Connecting in Nepal

By: Cherise Tuttle

By KAVU

December 19^th, 2023

This year, I went to Nepal to go paragliding… like I’ve been doing for a number of years already.

But, this year was different. Our main flying site, Sarangkot, was shut down for solo paragliding because of a new international airport built in Pokhara, forcing us to dive deeper into rural Nepal. There’s no lack of flying potential, with its abundance of epic terrain to fly over and to launch from, but we had to tread carefully while trying to understand and respect the somewhat fragile ecosystem of the approved flying sites. Nepal has long been a destination for paraglider pilots to experience free flight from flying next to the majestic Himalaya, to honing in thermaling and cross country skills over Sarangkot.

Like most visiting pilots these days, we connected with Babu at his flying site, about 3 hours jeep ride from Pokhara. He has a great setup with a guesthouse on a beautiful ridge line, and provided full logistics for getting up to launch, and being picked up down in the valley at the landing zone.

He welcomed us with open arms, and I spent a couple of weeks getting my head back into the clouds. Literally.

Like Sarangkot, the thermals delivered, allowing us to be in the sky for hours... whether it was exploring up and down the main ridge line, or going for cross country flights while trying to link up triangles and make it back to the main landing zone in time for a ride back up to the guesthouse.

It was a very special time for me to reconnect with flying.

Over the last few years, I’ve been on a different journey in regards to paragliding. After my husband, Cody Tuttle, passed away in a paragliding accident in 2019, flying has almost felt sacred to me. I became very particular with when I chose to fly and who I chose to fly with. And once I was in the air, I felt the most beautiful sense of peace and connection to the sky and to Cody.

Flying in Nepal again brought memories flooding back of exploring the sky with him. We spent months at a time living in Pokhara, flying as many days as we could.

And while I was going to a country I have become quite familiar with, this trip was different in the way that all of the flying sites I flew were new to me. I found myself whisked away from the comfort of Pokhara, spending more time in the rural villages.

In Pokhara you get used to a certain way of easy living – there’s any kind of cuisine you can think of... from French Café’s to Pizzeria’s to Vietnamese and classic American food. In the morning I would go to my favorite place, The Juicery, and order a cappuccino, smoothie bowl and fresh homemade sourdough toast. Like I said, a spoiled way of life! Not to mention the easy ride by taxi to go flying on the ridge right above town. This trip, however, was spent partially at a guesthouse quiet from the hustle of any town, eating local Nepali food, drinking milk tea and taking showers that were sometimes lukewarm but more often than not, cold. It was quieter there, reminiscent of a simpler time. The other parts of my trip were spent deep in the mountains in the Manaslu region, traveling by jeep and foot for days to fly with Mt. Manaslu peeking out of the clouds next to us.

The entire trip was filled with magical moments from dance parties on the top of a mountain in the fire light, to soaring next to Himalayan Griffon Vultures in the sky.

It was a time of reconnecting with friends, home, flying, and myself. Nepal is a place that will always call me back... and each time is such an extraordinary experience filled with so many unexpected adventures.