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Video: Paraglider Flies High Above Sierra Peaks

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Ever have a dream like this?

Chronicle outdoors columnist Tom Stienstra writes today about paraglider Dave Turner, who on July 1 flew across a good little chunk of the Sierra Nevada.

From Stienstra's column ...

Turner departed from Walt's Point, a launch perched on a cliff at the foot of the southeast flank of 14,505-foot Mount Whitney, located along the road from Lone Pine to Horseshoe Meadows Trailhead.

Turner then climbed thermals that rise from the Owens Valley to the east. From the video, you can see how he ventured west and crossed the Sierra Crest near Cottonwood Pass south of Whitney ...

He then flew the headwaters of the Kern River and the Kern River Canyon, and then west over the Great Western Divide en route to the San Joaquin Valley. He landed near an orange grove east of Visalia. Read more

Stienstra says hiking the same route took him more than a week.

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In the video of Turner's trip, which he took with a helmet cam, you can see him gliding high above Mt. Langley and Mt. Williamson, each over 14,000 feet in elevation.

And if you're wondering what a paraglider is, some images.

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