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Going Down Fast
The canopy began to collapse. The bird’s weight and frenzy were causing the leading edge of the wing to fold inward. It lost lift. Moss started going down fast. She glimpsed the ground coming at her in a blur of green, brown and red. Already she had dropped more than 6,000 feet. She had only 1,500 feet left before she’d hit the ground.Suddenly, miraculously, the trapped eagle managed to free itself and flew off. Now Moss had to stop spiraling. With only seconds to act, she applied the brakes, sorted out the tangled lines and shifted her weight. Fortunately, below her was a field without trees or rocks.
But moments later, the eagles were back. They kept after her until she was down to 300 feet. Finally, encountering an updraft, the birds soared off. Moss then hit a headwind and slowed down, gliding to a gentle landing.
Inside her suit, she was drenched in cold sweat. Her first thought was to check the glider. It was practically new, specially made for the upcoming championships. Now it had a gaping hole in one of the front cells and five-foot rips in the seams.
A carload of other paragliders who had landed up ahead came running toward her. When Moss saw them, she collapsed.
But it didn’t take her long to recover her composure. The very next day, she was back in the air, determined to do her best in the competition. She’d flown with big birds before in the Himalayas—never had she been hunted by them. The image of flying like an eagle was at the core of her love of paragliding. After all, Moss says, “it’s the closest you can actually get to being a bird.”
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