Paragliders` world first marred by missing mountaineer

Korean paragliders were speechless for a while after hearing bad news from text messages on Oct. 19.

Champion mountaineer Park Young-seok, who sought to open a new Korean route in the southern wall of the Himalayan mountain Annapurna, went missing. The paragliders were in their 70th day of paragliding in the Himalayas in achieving a world first, but experienced a very silent night.

Park Jeong-heon, Ham Yeong-min and Hong Pil-pyo started their first flight on the northern side of the Himalayas in Pakistan on Aug. 22, and arrived in Manali, India. They are close friends with Park Young-seok.

They resumed their journey on Oct. 21 because they had to join the International and Himalayan National Paragliding Championship in Bir, 180 kilometers away from Manali.

Bir, a small village with a population of 2,500, was crowded with some 300 paragliders from all over the world. Dilip, Hong’s Indian friend, guided his team. Their friendship had started eight years ago, when Hong did Dilip a favor in the same event in Korea.

The Korean team dropped its plan to participate in the championship, however, and opted to fly over Bir. They plan to fly 50 kilometers from Bir to Dharamsala, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is located, and come back.

After checks, the team jumped into the blue autumn sky of the Himalayas. The paragliders were also joined by eagles, which flew alongside the paragliders like children interested in weird flying objects.

The sky in Bir allowed the paragliders a four-hour flight and to be at one with the Himalayas.