Paragliders over Mount Tom

I try and hike on Sundays to stay in shape. I have not been able to do much of that lately, with all the publicity and touring for Look Me in the Eye. I decided to walk up Mt. Tom because it's steep and very good exercise, and it's nearby.

When I got to the top, I found a crew of enthusiasts getting ready to launch their paragliders. The top images show West Springfield resident Barry Kriger helping John Gallagher launch from the cliff edge. John drove all the way from Boston for this, and they carried the paraglider rigs up the mountain on their backs.

The images below show Stephan Pfammatter launching a few minutes later.

I watched them for almost two hours. During that time, three of them launched and they seemed to hover effortlessly. I had to leave after two hours - the leaves in the yard were waiting. It looked like a lot of fun. For someone else. As I said to Barry, "I would not want to jump from those cliffs, even with a paraglider."

"We don't say jump," Barry corrected me. "We're a little more positive. We say launch."

I don't want to launch either, but I'll happily watch them. Luckily, I had my camera.