Up, Up, and Away

 


    The sight of hundreds of hot air balloons rising in unison into the chilly morning air is one of the highlights of Albuquerque’s International Balloon Fiesta. With nearly 600 balloons and 700 pilots the week-long event is the largest balloon cavalcade on the planet.

    Albuquerque is special because of the meteorological conditions and geographical layout that make it especially conducive to flying a craft over which the pilot only really controls its altitude. To rise, the pilot depends on a judicious application of flame from an extraordinarily energetic propane burner. As the air cools, the balloon will drop, or, the pilot can release some the lift-producing hot air from a vent on the top to come down.

    During festival week there are numerous events such as Mass Ascensions (I think there’s a pun there somewhere), a competition to see who can hit the bullseye in the center of the sprawling fiesta grounds, and illuminated “aglow” launches at dusk where flickering flames from the burners illuminate the nylon bags from within.

    Other scheduled events focus on balloons with special shapes like bright pink pigs, whales, dogs, birds, a rocket ship, and even Darth Vader.

    On Monday Roxie, Mary and I were picked up by Mary’s friend Carmen for some balloon chasing, which, like storm chasers hunting twisters in plain states, involves careening around the local street grid in search of good views of overhead balloons and ones about to land. A veteran of such chases, Carmen, with Mary as co-pilot, whips through traffic at a speed best described as justifiably forthright yet just a notch below the threshold for a mandatory court appearance. Maps, weather reports and stops to check wind direction inform the hunt. All this in search of bright-colored dots in the sky.

    Sitting in back, Roxie and I keep the windows down and try to take cell-phone photos on the fly. Thanks to trees, power lines, and balky autofocus, we snap plenty of poor images, not unlike folks grabbing their first Maine Moose photos from 100 yards away. You know at long distance it’s probably not going to come out but fret it may be your only chance to get a shot. As you get closer you take more, and then more, each improving in focus, clarity and composition. At least nowadays it’s easy to delete the duds later.


    For the hundreds of thousands of annual spectators, finding a good vantage place isn’t easy. You can buy tickets for the main field where you are encouraged to arrive by 4:30 a.m. There are satellite parking areas theoretically serviced by shuttle buses. But it you miss the bus or it is delayed, there’ll be nary a bag of hot air in sight.

    The holy grail of balloon flying here is a phenomena known as “The Box.” At night, cool air sinks down the slopes of the Sandia Range, and creates a noticeable draft the arcs southerly following the downstream run of the Rio Grande. As the day warms up, the wind at higher elevations sometimes shifts to come out of the south. Balloons that have drifted down river can then ascend, find the countervailing breeze, and return to land close to where they launched.

    More often than not however balloons, followed by their ground crews in a caravan of support vehicles, set down in whatever safe open space is available. And being pretty much surrounded by desert, there’s lot and lots of open space around Albuquerque.

    Mishaps are few, fortunately. So far this week, two balloons have gotten tangled in power lines with no serious injuries or damage reported.

    We found the best views of the morning in a secret spot Carmen knows overlooking the 86-acre Balloon Launch Field. We watched for nearly half an hour as pilots drifted in from today’s launch far to the northwest in hopes of dropping a marker closest to the bull’s eye in the middle of the main field. Pilots content to just silently drift over the community passed by overhead for more than an hour, landing later farther down the valley.


    We’re hoping to catch the “Special Shape Glowdeo,” on Friday to wrap up the week. I’m sure we’ll feel the ripple in the force as Darth Vader soars overhead. But personally, I’m hoping to get a glance at Yoda.

    But before you drift off let me apologize for the headline that now has that Fifth Dimension song stuck in your head. For those who don’t, here’s a handy link. Up, Up and Away

 

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