Gliders flown from K2 and Everest

A discussion restricted to the topic of hang gliding.
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Christopher
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Gliders flown from K2 and Everest

Post by Christopher »

Does anybody know what design/model of gliders Steve McKinny flew at Everest in '86 and Jean Marc Boivin flew from K2 in '79?
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winDfried
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Post by winDfried »

If I look into this documentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjzjNxgZh_Y

It might have been some UP Comet or fullow ups.
UP logos, double sail gliders, Pilot Loop in front of or after trapez, severe yawing around,
"good old" 1980ies Technology...
Interesting Topic!
W.
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Ken de Russy
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Re: Gliders flown from K2 and Everest

Post by Ken de Russy »

Christopher wrote:Does anybody know what design/model of gliders Steve McKinny flew at Everest in '86 and Jean Marc Boivin flew from K2 in '79?
A Wills Wing 167 Euro Sport which, if my memory serves me, I later resold through my dealership to a Santa Barbara pilot, was used for the Everest expedition. Larry worked as a road rep for Wills in those days and often visited me to help me service my customers. He had some great tales about secretly placing Rac's ashes on a shelf reserved for past Dali Lamas and other stories about McKinney's crash and subsequent ill advised self treatment. Tudor was then, and still is I'll bet, an epic story teller.
Last edited by Ken de Russy on Mon, Dec 14 2015, 07:01:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

Thanks, Ken. Got the skinny on the K2 kite?
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NMERider
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Post by NMERider »

Interesting event in hang gliding history that I previously had not know about. Poor Steve McKinney died tragically in freak road accident just a few years later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McK ... 28skier%29
XCMag has an interesting interview with Larry Tudor about the event: http://www.xcmag.com/2013/05/60-years-o ... hest-peak/
Thanks for posting this query.
Cheers,
JD
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Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

NMERider wrote:Interesting event in hang gliding history that I previously had not know about. Poor Steve McKinney died tragically in freak road accident just a few years later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McK ... 28skier%29
XCMag has an interesting interview with Larry Tudor about the event: http://www.xcmag.com/2013/05/60-years-o ... hest-peak/
Thanks for posting this query.
Cheers,
JD
I'm still gobsmacked by the collocation of "flew", "K2", and "'79"!
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Davis
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Post by Davis »

That would be 160 not 165.
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Joe Faust
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Post by Joe Faust »

A model used by Steve was one of the gliders carried up to camps.
What were the other gliders that came back down not flown?
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Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

Davis wrote:That would be 160 not 165.
Hummm... I've been unable to find specs for the Wills "Euro" Sport- though claims that the difference between it and the Sport America was limited to the frame construction; Wills gives the size as either 167 or 180.

https://www.willswing.com/hgma-certifie ... g-gliders/

http://www.dhv.de/db1/source/technicsea ... hp?lang=EN
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Davis
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Post by Davis »

Yes, I was mistaken (I owned one - Euro version). 167.