in SEQ, from my mentor when I first started flying.
It’s a flight where you fly in the rarely flown southerly direction from Beechmont towards New South Wales. The narrow Numinbah Valley rises until it reaches a col behind which Mt Warning rises majestically. A huge caldera with steep walls rising up to 1000m rings Mt Warning. It is along these walls that you head west after reaching the NSW border. Circling the caldera, you jump back into Queensland at some point. This is the crux of the flight because the narrowest crossing is at least 5 kilometres of dense rainforest with trees reaching above 40m. There are zero landing options. Misjudging your glide ratio can have catastrophic consequences and a helicopter extraction, if you’re lucky. If you do make it back to Queensland you still have to head back east to land at Beechmont.
I had heard about this “Around the World” from my mentor when I first started paragliding and I’ve been wanting to attempt it ever since. But it never worked out and I had to contend with enviously watching tracks from others who were lucky enough to complete it. Last Saturday, the forecast was for light northerly winds switching to westerlies in the afternoon and a sea-breeze convergence setting up later in the day. It was a forecast that didn’t bode well for the typical flights west and I almost decided to fly elsewhere.
But since a few other friends were heading to Beechy, I decided to join them. While setting up at launch I heard murmurings of an Around the World attempt. I thought they were nuts. The border to NSW is closed due to Covid and you’d be stuck there for weeks potentially if you couldn’t make it back over the caldera. It was still considering it when Lane showed up and cheerfully announced he was going into the caldera and a few other hotshots were joining him. “It’s impossible to bomb out in the caldera” was all the encouragement I needed and I decided to join them.
“It’s impossible to bomb out in the caldera” — Lane
“Hold my beer” — Nick
My plan was to fly to the border and get an idea of conditions and turn back or land if there wasn’t a very high probability of success.
Lane, Andy and a few others launched in a light cycle and slowly climbed up in weak lift. Another group took off while I was waiting for a launch slot. And then the wind stopped and switched to over the back. Something similar had happened a year earlier. Nick had launched in a lull in a tailwind and I had hesitated. He ended up having an epic flight around the Caldera and I never got another opportunity to launch. Not wanting to suffer the same fate again, I launched as soon as the first light puff came up the face. After a few minutes of scratching in light lift we found a solid core that turned into a beautiful 4 m/s climb that went up to a base I’ve never experienced above Beechy before.
Reaching the top of the climb, a gaggle of six or seven headed south. Ahead of them was Lane’s squadron of four. Everyone seemed to have the same plan! I took a slightly easterly route down and connected with them later and found myself in the stern of a stern looking Sistern thermalling above Shipstern. Lucas joined me here. Flying for less than a year and going into the Caldera! Lucky bastard.
I found myself in the stern of a stern looking Sistern thermalling above Shipstern.
Reaching the border, I found a climb that took me almost up to 2000m. The climbs before had been very good and the sky was full of clouds that promised more good climbs. This was the last point of return. If I didn’t find a climb now I’d be stuck in NSW. I wished I’d packed my work laptop in my harness. Being a bit behind the others had an advantage. I could see them climbing where I expected to find thermals so I decided to commit and go for it.
The views of the caldera and Mt Warning are breathtaking from the air but I spent most of the time nervously staring north over a vast sea of green, estimating how much height I needed to make it across without become a snack for sky snakes. I had to keep the impetuous part of me in check and patiently hung around the edge of the caldera waiting to get some height before heading in. At this point I was near Ali and Aaron who’d been flying quite deep lines into the forests throughout the flight. After eking out some height at the edge of the caldera, Ali ventured into the green and Aaron and I did the same along the next spine. I was still within glide of chickening out back towards NSW when I found a solid climb that I knew was going to take me to cloud base!
As I squeezed my butt cheeks and crossed over I had one thing in mind. Getting back into QLD — Aaron
All the nervousness suddenly disappeared. I wasn’t going to bomb out in NSW. I had dipped my toes into Covidland and gotten away with it. I could finally start enjoying the views. So of course the GoPro announced that it was full and it was back to hand held photography. SAFA would be happy.
Earlier GStar had landed near the border and made her way back to Beechy and Lucas had a great out and back flight, landing at Beechy.
After the crossing, Ali and Aaron had veered eastwards towards O’Reilly’s and Beechmont. They’d both eventually land back at Beechmont completing the ATW. I could turn back at this point and complete the ATW or I could keep continue flying west a little longer before turning back. This is always the dilemma when flying triangles. Turn back early and you’ll miss the change of a bigger triangle. Fly too long and you may not be able to make it back.
The day was still young and the Fort looked very promising to the west with a nice cloud forming above it. The thought of bagging another connection on the Grand Womple was reason enough to risk not completing the ATW. Tagging the Fort I could hear other pilots on the radio heading towards Mt Barney. Should I continue flying west and join them? Barney would be amazing to fly above but the farther west I flew the less likely it’d be for me to make it back.
Undecided, I halfheartedly continued west thinking I’d catch the forecasted westerly wind back. I spent a lot of time admiring familiar valleys, hills we’ve climbed, places we’ve flown before. The recent rains have turned the entire region an emerald green and waterfalls are gushing, crashing into sparkling pools and creeks that are occasionally visible through the dense canopy.
After a few kilometres of sightseeing I still found the wind blowing from the north. Looking back east I could see growing convergence clouds above O’Reilly’s and extending north towards Canungra. A few cauliflower towers peeked menacingly from above this convergence. This massive cloud formation had shut the door on my plans to return to Beechy. I should’ve turned back immediately after tagging the Fort.
The new plan was to fly back as quickly as possible and try to get to Canungra instead and make the retrieve easier. As I flew back, the convergence clouds continued getting bigger. The moist sea-breeze blowing in from the east was forming massive clouds where it was being blocked by the drier westerly airmass. The clouds on the westerly side were much higher than the east and I made my way under them heading north. Sometimes I’d see clouds forming below me!
Eventually I had to fly into the lower easterly airmass and steadily got lower. Winds switched from the north to the east and I eventually landed at the Hunches bombout. Not a complete Around the World but close enough for me :) An amazing experience, one that I look forward to doing again once the Covid border restrictions are lifted so I can actually enjoy the views and not be anxious about bombing out in NSW.
