They always say, one thing leads to another. Well, over the years I have been following Pikes Peak very closely. I work on cars, I take photos, make videos and more. It has all been really fun and I have met some really interesting people along the way. Drivers, tech’s, promotors and of course, more creative folk like myself. The funny thing about meeting someone at an event like that is that you know them for a very narrow area of what they do. So sometimes you learn a bit more about someone or realize who you’ve met. Peter Brock is a good example. I mean, I met him as a photographer on the mountain then realized… Wait. That guy designed the shelby daytona coupe! If you look for his accomplishments you will see that they are, simply put, a significant part of automotive history.
Each person you meet has more to their story and when I got a call from Michael Hill recently it almost wasn’t surprising that he mentioned that he flies Hot Air Balloons. If you have read anything I have written here I think you will figure out pretty quick that if it is something new I would like to try it out. So Michael asked if I would help out crewing for one of his flights and I of course said yes.
I honestly have never been around hot air balloons and really didn’t know what we would be doing so I went along looking for instruction. We set up everything, assembled the balloon and launched it. The balloon is so simple it is kinda remarkable. Wood toggles fit between rope loops holding a raton basket to a cloth “envelope.” When you look at it, it makes sense but when you think about it from the perspective of a climber it seems almost too simple. In climbing everything is double redundant and in ballooning it seems as though it is just made to be simple. It was pretty cool to see how it all works and I am sure I will go check it out again and hopefully at some point get a flight in as well.
Check out a quick time lapse from the launch.
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