Back in 1987, a Calgary pilot named Rod Porteous came up with an idea for an air sports Festival in Canmore, Alberta. It included ballooning, parachuting, and hang gliding, and we were lucky to have good weather on the scheduled date on the last weekend of August.
The ballooning took place adjacent to the public school in a large Field, with tethered balloons that people could climb into and rise up a few meters. That proved to be very popular.
A helicopter took parachutists up above the nearest peak, and they jumped out from there. I recall that there were only a few of them, and one of them had a malfunction that required pulling the reserve chute - he landed safely, but I was not impressed at the apparent frequency of malfunctions.
As for the hang gliding, a number of pilots were lifted up by helicopter to the summit of Ha Ling Peak. One day we flew off the north side of the peak into a canyon. That was an intense experience! And the next day, we flew off the southwest sloping side and then turned back through White Man's Gap to land at our usual landing field adjacent to the TransCanada highway. Here are a few pictures of the day, which sadly don't do justice do the vividness of the memory.
We were lucky to be able to fly this site with hang gliders, as it certainly would not be allowed today.
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| Heading up the NE face in the helicopter |
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| The helicopter descends down our launch slope |
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| This might be Ron Docherty launching |
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| Turn left soon after launch! |
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| Spot the hang glider in the center of this photo! |
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