Summertime Altitude

Cory is used to high altitudes - Mt Hood in 2007 at around 9000 feet, then Loveland in Colorado in 2010 and 2011 at over 10000 feet - but that's always been going up in chairlifts and gondolas.  So this was a first, just a few hundred feet, but in a hot air balloon!

He arranged it for himself and his mum as a birthday gift for her and it was something she has wanted to do for years.  Here they are waiting for the balloon to be unloaded...

And it's huge!

Helping out with the inflation process...





A peek inside...

A few more bursts of flame, and....

...the balloon begins to rise...

Here they go!

Up, Up, and Away!!!

The view from up there, and a close brush with a blackberry thicket on landing...

As the summer of 2014 fades away, and with an important qualifying race coming up in February, Cory will soon be re-focusing himself on his ski racing.  But before that, Cory will spend a week in Mexico in early October.  Then it will be time to get serious again about qualifying for Special Olympics National Winter Games in 2016 in Newfoundland.