Valle de Cauca '24

By: Jeff Shapiro

By KAVU

March 12^th, 2024

This year's annual pilgrimage to the flying mecca that is the Valle de Cauca, a beautiful, green valley in Colombia filled with sugar cane fields, super kind locals, and overlooked by vultures circling under perfect cumulus clouds, was once again a highlight of my year. Each Jan/Feb season offers some of the most consistent and reliable flying for paraglider pilots and people travel here from all over the globe. I headed down to join Eagle Paragliding, and to guide groups of pilots around the terrain while doing my best to pass on some things I've learned over the years with hopes that the influence would help the pilots in my groups become safer and more proficient cross country flyers.

The place we stay each year is pretty epic. Hotel Los Viñenos sits atop a ridge line overlooking the valley between the towns of Roldanillo and La Union. It's a calm and quiet sanctuary to chill after a long day flying in the sun, and serves as our headquarters for flight debriefing, parachute repack clinics and guide presentations. Great food, a full bar and a pool to relax in makes this flying trip more "vacation" than other flying-focused trips I've been on.

El Niño

I'm not sure if it's the unique climate patterns from this year's El Niño or just luck, but for one of only a few times over the past decade, we could see all the way to the Andes this year on a few early mornings and late evenings. This particular evening was so stunning, in that we could easily see the active 17K'+ volcano in the last sun light of the day. It was hard to not stare at this skyline for obvious reasons.

Each morning, we'd drive the group up the hill, look at the conditions and give our take on what the day might offer. Then, we'd launch together into well formed thermals that would rocket us to cloud base with the goal to gather under a cloud and wait for the valley to start "working".

Cruising for 3-5 hours in the air each day on just the power of the sun and wind is pretty mind-blowing. Turning circles with birds, and playing what's often reminiscent of some sort of "Ariel Chess" with friends until we all land safely doesn't seem real some days. But the coolest part about Colombia is... the conditions are so consistent, we can take the lessons learned today and apply them tomorrow, which is super cool.

Another special part of Colombia for us is the school improvement project that Marge Variano started with the Cloudbase Foundation. Many improvements have been made to help the education resources of the local community, and there are some new ones beginning (to try to get better clean water facilities installed). If you're interested, check out the project. Anything helps!

For me, the best part of these trips each year are, for sure.... the people I get to meet and fly with. The guides are all friends and pilots I respect, the clients are all people I'd feel lucky to share time with, and in the end... we all become better pilots. Seeing pilots of all skill levels have and exceed personal bests each day is far cooler than having the typical "solo" experience. Paragliding is indeed a solo sport, but it's unique because anyone who flies can instantly relate to another pilot's experience. In a way, that makes it solo.... but collective as well.

There's also a unique level of calmness and satisfaction with feeling small and a part of something so much bigger than us after I land my paraglider. My attitude and perspective always changes after a flight and my level of gratitude is typically peaking.

I'm home now... as I type this. But I'm already looking forward to getting back to Colombia and spending more days in the air with friends. More KAVU Days!!!