Portals to another world

KAVU athlete, Hartman Rector takes us through his process to search for new places to take flight

Por KAVU

17 de July de 2018

coal pit

One of my favorite parts of flying in the mountains is looking for exit points. It's not just an excuse to climb among the rocks, peaks and ridge-lines.... it's a required part of my process... to not only find, but properly analyze the level of risk and potential for what my analytical mind.... and my imagination tells me should be possible.

Plus.... I feel like it gives in to my urge to simply explore.

"it looks like there is a wingsuit exit up there, so......"

This one turned in to a 12+ hour adventure. Coalpit is one of the more remote areas of the Wasatch Range. I wanted to explore one of the more creative entrances to the area which, involved hours of bushwhacking.

The long push was all worth it as I ended up on the long, granite talus leading up to the base of what I hoped would be the exit walls.

it's time to check it out!

With the Twin Peaks Wingsuit jump directly across the canyon, the walls looked smaller and less sheer from the base of the mountain so, I knew I needed to go to the top to use the laser rangefinder... to make sure the data was accurate.

falcon's perch

Upper bells canyon and the Salt Lake valley were a long way down which, added to my desire to fly.

It seriously felt like the top of the world up there.

never know till you go!

Although there are some nice cliffs up there, finding the exact place to jump (to create the cleanest profile and best chance for a successful flight) was the 'task at hand'.

The main exit looked crazy! It was such a positive angled wall and long glide out to the landing zone......

A lower exit seemed to be much better but, still.... next level!

Maybe some day.... but

not this day

Several hours of measuring showed me that the exit is flyable by the numbers.

Maybe some day, someone with the right combination of 'skill and crazy' will fly this exit with a wingsuit?

I needed to find something different - something safer, with a lower exit altitude, less hiking, less extreme. It's such a personal decision and for me, the intention is to live deeply, to laugh hard and to keep on learning so, this one will have to wait.