{"id":799122,"date":"2019-09-03T21:27:45","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=370954"},"modified":"2019-09-03T21:27:45","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:27:45","slug":"antonio-olivero-hiking-a-tenmile-canyon-avalanche-slide-to-paraglide-off-peak-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/antonio-olivero-hiking-a-tenmile-canyon-avalanche-slide-to-paraglide-off-peak-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Olivero: Hiking a Tenmile Canyon avalanche slide to paraglide off Peak 6"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Charlie Martin of Frisco prepares our tandem paraglide just beneath the summit of Peak 6 on Wednesday, Aug. 28, Copper Mountain in view in the background.<\/strong>
Antonio Olivero \/ aolivero@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

COPPER MOUNTAIN \u2014 The hardest part of my first paraglide wasn\u2019t the nerves I felt as I stood harnessed, tethered to a fabric wing at the top of the Tenmile Range. To be frank, there was no time for fear while looking down through my ski goggles at the 2,500-plus-foot descent to our landing spot.<\/p>\n

Rather, in true Summit County fashion, it was the 2,800-foot hike up over 1 1\/2 miles of avalanche debris to get to our jump location.<\/p>\n

I suppose, if you want to jump off a cliff here in the Rocky Mountains, you\u2019re going to need to climb a mountain first. Earn your turns isn\u2019t just for skiing. It\u2019s for paragliding and speed flying as well, as a collection of about a half-dozen Summit County locals can attest to.<\/p>\n

My sky-high sherpa on this day was Charlie Martin, one of those locals who makes it a habit of jumping off mountains routinely throughout the warmer months. I got in contact with Charlie through Breckenridge do-everything mountain man Teague Holmes. Teague, an accomplished ultra runner and ski mountaineer \u2014 among other athletic hobbies \u2014 also flies.<\/p>\n

On this chilly late-August morning, though, Teague wouldn\u2019t be with Charlie and me. As Teague, Charlie and I convened at the gravel parking lot across from Copper Mountain, Teague took off to race up the mountain. Halfway on our hike up the mountain, we\u2019d see him speed-flying down.<\/p>\n

Charlie, 28, got into paragliding about five years ago when watching a ski film that featured a skier paragliding and skiing. After learning how to fly in Utah, the then-Colorado Springs resident began flying at such spots as Vail and Loveland passes and Quandary Peak, where he met the original flier in the county, Mark Koob of Frisco.<\/p>\n

Over time, Charlie began to fly off more and more spots, such as Williams Fork Mountain near Heeney, Bellyache Ridge in Edwards, and Mayflower Gulch and Peak 6 by the Tenmile Range.<\/p>\n

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