{"id":31045,"date":"2023-10-21T20:26:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T02:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/balloonists-take-to-skies-after-delayed-flight-saturday-for-2023-animas-valley-balloon-rally\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:33:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:33:23","slug":"balloonists-take-to-skies-after-delayed-flight-saturday-for-2023-animas-valley-balloon-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/balloonists-take-to-skies-after-delayed-flight-saturday-for-2023-animas-valley-balloon-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Balloonists take to skies after delayed flight Saturday for 2023 Animas Valley Balloon Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=a7d8738c-c91d-5231-9ae4-3e9d6bb42f9e&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1303\" alt=\"Pilot David Koenig, explains the operations of filling his hot air balloon the Blue Loon to Lauren Harwood, 15, as Paul Koenig, left, and Dave Harwood hold it open during the Animas Valley Balloon Rally on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, north of Durango. Lauren hopes to one day pilot her own balloon. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Pilot David Koenig, explains the operations of filling his hot air balloon the Blue Loon to Lauren Harwood, 15, as Paul Koenig, left, and Dave Harwood hold it open during the Animas Valley Balloon Rally on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, north of Durango. Lauren hopes to one day pilot her own balloon. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Twenty-eight pilots were registered for the 2023 Animas Valley Balloon Rally, and many were out on Saturday waiting for ideal weather conditions to occur before taking to the skies from Hermosa Meadows.<\/p>\n<p>A weather watch, due to low-blowing gusty winds, delayed the departure of balloonists from Hermosa Meadows, which usually begins between 8 and 8:30 a.m. But by 9:17 a.m., the first balloon, named Nerfer and piloted by Mike Bertetto, had left the ground, and more were quick to follow.<\/p>\n<p>Keith Takach, a balloonist of 23 years, pilots his balloon, named Takach Another Breeze, and regularly visits Durango for the annual Animas Valley Balloon Rally.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Takach watched a pi-ball \u2013 a small balloon released into the sky to gauge wind flow and speed \u2013 before determining if he was ready to fly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a fast layer (of wind) to the southeast there. Now it\u2019s climbing back up and it\u2019s swinging back more down south in the valley,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll probably still wait a few minutes. Now it\u2019s getting a little gusty on the ground again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said conditions improved around 9 a.m., and he was optimistic the weather would continue to improve.<\/p>\n<p>Takach said he attends the balloon rally every year. He loves ballooning because every flight is different.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=fae041b3-0b91-59fd-9e4f-21b4077f4d32&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Colorful balloons sail past colorful trees on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, during the Animas Valley Balloon Rally north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Colorful balloons sail past colorful trees on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, during the Animas Valley Balloon Rally north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cNo two flights are the same. Just the people \u2013 it\u2019s a good group of people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe enjoy flying first-timers. Lots of smiles on everybody\u2019s faces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen Converse, who pilots the black and pink balloon named Penumbra, said she likes to describe different atmospheric layers as a stack of pancakes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have different layers at different heights that go different directions and different speeds,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so usually, early in the morning you get drainage from a higher (altitude), and so that cold air kind of rushes down the valley. As the sun heats up the valley, it will either calm the winds or push faster winds down. So we\u2019re just kind of watching to see what the sun will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6pQ7vwkDLCU\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In other words, weather conditions were all up in the air Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re kicking dirt. You just kind of see which way the wind is going. And we\u2019re just waiting to see how things go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She said it\u2019s not so much the launch that is worrisome with gusty winds, but the landing. The faster winds are flowing, the more room a balloonist needs to make a safe landing.<\/p>\n<p>She said some pilots are more comfortable flying in windy conditions than others. For Converse, if the wind did not die down, she planned to tether her balloon at Hermosa Meadows and put on a show in the field.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=9acf0f5d-aeec-50f8-8baf-d40f45d1bde0&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Colorful balloons sail past the colorful trees on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, during the Animas Valley Balloon Rally north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Colorful balloons sail past the colorful trees on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, during the Animas Valley Balloon Rally north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>But conditions did improve, and although Converse was one of the last balloonists to launch Saturday morning, she did ultimately take to the air.<\/p>\n<p>Converse has been a hot-air balloon pilot for three years, but she grew up crewing and flying with her father.<\/p>\n<p>She said ballooning is great because crews become family members, and being up in the air provides a sense of serenity and calm because a pilot\u2019s attention has to be on piloting.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=307eddbe-5dd1-5741-8591-25e6ded7c36f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Spectators used all types of cameras to photograph the Animas Valley Balloon Rally on Saturday north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Spectators used all types of cameras to photograph the Animas Valley Balloon Rally on Saturday north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cYou can\u2019t let other things intrude. So there\u2019s kind of a release and just a reset being in the sky and seeing the world from a different perspective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Deb Young, pilot of the balloon named Road Trip, has been flying 26 years. Preparing her balloon for lift off, she said even though Friday and Saturday were breezier than usual, she had a nice flight on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the perfect season to fly because you have the change of colors in the valley and it\u2019s gorgeous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Young was at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta last weekend. Before that, she attended events in Arizona and in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Next month, she\u2019s taking her own road trip to Mexico for more ballooning. And she\u2019s previously traveled to Europe for balloon shows.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re really happy that we\u2019re here, and this is one of my favorite places to fly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"emphasis-4f487ffa5dbe783e0e1c7ab8a07cae5d\"><a href=\"mailto:cburney@durangoherald.com\">cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Weather watch lifted around 9:15 a.m. after gusts calmed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,950,510,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-durango","tag-festive-event-including-carnival","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81299,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31045\/revisions\/81299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31045"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}