Imagine descending from nearly 18,000 feet on a down draft at 1,000 feet per minute or being shot away from earth at twice that speed.

These are the conditions Pete Thompson, a Carbondale resident for 16 years, potentially faces as he takes to the sky every time he paraglides. Thompson broke the North and South American paragliding distance record on Wednesday, flying for 10 hours and five minutes in a 305-kilometer triangle — the third time he broke the record this month. 

He said it’s difficult to describe the ins-and-outs of paragliding to nonflyers. 

“A big distance paragliding flight is like taking a row boat out into the ocean and having to quest a huge distance and land on another island,” he said. “You’re taking a craft that’s small and slow and trying to do an incredible feat by harnessing the power of what’s there.”

On the Wednesday record-setting flight — which comes after two decades honing the craft — he took off from Walsh’s Ski Trail on Aspen Mountain, flew west to the end of Grand Mesa southeast of Grand Junction, turned northeast toward the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, before returning southeast to land at the North Star Nature Preserve back in Aspen. 

He broke the record for an equilateral triangle flight path, rather than a straight line flight, which flyers also compete for. He said his three record-breaking flights this month have been particularly special for him because last year he fell a mile short of the previously held record of 272.5 km.

He also credited the support of Aspen Paragliding in his success. 

“He’s an animal,” Aspen Paragliding Owner Alex Palmaz said of Thompson. “He’s a world-class guy, we got Alex Ferreira, and in the paragliding world, we got Petey.”

Upon launching in a paraglider, which can travel up to 50 miles per hour, the pilot is on a constant search for thermals — or rising columns of air — to stay afloat, Thompson said. When air heats up it becomes less dense, more buoyant, and rises through the atmosphere. When flying, he said he looks for sunny mountain faces, south-facing basins, and the air under cumulus clouds — all of which are generally hotter and less dense than surrounding air pockets. 

He said a thermal could be a tennis court in width or multiple miles across. But the challenge to stay afloat comes from avoiding down drafts. 

“Maybe 5% of the air that’s out there is rising, 45% is neutral, and 50% is sinking,” Thompson said. 

A downdraft, which can also be multiple miles across, can force a paraglider into an unwanted descent, which could place one into remote wilderness areas. He said he prepares for the worst on long flights by packing overnight gear should he end up isolated in the wilderness from an unwanted descent and have to hike his way out.

“The flying here is not very user-friendly for big flights,” Thompson said of flying in Colorado.

Other major hazards include winds over 20 miles per hour, as they can push pilots into dangerous terrain like canyons and mountains. 

Paragliders look for calmer wind days where the sky is dotted with “cottonball” cumulus clouds. Once in the air, he said paragliding requires “hundreds of moves and hundreds of decisions in any given flight.”

“We’re the little row boats of the sky, and we need good conditions to go out in the big ocean,” he said. 

Thompson will next turn to the second part of the U.S. paragliding national competition, which will be held in Utah in September. He placed third in part one of the competition in June.

Rather than spend his time pursuing sponsorships, he funds his sky-missions by running a small holiday and events lighting business in Carbondale: West Side Lighting. Paragliding, he said, is a passion project. 

“It’s sky cowboying,” he said. “It’s a wild ride out there.”