The 33rd edition of the International de Montgolfieres de Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu took place from August 13th to 21st and what a time it was.
Heavy rain had delayed our festival experience by almost a full week. And the construction along the way extended the drive to nearly three hours. Along the way, I felt a sense of excitement and tremendous fear as I had never flown in a hot air balloon previously – and have a terrible fear of heights.
Once we reached the scheduled flight time, things were still up in the air. Pardon the pun. There was a growing concern that there wasn’t enough wind for the balloons to travel. And having them remain stagnant in one spot wasn’t an option. It was decided that an hour would go by before conditions were checked again and decision could be made.
So we waited. An hour later, little had changed and it was hinted at that there wouldn’t be any flights that evening. A small glimmer of hope still shone through the clouds, though. Forty-five minutes later, there was a rouse of action as balloons were prepared for take-off and it seemed we were really going to climb the skies in a wicker basket attached to a balloon. My stomach dropped. What had I committed myself to?
In all, crew and passengers, we were eleven souls gathered in a basket. Climbing towards the heavens at a surprisingly rapid click. The people below us cheered and grew smaller and smaller. Cars appeared like ants and soon we were up in the atmosphere. All around us were other balloons. Soaring amidst the freshest air imaginable. Perhaps it was the thinning air that created the feeling of euphoria I felt through my entire being. But I feel it was more the experience itself. We were still climbing skyward and just beginning what would become a seventy minute flight.
Whatever phobia of heights I might have had were no longer even a thought. This was bliss. Serenity. Among the clouds I felt more at peace than ever before in my life.
See Also : Under Pressure 2016 in Montreal, Quebec
We peeked at a height of four thousand six hundred feet and reached speeds of nearly thirty kilometers an hour. Sailing just over ten kilometers in distance before the pilots began planning our descent. It hadn’t occurred to me that we wouldn’t be returning to our point of take off. I hadn’t plotted for our landing until the moment we began descending towards what looked like a lush forest. The basket sliced through tree tops, bending them with ease as we cleared the brush and drifted towards. What appeared to be some sort of crop. A pair of startled deer dashed out of our flight path as we hovered mere inches above what now looked to be a corn field.
Knees bent to brace for impact with solid ground, we hit and lifted again. Controlled as we were, this was the most unnerving part of the whole experience. Yet I was still euphoric. The crew and some of the passengers jumped overboard, securing lines to the balloon.
We were still just high enough to skim the field we had landed in, and in the distance, the headlights of an oncoming vehicle could be seen heading towards us. The van contained more crew members that jumped out and ran towards us. Aiding us to a landing zone where the balloon itself could be brought down and deflated. And that is what transpired. We were back on solid ground.
With the balloon and basket folded and loaded up, we all boarded the van and headed towards the farmhouse that governed our landing zone. There, we met the owner of the field. All of us formed a circle, where a story was told about the history of ballooning and why the crew, after each flight, cracked a bottle of bubbling champagne. To share with all that had flown with them.
It was a fairy tale ending to a dream of a day, and one that I will not soon forget. Still in a state of euphoria, we rode in the van back to the festival grounds where Les Cowboys Fringants were moments away from taking stage. Their rollicking and explosive live show had the crowd in a frenzy. On the other side of the stage, Ferris wheels whirled and fairground rides and attractions basque in the glow of the neon lights about them.
I don’t yet know if my fear of heights is a thing of the past. What I do know, is that next years edition of the festival can’t come soon enough. I’ll be dreaming of this wild and fantastic experience for a long, long time to come. This is something everybody needs to experience in their lifetime. A truly incredible experience.
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