Blog

Lake Powell Wings and Wheels

• October 2013
• Fly

The desert is in my blood and in my heart, the open spaces and the miles of wilderness. There’s nothing as good as being up high to see the patterns and colors of this landscape, the shades of light that play over its expanse. Flying over Mineral Canyon and Lake Powell is one of the things I’ve gotten to do a lot recently, and each time I see more unreal beauty and get more familiarity with this aerial perspective of the vast land I live in.

One of the best parts of skydiving is getting to do demo jumps. Although not a big fan of accounting and paperwork, I saw the advantage of taking on a little bureaucracy to obtain skydiving certifications up the point of becoming a “pro” jumper–after you receive your A, B, C and D license you can then fulfill the requirements to obtain a pro rating which allows you to do demo jumps for exhibitions at events, and this is always a really fun experience jumping into unique places where normally you’d never be allowed 🙂

Last weekend was the Wings and Wheels Show at Lake Powell, where people brought in classic cars and planes to the Page Airport. There were some beautiful vintage planes there, and some wow-striking formation flying demos from pilots.

Clint and Keith Macbeth, the two brothers who run Skydive Moab here, asked if I’d be able to go and make some demo jumps at the event to promote the Lake Powell arm of Skydive Moab. Chris Hunter volunteered to join, and we hopped in the Hot Rod for the hour flight to Lake Powell, as much a treat as the demo jumps for us.

Unfortunately the alternator had been switched off and we had to jump start the plane with a golf cart, but it was a minor delay and we were soon airborne above some of the most beautiful landscape on the planet.

Having just climbed Moses Tower two days before, it was great to see the silhouettes of Taylor Canyon from the air in the morning light.

Chris and I did our best to give a good show with the two jumps we made for the event: I flew my wingsuit overhead with a smoke canister on my foot, and Chris swooped a tiny canopy in with smoke for dramatic landings at high speed. One of Mario’s best friends, Chris wouldn’t have missed this experience, knowing how much Mario would have enjoyed it too and absolutely would have been there.

We decided to stay geared up for the plane ride home, and got a bonus jump back into the Moab airport at sunset. I watched Chris drop out of the plane on his back with a big smile on his face and then go into a string of backflips, and then climbed out and started to fly east, watching the evening light turning colors across Arches National Park and the LaSal Mountains. A beautiful trip, and a reminder of magic and love: the magic of air and the love of the desert.