Aspens tell their tales as fall wanes and Jackson’s flying faithful scramble to get some air time before the coveted snow blankets the Tetons.

Jon Hunt and I used the high surface level winds to break out the speedwings, which will carry us through the winter off cliffs and down untapped terrain. Speedwings are very small paragliders when used with skis offer fun up in immeasurable doses. They’re an alternative way of descending after climbing, hiking and mountaineering. They’re lighter to carry, but also stable in strong wings and highly manueverble, which makes the trip down fun!

With the harness and wing only weighing around six pounds, they’re great for hike-and-huck expeditions. These wings provide an opportunity to descend thousands of feet in minutes without molding toes into sausage forms.

Around this time of year, when the leaves change from green to gold, we get them out and get back in touch with their handling so when the snow falls we’re ready to launch.

Matt Combs, AJ Frye, Jeff Coulter, Lizzy Sorrell and I headed down to Alpine, WY recently to show our visiting pilot friend from Guatemala, Christian Behrenz, what towing behind a pickup truck is all about.

The Jackson Hole Paragliding crew heads down to Palisades Reservoir to practice aerobatic maneuvers and enjoy the stunning colors surrounding the high peaks.

Using a “hydraulic payout winch,” we’re able to pull each other up to 3,000 feet above the dry lake bed and spin, stall and spiral our way back down to terra firma. There’s nothing like hanging in Alpine trying to get yourself inverted at altitude.

These times of friends exchanging ideas about flying dynamics and possible airflow configurations are crucial for learning, and when creativity is pushed along by steady consumption of sugar and beef jerky… new concepts do fly.

During our session, we decided to head to the Owens Valley, which surrounds Bishop, CA next week to fly the White mountains and find some places in the Sierras to hike up and speed-fly off.

We’re eagerly anticipating the large altitude gains (topping climbs at 17,000 feet). We’re excited to take huge free flight in big mountains as we try to extend the summer just a bit longer by hitting the warmer Californian high country … not to mention the night time soaks in Bishop’s famous hot springs!

Stay tuned for a report from the west coast.

Want to see more photos? Go check out the Flickr Slideshow!