Officials from Summit and Eagle counties spent yesterday rescuing a man from Quandary, a 14,000-foot peak south of Breckenridge, after he fractured both legs in a ski-gliding-gone-wrong accident, according to the Summit Daily News.
The Summit Daily reported two men were planning to ski and ski-glide down the East Ridge of Quandary Sunday afternoon.
Their intention, according to one of the men, was to ski down the East Ridge and then make either a sharp right or left hand turn and glide to the bottom. The first man launched his chute and glided successfully to the bottom on the south side of the mountain, but the second man reportedly "lost wind" and crashed near the top, injuring himself. According to one witness, he had compound fractures in both legs.
Speed gliding is a popular sport in Europe that involves skiing with a foot-launched parachute which is smaller than a paragliding or sky diving chute, and which may lift the skier off the ground intermittently depending on the wind speed and direction. The sport is also called speed flying or ski gliding.
Read the entire Summit Daily News report here.
