Note to Self: Don't Paraglide Into the Wind

Some poor soul had a paragliding accident on Monday. I've never seen this before, and felt really, really bad for the guy. He was screaming and hollering obscenities the whole way down the hillside while being carried by rescuers. He apparently had a pretty bad head injury, but it certainly didn't affect his ability to remember foul language. But he was in a lot of pain, obviously, so I won't pass any judgement.



Members of the city of Boulder fire department, Rocky Mountain Rescue, and Pridemark Paramedics carry Matthew Hecker, 21, whose paraglider collapsed on Monday morning, down the hillside near Wonderland Lake. Hecker is in critical condition with head injuries at Denver Health Medical Center.

I thought I was going to break my own leg and need rescuing from RUNNING down this rocky-ass slope while photographing. I was very impressed with how fast these people could hustle while carrying the injured guy. They didn't waste a single second getting him down to the ambulance.

Another interesting thing was that some friend of his chased me and the television guy up the slope, begging us not to shoot the injured guy's picture. As kindly as I could, I replied that he really didn't get a choice. Someone doing something to require this kind of response is going to get in the newspaper and on TV. End of story. I added, "You know, paragliding here is perfectly legal. He's not going to get in trouble or anything." The kid responded, "Yeah, but it looks bad for the sport." HUH?? Here this guy's friend is battling some serious injuries, and THAT's what this dude is worried about?? I responded, "Every sport has accidents. It's not the end of the world," and ignored him thereafter. Sheesh.