The Tour
The tour is a holiday…a very flying-oriented holiday that we hope will extend your abilities in the easiest and safest way. We have a maximum client to guide ration of 2:1 and buddy fly, giving guidance and advice by example or over the radio. We aim to cater for all, tailoring progress with ability without fracturing the group. If, for instance, we plan a high bivouac top landing near the end of the course, we will try to arrange it in a location that allows anyone who bombs out or maybe doesn’t relish top landing to join us from below without a humungus walk. We can then all experience the excitement of being in the mountains, waking beside a high remote takeoff, then waiting hungrily (hopefully not literally - we think we've got food catered for, unless you require vulture-sized helpings of meat) for the day's clouds to begin.
But this is more than just a course. It is an introduction to the Himalayas, the biggest flying arena there is. If you are unsure that your skills are adequate to undertake this challenge, then maybe Pokhara in Nepal would be a better place to begin, because you would still get amazing Himalayan views and a great place to stay. All that would be missing would be the easy xc potential of Bir. But if you do fly Bir and learn from the experience that the Himalayas are, when flown sensibly, amazingly xc friendly, then maybe we could move on to other more demanding Himalayan areas and learn new skills that will give even greater rewards. Bir is the perfect starting point! Eddie and John are both professionally qualified teachers so should just about be able to communicate, whilst Jim, the flying fakir, will mutter occasional pearls of wisdom...
Itinerary
Each tour will start and finish in Bir and last ten days. There will be seven full days of fly-guiding. Our suggested flying itinerary, which we will adapt according to pilots' abilities and wishes, as well as the weather conditions, is as follows:
Day 1: Out and return flight from Billing to acclimatise, test equipment and assess skills.
Day 2: Fly 45km to Dharamshala.
Day 3: Walk up to Magic View take off (1 hour) and fly back to Bir.
Day 4: Over the back into the high mountains above the Barot valley and then on to the catered camp at 360.
Day 5: 360 camp back to top land at Billing for a chai, then down to Bir.
Day 6: Billing to Mandi. Taxi back to Bir.
Day 7: Tailor-made to suit pilots' requirements. Anything from a local bivi to a 100km XC along the Dhauladhar range from Dharamshala to Mandi, or over the back and across the big stuff to Manali.
If the weather allows for more flyable days (which is more than likely) we shall arrange pilots' transport to take off and advise on possible flight plans. For a supplementary fee, we can guide them on their chosen routes, including a possible wild vol bivouac. Prices will depend on the planned routes and client ratios.
While in Bir, we base ourselves at the Colonel's Resort, a guest house in the middle of a tea garden run by the inimitable Colonel JP (Jotinder Pal) Singh and his wife, Pratibha. There are five double rooms, a small separate cottage and half a dozen big Raj-style tents in the orchard, with secure lockable trunks in which to keep valuables. The food, ambience and service are the best in Bir. Breakfast is perfectly pukka, on the veranda, and dinner is round a bonfire under the stars. When we land at our luxury vol-biv camp it is the colonel's crew who will be waiting, smiling, with a cup of chai when we land, having walked up the mountain following the donkeys who carry the kit.
Reminder - This is a guidance trip, specific instruction is not given although guides will endeavour to be available to expedition members as frequently as is humanly possible for the flying duration of their trip.