Flying in Aspen, Colorado: an amazing paragliding weekend

Here is the video compilation I made after this amazing weekend.
We made 4 flights in Aspen, Colorado, and a last one next to Vail.

The first flight saturday morning from the Walshes launch longs 30 minutes for me. It was really nice to be all together in these large and soft thermals.

We took the gondola to reach the Ruthies launch few hours after. I didn't feel good in the air (I was probably too hungry) and took the decision to land just after 20 minutes. Nevertheless this flight was really nice for the others: Catherine & Benzie in tandem, Jon and also Arnaud.

We went at the same place at the evening, after lunch! This time the flight was really good. After 10-15 minutes of "zérotage" (I don't know how to translate that, it means that we get just enough lifting to stay at the same altitude, but not enough to get higher: zero gain, zero losses) with Paul I gained a few dizain of meters, enough to fly above the ridge and take THE strong thermal just at the left of the take off. Thus I gained few hundred of meters, and reached (for a short while) the same elevation as Vic. Next it was really easy to stay up there, with very calm conditions, and a beautiful view of the sunset and changing colors over the mountains. It was a very nice 1h30 flight.

We went again at the same site sunday morning. The conditions were pretty similar. 30 minutes flight for me.

For the evening we all tried for the first time the Wolcott site, next to Vail. It is supposed to be an evening glass off. And it was! There I reached 4,000 meters. Cause I was the first to launch I was not affected (between 3,500 and 3,700 meters high) by the shadow covering the plain in front of the ridge just a while after. Once above the ridge the conditions were extremely calm. Thanks to an extra weight of approximately 6 kg (also to help for the take off) I got a pretty good penetration in the air with 10 to 15 km/h at 4,000 meters, without accelerating. Just alone up there, but the view and the colors where just awesome, and the flying conditions really calm. During 2h20 I just enjoyed the view and the game of shadows of the clouds on the ground. The lee side landing was the only unpleasant part of this flight.

Jon said he saw a bear when he was flying...
But perhaps he just saw a dog again? Where are the proof? :D

This weekend was really amazing!
More than 5 hours in the air in 2 days... not so bad!
Hope to share again some beautiful moments like these with all of you pretty soon!