February 2000
BreckenridgeContinentalDivide
Hot Air Balloon Challenge, December 7-
12,isnormallythefinaleventonour
balloonschedule.ThepastfewyearsI
have beeninMoroccoduring December
helping PerLindstrand and Richard Bran-
sonwiththeiraround-the-worldballoon
attempts.Thismade for an unhappy bal-
loon partner, my wife Trish, since Breck-
enridgeisoneofherfavoriteballoon
eventsduring the year.
For thiseventwepackalotof cold
weathergear,extrafueltanks,survival
gear,oxygenequipmentforourflights
that might take us to altitude from 15,000
feet to 18,000 feet and other items in case
wemighthaveproblemsinoneofour
flights overthe mountains. Wealso tossed
inskies and snowboards.
Aftera375-mile drive toColorado
we checkedintoourcondoattheHide-
awayCondominiums(elevation10,500
feet), and moved our gear into our accom-
modations for theweek. Tuesday evening
therewasapilotcheck-in,party,and
briefingattheRiverMountainLodge.
The food was great and the pilot pack we
receivedwas the best of 1999.The pack
includedaBerberfleeceembroidered
pullover, three embroideredfleecejack-
fourhandpaintedChineseballoon
ornaments, four ski passes, and more. At
theendofthereceptionEdVandeHoef,
Balloonmeister, gave us our briefing. He
covered the expected weatherfortheweek,
flying at these altitudes, mountain flying,
andwhatwasexpectedfromthepilots
during the week. Topographic maps were
handedout, and oxygen tanks andmasks
were distributedtothe pilotsthatdidn’t
havetheirown,becausewewouldbe
flyingataltitudesupto18,000feetto
clear themountains. KarinPenegor who
isthe Directorof SpecialEventsfor the
ResortChamber gaveus informationon
variouspartsof the event,andinformed
usthatshe hadbeenincontactwiththe
peopleattheGuinnessWorldBookof
Records. They indicated thatif we could
get14or moreballoonsflyingover the
Continental Divide at the same time, that
theywouldinclude itasarecordinthe
nextissue.Ed’sfinalcommentatthe
briefingwasfor everyonetogetagood
nightsrestandbereadytoskitheex-
pected6-8inches ofnew snow thatwas
forecasttofallovernight,noballoon
flight on Wednesday.
Thursday morning our 6:30 a.m.brief-
ing was at the River Mountain Lodge. Ed
a flightoverthe divide,sowealldrove
down to the launch site to prepare. We put
inanextra15-gallonpropanetankto
bringourtotalupto60gallons.Wein-
stalled the oxygen, hooked on thesurvival
gear, and the started our inflation. During
our inflationtwo of the 19balloons took
off as earlypibals. Unfortunatelythe Di-
vide flight was cancelled because the two
early balloons were not finding the winds
totake us over. We tookout some of the
equipment and had a great flight down the
valley towards the town of Frisco. Iworked
my way into a large gravel pit and landed,
followed by ten otherballoons. After pack-
ingup and refueling most of the balloon-
istsheadedoff forlunch, shopping,ski-
ing, or snowboarding.
Friday morning we all flew a similar
route toThursday’sflight.Wedidhave
one X and a Hare balloon to add some fun
tothe morning’sflight. I landedthe bal-
loonacrossthe road fromthe gravelpit,
about a quarter mile from our landing the
prior day. After another day of skiing, etc,
we all headed back to the River Mountain
Lodge for aPilot Banquet Friday evening.
Saturday morning I got up and called
flightservicetocheckconditions.The
briefertoldmetolookoutthewindow
after he finished his forecast of snow and
lowceilings.WhenIlookedoutitwas
snowingheavily andthecloudbase was
lower than the elevation atour condo, so
we slept in.
Saturdayeveningmostofthebal-
loons participated in a Balloon Luminary
inseveral locations around town, to help
celebrate the “Lighting of Breckenridge.”
Sundaymorningwasanoptional
flightday,andturnedouttobeanother
non-flight day so we all packed up to head
home. This year the nineteenballoonpi-
lotscame fromsevendifferentstates.It
was great to finish off our balloon season
at the Breckenridge event, andTrish was
happy to attend the event and have me in
the USA for December.
Hot Air Balloon Challenge
