For the week of July 18 - July 24, 2001

Paraglider gets a big lift, Baldy to Challis

57-mile flight a new straight-line record

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Fly Sun Valley paragliding pilot Honza Rejmánek took advantage of a big lift over Sun Peak last Thursday to set a new 57-mile straight-line distance record—flying from Bald Mountain’s summit to Challis.

Honza Rejmánek shows how he gets back to his car after a glider ride. Express photo by Willy Cook

It was the longest distance ever recorded by a paraglider launching from Baldy, according to officials of Fly Sun Valley (726-3332).

Rejmánek and two other pilots, Nate Scales and Rob Darby, launched individually from Baldy’s summit around noon Thursday. Rejmánek was the only one of the three to catch a favorable lift. He landed about 3:20 p.m. in calm conditions at the Sinclair station south of Challis.

"It was a fun one," Rejmánek said.

"There were fairly strong conditions, an active atmosphere. We definitely had good lift conditions although I thought it might overdevelop. There’s a fine line."

Scales and Darby started off with a better climb than Rejmánek over Baldy, but Rejmánek benefited from a very strong lift over Sun Peak just north of Ketchum to soar quickly over Trail Creek Summit at a height of over 13,000 feet.

Scales and Darby ended up landing safely in the Trail Creek Summit valley about 10-12 miles from Baldy.

Rejmánek reached a maximum elevation of 16,200 feet and, at times, hit credible ground speeds of 60 miles an hour. About halfway through his flight, he had to make a low save at just over 1,000 feet off the ground.

Two disturbances, thunderstorms near Challis and over Mt. Borah, were Rejmánek’s main concerns.

He said the dangers of flying too close to thunderstorms include getting sucked up "like confetti," or encountering sudden winds called gust fronts in the downbursts that follow storms.

Fortunately the storms didn’t pose a problem. Rejmánek landed in nearly calm conditions at Challis, where the ground was still wet from rainfall.

Czech-born pilot and instructor Rejmánek, 26, had set the previous record of 51 miles from Baldy to Stanley Lake last July 29 on a tandem flight with Erin Reis of Ketchum.

Rejmánek’s goal for the immediate future is to beat his own distance record. In the past, he has taken a 90-mile flight from King Mountain to Salmon. He envisions being able to add another 30 miles to his straight-line record and go Baldy-to-Salmon.

A six-year paragliding instructor, Rejmánek said, "3:20 in the afternoon is pretty early to land on a cross-country flight. In the summer, you could fly until the evening. My goal is to beat the record again."

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