Storm Pushes Paraglider To 24,000 Feet

A Canadian paraglider pilot has a heck of a Himalayan adventure story to tell even though he was unconscious for a lot of it. Ben Lewis, who was five hours into a cross-country flight in the Himalayas in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh, was sucked up into a storm and spit out at more than 24,000 feet. According to Cross Country Magazine, the publication that chronicles such pursuits, Lewis posted earlier this month on its XContest site that he passed out from the G forces of being spun up into the maelstrom.

“The forces were so great I wasn’t able to sit forward in my harness and ultimately just hung there arched and resigned," he wrote. "I thought about trying to cut my lines with my hook knife but my hands were too cold. I was sure I was going to die." Instead, he was surprised to wake up dangling from a tree only a few feet above the ground. The ordeal was far from over, however.

His flight tracking gear told him where he was but he didn't have any cellphone reception and he had to walk, with serious injuries, for two hours to find a signal. After contacting friends to come and pick him up, he was found by a local family who took him in, tended to his injuries and warmed him up. He ended up in a hospital with a frozen cornea on his left eye, a bleeding retina on his right eye, a ruptured eardrum, a fractured rib, a separated shoulder and frostbite. He said he posted his story as a cautionary tale for anyone who might be tempted to test the weather in that part of the world. “All I can hope for is that other pilots reading this learn from my mistakes and give clouds/storms the proper respect they deserve. Safe flying everyone.”