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Himalayan Paragliders Post Live Updates with iPhones and GPS

by Terrence O'Brien on March 12, 2010 at 09:30 AM

Not all of us have the time, money or (let's be honest) the cojones for extreme adventures, like paragliding the entirety of the Himalayan mountain range. Thanks to modern technology though, we can all live vicariously through the Himalayan Odyssey Team's trip of just that nature, as we sit comfortably in our cubicles.

The group of five gliders will be traversing 800 miles of mountains, from Dharamsala to Sikkim, India, all while allowing people to track their progress via the Web. SPOT GPS trackers and iPhones will let the team check in periodically and update a Google Map with their position. Visitors to the team's site will not only be able to see every zig, zag and loop, but comment on the their trip in real time.

The fancy setup, which also included solar charging stations, GPS navigation systems, and two-way radios, serves an additional purpose: safety. As the team will likely get split up as the wind hurls them through the atmosphere, staying in communication is essential to preventing members of the team from getting lost.

You can hop on over to himalayanodyssey.org and jealously watch as they slowly glide their way across India and Nepal. [From: Himalayan Odyssey, Via: Wired]

Tags: gps, himalayan odyssey, HimalayanOdyssey, himalayas, iphone, paragliding, radios, spotgps, top

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