Coup Icare

This past weekend we drove across the valley to watch some of the Coup Icare.

It bills itself as "The most famous paragliding and air sports event in the world, attracting 70,000 to 80,000 spectators annually"  -which I have to agree with, for I know of no other paragliding and air sports event in the world, which makes this one the most famous for me.

Matea watching a helicopter below us in the valley

It was also our frist real outing as a tribe  family of six - and to be honest - it didn't feel all that strange. We just had one very quiet and calm baby on top of the group we used to be.

One of the big draws of this festival is the "costumed flight competition" - where people dress up in costumes and then jump off the side of the mountain with a parapente.  That would be cool enough - except when they say costumes - they don't mean a wig, a faux-fur vest and some whiskers drawn on your face with eye-liner.  We're talking 'costumes' that have to be assembled at the jump site as they won't fit in a car. We're talking 'costumes' that require more than one jumper to be in them just to get them off the ground and try to maneuver and land them.

some of the Star Wars 'costumes'

On top of all that - you put so many of them in the air at one time, with all their costumes, and flags, and banners, and trailing dragon tails, and colored smoke - it's all pretty amazing to watch.