Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Flying in paragliding

“Flying has always been a dream for humans. To overcome gravity and move your legs away from the ground, to dwarf in the air like a pen.”

These are the words of Joxe Ramón Agirre, Marron, an ataundian mountaineer. He said it in a documentary he released a few years ago. Marrone climbs the mountains on foot and flies down. Paragliding is one of his favorite hobbies. He's also blown down the eight thousand.

Nagore walks with his colleague Rementeria in Urbasa, dilinda in the air.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: Once you get up, do you jump from here?

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: Yeah, right here. Imagine, the whole plain of Sakana, from Etxarri to Altsasu. Vultures walk here and we look at vultures, often with envy, because they don’t have the same limitations as us. When these are removed, it means that the conditions are satisfactory.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: Is that the signal then?

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: Yeah, vultures can't be seen at 8:00 in the morning. You usually see vultures at noon, when the atmosphere starts to warm; it’s the warm wind that the earth blows, you see them in the hulls, and that’s when they start to fly.

It depends on what kind of flight you want: in the morning it is very quiet, and in the afternoon, as I said before, when the earth heats up, a warm wind begins, called thermal, and you fly much more. And that's what you want. Sometimes it's too much and you have to look for the intermediate.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: Do you remember the first time you saw someone climb the mountain and fly down?

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: They will be over 30 years old. It was in Picos de Europa, then it was the delta wing. There was no paragliding yet. It was a kind of “flute.”

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: Now you can barely see the delta wings.

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: You can see it. I have friends who still use it, but it's another discipline. The feeling of flying is, without a doubt, a little freer. In the paragliding, you're sitting down, it's not that aesthetic.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: But easier to carry. You're wearing it in your backpack.

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: This is special for the mountain. Here the kilos weigh a lot and then we try to make it as light as possible. The paragliding was naturally created to fly in the mountains, and for me it was an incredible invention. When it was created, we left the delta wing, which we still have in storage, and we bought a paragliding machine. But with the paragliding of the time you needed a huge slope, running a lot, and yet we said: "Shall we go down there?"

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: So what was it, just going down?

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: It was coming down. "Shall we go to Spring?" Imagine, we used to land on those meadows downstairs, and now you can spend hours here if you have good conditions.

In my case, walking in the mountains does not require a paragliding that flies a lot. We only have to climb the mountain and enjoy a pleasant flight; that is our desire. Such a pleasant feeling that it gives you that feeling in the air.

Here we meet Iayo, a friend of Altsasu. And that's 'a friend' and then 'those'??? ? -> Vultures spend more hours here.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: Friends of vultures?

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: They know the place, and the vultures too... Iaio is getting ready. See, his chair is much bigger than mine. He's got a parachute on him, and if he falls, he's got an airbag.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: It's safer, then.

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: Without a doubt. Now you have to inflate it with the wind so to speak, you have to give it a body. You see, there in front of you... there's some cameras; that's inflated, and the paragliding takes that aerodynamic shape, it takes the planing shape. For safety, get up a little to see that all the ropes are fine. At the time of your departure, you turn around and start planning. This is what is done before the security protocol comes out.

It's usually this green maneuvering rope. Lower what’s known as the “fugue” on the back and turn it around. At the same time, this also serves to pull the brake before landing, reducing the speed at the last moment. It has its function. Every bond has its mission.

NAGORE REMENTERIA; Elhuyar Foundation: You have a habit of saying something before you leave, until later...

JOXE RAMON AGIRRE MARRON; mountaineer: Yes, always "do well", and in the air "it's fine here"... and at the time of landing we always comment. And then even the smallest flight is beautiful, and somehow we always celebrate it. Yeah, it's usually pretty.