Description
I've always had a different vision for ski-flying than the speed-riding that has evolved to the forefront at the moment. In the fall of 2003, in conjunction with Pierre Bouilloux at Sup'Air in Annecy, France and a seamstress from ITV paragliders, I constructed the Phawked UHP (Ultra Highspeed Paraglider). It's a 3 square meter surface area paragilder-like wing that flies 50cm above the head with the arms integrated into the A-lines. Your weight is suspended between your hips and your arms. The correct forward position of your arms is crucial for creating the proper form and finesse of the wing, thus you can deform the wing with your arms and your whole body is active and engaged with the force of flight. It would take alot of training to really dial this in (not to mention a proper computer/lab anayzed areodynamic concept) But ultimately, that would bring the flying with skis thing closer to the "ski-side" than the fly side, which is generally what the modern speed-rider is trying to do with ever smaller wings and putting in an many slashes with the skis as possible. With the Phawked UHP concept, I tried to create something that would only assist in increasing the amplitude of skier/terrain useage but not for really flying off the side of the mountain. It needs work but it's a blast! You can go really fast and feel the power you generate through gravity through your whole body. I've only put it to relatively mellow open glacier terrain, but by pushing off with the legs at speed, I could soar a good 70m in length. Good engagement!!!
dont you use a helmet at "ultra high speed"?
fgj
not when there's nothing but snow around. Ptor
ptor
how fast is "ulra highspeed"?
fgj
how to land this tiny wing after a kliffdrop?
looo
Ultra High speed means 80km/hr and beyond. The wing has very little glide ratio so you don't fly away from the mountain. You soar with the angle of the terrain so you don't slow down and only glide somewhat when doing a cliffdrop.
It's very difficult concept to describe and I don't really expect anyone but very advanced skiers to even consider it. For me the speed-ride is too much flying and not enough skiing. As a paraglider, I get my thrills from staying up as long as possible so there is no point for me to fly over hundreds of meters of cliffs on skis just to have touched my skis somewhere. My device is just for augmenting skiing trajectories.
ptor
At that speed I think more of safty equipment is needed.
Uros Obradovic
seems to be a revolutionary idea:)
bonibom
Don't stop here! Come with more ideas!
bonibom
