High Cascade Flights
Calling all Adventurers!
Big Sky Balloon Co. will have a new exclusive flight offering starting this fall of 2024. This is something we’ve been planning and researching for many years and the time has come! We will begin operating passenger balloon flights over the Cascade Mountain Range of Oregon. We’re calling this the “High Cascades Flight” and it will be the one and only hot air balloon experience of its kind in North America. Just imagine if you can, being carried by balloon as you fly with the winds up and over the Cascade Mountains. It’s the stuff dreams are made of and an epic experience like no other. Please continue below for more information and hit the more info link to request scheduling and flight details.
Pictured right, 12,000ft over Three Sisters, Cascade Range.
What is the High Cascade Flight?
In the ballooning industry we refer to these as Adventure Flights, and there’s some important distinctions to be made between these and the common balloon ride. Your typical hot air balloon ride is about one hour in duration, may cover anywhere from 1-12 miles depending on wind speeds and may reach altitudes anywhere between tree top height to a couple thousand feet in the air. Your flight will normally take place in a well known and established flight area where balloons have been flying for many years, if not decades. You’re typically flying within a given localized flight zone, your views and scenery are going to depend on where you choose to take your balloon flight, but no matter where you decide to do it, this is basically what you can expect. There will be variations on this depending on the skill and experience of your pilot and the flight area, but this can be considered the industry standard.
Now, adventure flights are something quite different that go far beyond the scope of an average balloon flight. They involve flying longer distances, longer durations, higher altitudes, and often over sections of geography unsuitable for landing, such as mountains, large bodies of water, big canyons, or even a large metropolitan area. In an adventure flight, you’re going up and flying to another destination outside of a local flight zone. It requires more advanced planning, more involved weather forecasting, specialized equipment such as oxygen systems, navigational aids, and location devices to name a few. These factors along with many others, place limits on making flights like this commonplace. In fact, adventure flights can be a very rare and special occurrence in ballooning.
WEATHER
One of the biggest factors influencing adventure flying is weather and wind conditions. Very specific weather conditions are required to pull off a successful flight and often times the ‘weather window’ for many of these flights can be very narrow. One of the biggest weather factors in ballooning are the winds. A balloon can only travel downwind, therefore, winds have to be going in the direction that you want to be going for a given flight, at just the right speeds, and just the right altitudes. A pilot may wait for months to have proper conditions for a given flight or may only have a couple of months out of the year where a certain flight is possible. Many other weather factors come into play and an experienced pilot or team knows how to interpret weather data in order to make the right decision on when to attempt a given flight goal.
PILOT EXPERIENCE
These flights require a highly experienced, skilled, competent and dedicated pilot. Darrens professional balloon career spans more than 30 years, during which he’s logged over 3,000 hrs of flight time operating scenic balloon flights, flying internationally, running a corporate balloon program throughout the Pacific Northwest and making numerous cross country flights from the Cascades to the Rocky Mts. More
Now Taking Reservations!
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Now Taking Reservations! **
Previous Adventure Flights
Crossing the Continental Divide in 1999
When I first started flying balloons in Montana at the foot of the Northern Rockies, it wasn’t long before I imagined flying over the entire range in one grand flight. That opportunity came in 1999 when I was the first balloon pilot to fly over Glacier National Park. It was a surreal experience floating across this fantastic landscape with 11,000 ft peaks below my feet. Over the ridge of the Continental Divide the views extended north across the Canadian Rockies and south through the Bob Marshall Wilderness. At an altitude of 14,000ft, the winds carried me at around 20-35 mph, however in a balloon it feels like you’re standing still, you become a part of the atmosphere, moving with the wind. Something that can only be experienced in balloon flight.
Balloon flight over the Cascade Mountains with Three Fingered Jack pictured in the background.
Navigating at 15,000ft over the Ochoco Mts in Central Oregon. Ground speed 60mph, total flight distance 100 miles.
Flight over the Cascades from 12,000 ft. Background top right are Mt Washington, Mt Jefferson, and Mt Hood.