Fly Morocco 2011 – Latest hang gliding adventure in Africa set world record

Fly Morocco 2011 – Latest hang gliding adventure in Africa set world record

Born from the epic Fly Namibia expeditions of 2008-2010, Fly Morocco is the latest hang gliding adventure in Africa aimed at breaking world records and flying big distance. Organiser Erick Angles will be blogging here for the duration of the expedition

The group of top French hang glider pilots has set up camp in the super dry deserts of Morocco. Armed with trikes to aerotow themselves into the big skies of the Maghreb in Africa they plan to fly for a month. Their goal is simple: World Records!

Basing themselves near Ouarzazate, 75km south east of the Atlas mountains in the sub-Saharan plateau that runs into the main desert itself, the expedition will be the first we know of to try big distance flying in the area.

The terrain is dry and rocky with ravines and escarpments criss-crossing the barren landscape. The airmass is generally dry this time of year, giving high bases and good climbs.

If the flying turns on, big distances could be flown, with even longer retrieves if pilots land in any of the vast tracts of uninhabited land.

Blogging from the sub Sahara for XCMag.com is Fly Morocco organiser and pilot Erick Angles. He will be filing daily reports here as and when he can – check back to this page every day for updates from the edge of the Sahara.

The first ULMs and dollies are built and in place. At the end of the afternoon we made our first flights amongst superb colours. It’s magnificent. It’s just like the moon of Tatooine in Star Wars IV, which is no surprise as it was filmed here. It’s a completely incredible landscape. In Ouarzazate we found the film studios used by George Lucus and visited them on foot as we are in the TMA airspace.

We are in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. The Atlas is right in front of us. Mont Mgoun (4,060m) the second highest peak in the range is only 100km away as the crow flies.

Narayan Krishna Mahajan Rappelled across a 1200 Feet Deep Valley set Limca Book of Record

91 Year Old Man Rappelled across a 1200 Feet Deep Valley set Limca Book of Record

Age is no limit for Narayan Krishna Mahajan.

The ninety-one-year old set a new high inspiration for people of all age groups by climbing a mountain 3,500 above sea level without any help or assistance, but for a walking stick as an occasional aid.

He tied himself to ropes, and rappelled from the top of the peak to the peak of another hill in India’s western state of Maharashtra on Sunday (February 20).

Mahajan said that he performed the adventure to instil the new age youngsters to be motivated to engage in outdoor sports and actions.

‘I don’t consider myself as old, because I believe that if one’s attitude is strong, the body would also be fit. The body should be maintained healthy since childhood. I have done this to boost the morale of the youngsters and they don’t get scared and participate in such activities,’ Narayan Krishna Mahajan said.

Mahajan said that he was not aiming to set a world record but only with an intention to encourage people to have a healthy and active lifestyle.

‘Don’t sit within the confines of your house, before the computer and television. Come out on the ground and play games like hockey, football, go for trekking, climb mountains and stay healthy. Then you will stay healthy at old age as well,’

Narayan Krishna Mahajan Rappelled across a 1200 Feet Deep Valley set Limca Book of Record Video

Oldest man to climb the largest Kilimanjaro mountain set Guinness World Record

Mount Kilimanjaro began forming in Africa’s Great Rift Valley around a million years ago. George Solt, from Buckinghamshire, has not been around for quite as long as that, but at the age of 82, he has become the oldest man to climb the world’s largest free-standing mountain.

    Oldest man to climb the largest Kilimanjaro mountain Photo

Mr Solt took on the challenge with his son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren, one of whom is 12 years old, in memory of his wife, Jen, who died last year. The money he raised by doing the climb will go towards Willen Hospice in Milton Keynes, where his wife spent her final days. “It’s great, I can say I’m a world record holder and have done something no one else has ever done,” Mr Solt said.

                           Kilimanjaro mountain Picture

It took the group six days to get up and two days to get down Kilimanjaro. Mr Solt had prepared for months, using weights, cycling hard and walking. The hardest part about the challenge, he said, were the “headaches, nausea and plain tiredness”. When he reached the top of the 5,895m peak, Mr Solt said, he was “totally blank and exhausted. I was just glad to be able to turn around and get down again”.

But it was then that he encountered the most difficulty. He said the descent was “absolutely awful, I was absolutely wrecked. The bottom half was the worst, in the wet rainforest, it was very slippery, the next day I couldn’t even walk down the hotel steps”.

His 52-year-old son didn’t make it to the summit: “He just suddenly went absolutely bananas and had to be taken down and was extremely ill on the way down but right as rain the minute he got to the bottom.”

Mrs Solt had been a keen climber too, mountaineering until she was 80, but suffered from altitude sickness, which meant the couple did most of their climbing in Europe, rather than on higher peaks such as Everest.

Mr Solt is five years younger than the Frenchman Valtée Daniel who, at 87, claims to be the oldest man to have climbed the mountain. But Mr Daniel’s climb has never been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, who insist on certain rules being followed in order for a climber’s claim to be accepted. In particular, the record attempt has to be verified by independent witnesses, must be filmed and photographed as well as meticulously documented in a logbook.

Mr Solt reached Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru peak on 14 July 2010, and is now resting at home, waiting for Guinness World Records to verify his climb.