Panoramic view from the watch tower.
Last w.e. was good Friday, so I drove to Ooty to take a break. I took my wing along hoping that I would find someone to chauffeur my car back down from a potential take off. My sister obliged along with her boy friend. So saturday morning I set off for the southern peak of Pakasuramalai. A lone peak that overlooks the NH 67 on the way up from Methupalayam to Ooty. In the late 80s my father and his friends would regularly fly off from it grassy slopes to fly cross country on their hang gliders. I spoke to him before setting off to find out how to reach the place as my childhood memories were vague and I could just about remember a long hike up through dense shola forest.
On the first hair pin bend down from Coonoor, one has to take the deviation to the Nonsuch Tea Estate. It is right at the extreme end of the estate that one has to park the car and hike up the last 30 to 40 mins to the top. Most of the road are paved except for the last few kilometres. I drove there with my Maruti Versa van which had ample ground clearance and torque to make it to the end of the road, although the last 500m of the rd is steep and dangerous, my father nearly toppled a 4wd on that last stretch. Not wanting to take a change I parked on the 1st hairpin bend and hiked it to the top. The last 20 mins is through dense Shola forest, the beautiful jungle that once covered the entire region.
Reaching the top, an ugly view tower greeted us, riddled with tag marks from bored visitors. At first the view is impressive and the temptation to take off right from there was big, but following the path that leads on at the top, onto the ridge that protrudes towards the east, towards Methupalayam, one goes through an other smaller outcrops of shola forest before reaching the end of the ridge and there awaits a beautiful take off with ample space for 4 or 5 paragliders fully stretched out. Gently slopping grassy take off. The largest take off is facing east, with possibilities of taking off towards the SE as well as the S. Today the winds are none existent, but the thermals are gently rising on the eastern slope. I spread my wing out and at the first thermal I push off. The glider inflates cleanly and I start to gently step out on the slope, the glider is soon airborne and I glide out along the ridge, barely have I cleared the slope and the cliff below drops to a 1000m to the jungle covered slopes below, that a strong updraft lifts me up to a 100m above the take off, my vario record a +5m/s. Good! I catch the thermal and climb up to 300 odd m above take off when I realise my vario is not working. Damn. Ok, who needs a vario anyhow. Still I push out over the valley seeking a big one that will take me a 1000m above but soon enough I encounter a big sink, -3 to -4m/s shows my gps. I hesitate to return to the take off ridge but decide to keeping going and try to connect with the next ridge of mountain to the east that will expose me to the valley of Kotagiri. However the sink is too much and I loose all my height only to make it to the first open fields. I reach out for a small thermal above the fields and try to climb up again, but trek up has tired me and I don't have food or enough water for a long flight, so I settle on this first experience and go in to land. An hour and half of bus awaits me to get back to Ooty. the beauty of it is that no one asks me any questions, no forest guard, no police officer. Looks like I will be returning after the monsoon for some more flying. The take off is at 2000m absl, while the landing is around 400 odd m. 1600m is even better than Billing up north. This site really has excellent potential.
Take off point
