Paragliding Gps

I am a caver and paramotor pilot. I was first exploring the caves of the wild west coast since 1979. I was a member of the National Speleological Society since 1980, focusing most of my efforts in the field of photography and conservation. California has a great variety of caves with a high concentration of limestone caves a few minutes from my house in the vein of the Sierra of central California.

One evening in early 2001 I watched a National Geographic special a couple of anthropologists who fly around the desert of the Sudan on their backs with paragliders. The scientists looked for signs of ancient human existence on top of skyscrapers, flat top formations protruding against the desert floor. I immediately thought this would be the ideal platform for research of remote caves. How is this possible you ask? Most caves on the west coast hover around 56 degrees. Because natural caves breathe, you can see a cloud condensation from the entrance. The bulk of the cave, the more condensing tower. On my first flight of the Columbia airport, I headed straight for a known cave in the canyon of the Stanislaus River. As I approached the cave I could see the air from half a mile away. Now it is time to get this technique to locate new caves in previously inaccessible terrain. I went towards the area of Camp Nine Scouting south facing slope. The area I chose was covered by 6 feet tall brush that is extremely difficult to penetrate. At the top of the ridge I could see a limestone outcrop that seemed downward trend through the brush. At the bottom of the slope, I could see the reappearance of the limestone. This leads me to believe that the limestone has continued through the brush from the top of the ridge down. From the air I saw that it was in fact true.

Flying at 100 feet, I could find a small cloud of condensation of about 1000 feet below the upper limestone outcrop. I could not really see the entrance, but the column of rising air is different. I took out my GPS, flew straight up and scored on its location. A few weeks later, my partner and me caving out the topographic map and plot the best way to approach the scene. After half an hour of crawling on hands and knees, we reached the spot and found a vertical shaft about 9 inches wide in a small rocky outcrop. We could see and feel the air rising from the hole, but it was too small to enter. Our plan is now back in the near future to carry out excavations necessary to make entry.

To find the entrance to the cave without using my paramotor have taken months of crawling with ticks, snakes and all creatures that live there more. The PPG has opened a whole new dimension to the exploration of caves for me and fellow cavers. Updates to follow more of exploration.

If PPG rose cave exploration, imagine what other uses it may have for you!