Flying at Tenancingo

Some days just don’t go as planned! I think it’s more frustrating when it’s your own damn fault. 

From Valle de Bravo, we headed to Tenancingo. We’d read, in a blog that we follow, about Sea to Sky Paragliding operating in the area. The owner, Guy Herrington, is from Pemberton, BC, and operates there as well. We’d heard from other pilots in Valle that there was good flying in Tenancingo and that Guy’s Casa de Piloto was a nice place to stay. 

It’s only a 2.5 hour drive from Valle so we arrived about 10:30, in time to catch the first flights of the day. After squeezing our vehicle into the courtyard of the casa, we jumped into an old half ton driven by Daniel (owner of the flying site/local/driver/pilot/tree trimmer/jack of all trades).

About 10 minutes after we got to La Malinche launch site, my head was on information overload! I think Guy assumed we were super experienced pilots. “If you get up high enough you can go land at that field over there with two trees (over the back); if the wind is from the west you can land down there on that road; the “piano” LZ is in that steep sloping field full of rocks and a few trees; an alternate LZ is the cemetery just beyond it; don’t land over in that greenhouse area or you’ll be escorted out by guys with guns; and if you get really high, just go out and land by the market near the casa; and if you want to do some XC, follow this ridge, then that ridge and go over there and then back over here; or other options are from here, to there, to here, to there.” 

Me: “Ummmm, can you just review the landing options one more time??” Needless to say, I was a little nervous by this point! 

"Two trees" landing area (i.e. by the two trees in the middle of the large green patch)

"Piano" LZ with the cemetery LZ in the distance

Andrew launched before me and initially got lots of lift by going along the ridge to the left.  He went back and forth a couple times and had no issues. I launched, followed the same path as he did and got nothing but sink! As I edged along the ridge I noticed he was getting lower as well. Guy soon told us both, over the radio, to head out to the “piano” LZ as we were getting too low. Trying to follow previous instructions to set up along a smaller ridge just beside the LZ, I went too far along that ridge and when I headed back, I came up a bit short. I easily landed on the ground but between two small trees and part of my wing came down on top of one of them. 

Sadly, (or humorously, depending on which way you look at it) Andrew did pretty much exactly the same thing. Landed on the ground but part of his wing in a tree. And unfortunately, he hit a branch and twisted his knee slightly but thankfully it didn’t stop him from more flying. 

We let Guy know we were both ok and proceeded to try to deal with our wings. We were able to get the majority of lines unstuck but the trees were both just a little bit too high (and small enough we were afraid they would break or topple over if we tried to climb them) so we waited for Daniel to make the 40-minute drive around with a machete. 

In the meantime, Guy flew down to give us a hand. It was close to noon by this time (the most thermic time of the day) and as we watched him come in to land, we could see he was getting bounced around a bit. Suddenly, and close to the ground, his wing collapsed (guessing about a 40% collapse, about 40-50 feet off the ground) and I immediately thought, “You’ve got to be f**king kidding me! This can’t be happening a second time in one trip!” But Guy is a very experienced pilot and, with relative looking ease, managed to recover it and land safely. Whew! 

Once we got the wings out of the trees and packed up, we drove to the casa for a very quick stop to re-fill water bottles and pick up a couple other pilots who had landed elsewhere and gotten taxis back. For us, it was a rather embarrassing start to flying here! 

The late afternoon “glass off” flight was next. Supposedly smoother air and lots of lift, should be able to get high, no problem. (Famous last words.)

If I’m honest with myself, I really didn’t want to fly again but I convinced myself this flight would be better and knew I’d be annoyed/disappointed in myself if I didn’t. And, I told myself, certainly better/smoother than a morning flight the next day. As I set up, I knew something wasn’t quite right with my lines. Not too surprising after picking them out of a tree. I worked at them and both Andrew and Daniel had a look as well. I thought I got them all straightened out before launching. 

The launch went well but I quickly realized that the left brake line was still twisted around another line. I didn’t panic, just took a moment to calmly think things through. I could either reach above the riser and steer/manage the brake line that way and continue flying as best as possible; or try to get it untangled. Many accidents seem to happen after a series of things going wrong so I decided to fix it even though I knew it would mean landing at the piano LZ, not worrying about height but simply concentrating on staying away from terrain and getting it corrected. Which, after a couple tries, was easy enough to do. 

I did a better job of approaching the LZ this time but it was still quite bumpy/thermic and, while trying to keep the wing straight, managed to come in quite hard and fell down. I got up right away and thought things were fine. But as the adrenaline wore off, I noticed that my right leg was a bit sore. 

I didn’t realize that my radio had been bumped somehow, become unlocked and switched to a different channel. I’d radioed to say I was ok but no one heard me. Guy and Andrew had been calling to make sure I was ok but I didn’t hear them! At least they could see I was up and about. 

Because it was quite late in the afternoon by this time and Andrew didn’t want me to have to try to get a taxi back to Tenancingo by myself, he gave up his flight, came in and (of course!) had a smooth gentle landing! We packed up and walked the kilometre or so to the nearest town and a taxi quickly appeared at the “collectivo” location. 

Waiting for a taxi.

By the next day, my leg was quite sore (I think I hyper-extended it) so my flying was done for a few days at least. 

The next day we headed back up to La Malinche launch but spent most of the day parawaiting as there was practically no wind! The guys managed to get a late afternoon flight and Andrew did a great job top landing! 

Parawaiting in style!

Photography while parawaiting

Guy waiting for the wind to pick up

Colin (from Squamish) soaring the ridge

Colin and Andrew

Colin

Andrew

The third day we headed to Picacho launch but, by the time we got there it was too windy. 

We went to the training hill where they each got a short flight and did some high-wind kiting. 

We finished things off with another late flight from La Malinche and Andrew top landed again. 

Several paragliders in the air, if you can see them.

Late evening view from launch to Tenancingo

In addition to being a paragliding guide and instructor, Guy is an excellent chef, bartender and host. He made us some great meals and cocktails and showed us around the wonderful Tenancingo market. 

Outside of Casa de Piloto

A delicious breakfast!!

Guy's rescue dog, Lanza. We managed to resist those big brown eyes! 

A lovely place to relax in the evening -- living room and fire place in the Casa.

Once again, the weather was starting to change (not so good for flying), and we decided it was time to head to the coast for a change of sport and put our scuba diving gear to use.