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The Wizard of Lap - By Steve Thorpe
Dorothy and Her Friends Fly at the Mountain of Diablo
One day Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow went to fly in the sky at the
Mountain of Diablo with some of their friends. They wanted to play with the Thermals
of Diablo, who lived on the mountain, but the Thermals were tired and weak after a
very late night post-frontal party, and didn't want to play, so Dorothy and her friends
couldn't stay up in the air for very long. Some of them had to walk back up the
mountain and some fell so far down that they had to get a ride back to the top with the
kind Tourists who come to visit the Mountain at weekends and holidays. But they were
having a lot of fun and eventually their enthusiasm rubbed of on the Thermals who got
into the spirit of things and started to lift them all up high over the Mountain. They all
flew around and played a game of tag with the Thermals for a long time and eventually
the Tin Man and the Scarecrow landed back on the top of the Mountain.
The Wicked Wind from the West
All of a sudden the Wicked Wind from the West came howling through and blew so
strongly that the Tin Man and the Scarecrow could not get back up into the air to play
with the Thermals. Dorothy and the Lion ( and some of their other friends who had
stayed up in the air with them ) sneered at the Wicked Wind and flew higher and
farther than they had ever flown before at the Mountain of Diablo. But the Wicked
Wind blew even harder and soon they realized that they would have to be very clever
just to get back down to the ground before the Wicked Wind pushed them all the back
into the Valley of the Evil Rotor. As luck would have it they were very well prepared
because just a few days earlier they had all been discussing lots of different ways to
outwit the Wicked Wind from the West when she tried to stop them from landing.
Eventually Dorothy and the Lion and all their friends got down safely to the ground -
even their good friend Bob. The Wicked Wind was particularly angry with Bob, and
kept him up the air for much longer than the others because he was the one who had
started the discussion on how to outwit her.
An Adventure is Planned
Everyone was very excited after such a wonderful time playing with the Thermals of
Diablo but the Tin Man and the Scarecrow were a little sad that the Wicked Wind had
stopped them from flying again after they had landed, when everyone else was having
such a wonderful time. They would, they decided, go off on an adventure into the
mountains of the North West where they would find the Mighty Potato and ask him if
he would let some of his Thermals out to play the next day. They had heard that the
Mighty Potato had been keeping his stable of Thermals extremely well exercised
throughout the long and unusual winter that had fallen over the Land. They imagined
how strong those Thermals must be, and how eager they must be to be loosed into the
sky to play for the first time this Spring. They invited their good friends Dorothy and
the Lion to come with them (because they were their friends, of course - not just
because Dorothy had a magic chariot that could carry people to the top of the most
unaccommodating mountain) and then they all went down to the Creek of the Walnut,
where they started to lay out plans for their journey while they ate a hearty supper.
A Legend is Remembered
As they planned the adventure they debated what supplies they would need to take and
consulted their weather oracles. Suddenly the Tin Man remembered a place he had
been to long ago, a legendary place far across the Great Valley, in the Mountains of the
South East near the Canyon of the Kings, where the Thermals were reputed to be the
strongest and most playful of all the Thermals west of the High Mountain Range. This
place was home to the Wonderful Wizard of Lap who was very possessive of his
Thermals, and who never allowed anyone to invade his domain during the long winter
months. He could make it so hard to reach his Tower that not even a magic chariot
could get all the way up there 'til the snows melted in the Spring. And even then, only
the bravest of magic chariot riders would brave the muddy ruins of the trail up to his
Tower. Even when he made the trail up to his Tower accessible, later in the year, he
often discouraged people from coming to play with his Thermals by inviting the Surly
South Wind to blow so hard on the slopes of his Mountain than no-one would dare to go
up into the air even after they safely arrived at his Tower.
The Plans are Changed.
Now according to the Lion's weather oracle the Surly South Wind would be defeated
the following day by the Good North Wester. Why not - the Tin Man proposed - make
an adventure to the South East instead. By this time of year the Wizard of Lap usually
tires of his Winter solitude. Perhaps they would be able to reach his tower and, with the
Surly South Wind defeated, may even be allowed up into the air to play with his
Thermals! At first the Tin Man's words were taken lightly by the rest of the group.
After all, it had been a particularly long and unusual Winter. Maybe the Wonderful
Wizard of Lap was still closing out the rest of the world... it could easily rain so close to
the High Mountain Range... in fact the only shred of hope was the imminent downfall of
the Surly South Wind in the Great Valley. But Dorothy, the Lion and the Scarecrow had
never flown in the skies that surround the Tower of the Wonderful Wizard of Lap; had
never witnessed the unimaginable playfulness of the Wizard's Thermals. It was hard for
them to plunge into an adventure that offered so little hope of reward when they had no
idea of how fulfilling that reward could be. The Tin Man tried his hardest to sway their
decision with tales of flights that no one could imagine possible so early in the year.
The Scarecrow had little use for rational thought and quickly fell in with the Tin Man's
plans. Eventually, and probably more out of pity for the Tin Man than out of a
conviction that the adventure would be worth the effort, Dorothy and the Lion agreed
to follow.
The Journey Starts
A route to the Tower of the Wonderful Wizard of Lap was plotted on Dorothy's chart
and off went the group. Dorothy and the Lion leading the way out of the Creek of the
Walnut in Dorothy's magic chariot, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow following in the Tin
Man's trusty, though much less rugged conveyance. As they rode into the night, first
southward then swinging east through the hills into the Great Valley, they were a very
quiet group of companions. Many hours of arduous travel lay ahead and the prospect of
success began to seem very remote. The Tin Man and the Scarecrow covered their
growing pessimism by composing the boastful stories they would be able to relate for
many months to come if their adventure proved fruitful.
The Lion Consults a Higher Oracle
Dorothy and the Lion, however, felt the full weight of trepidation descend upon them
and in a moment of weakness the Lion summoned up a very powerful oracle who
practices his prophetic craft from the Tower of Flight in the Land of the Oak. This
oracle predicted that a darkness would descend upon the Great Valley in the region of
the Canyon of the Kings, the very next day, and that the base of this darkness would
slowly rise throughout the day but never manage to reach the lofty elevation of the
Wizard's Tower before nightfall.
Dorothy and the Lion turn back.
This revelation was too much for Dorothy and the Lion and, they felt sure, the Tin Man
and the Scarecrow must now listen to the voice of reason. They stopped their chariot
and summoned the Tin Man to a hasty meeting by the wayside. The Tin Man and the
Scarecrow were disappointed by the dismal prediction and agreed to consult an old
guru, who had traveled to the Wizard's Tower many times, to ask for his advice. Using
the Tin Man's traveling telling-bone they summoned this guru and confronted him
with all the predictions and prophecies at their disposal. He declared their journey to
be one of great folly - doomed to disappointment. Dorothy and the Lion announced that
they would indeed turn around and seek the comforts of home over the rigors of the
open road. The Tin Man and the Scarecrow declared that they had many years of
foolhardiness left in their bodies before they would start to pay attention to the voice of
reason. The friends parted company, Dorothy and the Lion toward their homes in the
City of the Gate, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow first east, then south again toward
whatever destiny awaited them.
The Tin Man and the Scarecrow Arrive in the Night.
Many hours later the Tin Man and the Scarecrow approached the south most extent of
their travels and once again turned east, toward the High Mountain Range. As they did
so the full moon gave way to an ominous darkening of the sky. Drops of rain started to
fall, picked up to a faster pace and soon became a torrent, obscuring the road for all but
a few paces ahead. Slowly the pair progressed, and by and by they came into the Valley
below the Tower of the Wizard. Their plans to sleep under the stars dashed by the foul
weather, they decided to ride up the well paved road that slowly ascends the face of the
Wizard's mountain, on its way east into the Canyon of the Kings, to the point where a
rough track branches off and doubles back west to the Wizard's tower about six miles
away, and a few hundred feet higher. After ascending less than half way they were
engulfed in a thick fog. Long before they reached the track the torrential rain had
given way to a blinding snowstorm. It would seem the Wizard wanted to revel in his
winter solitude a little longer this year. When they reached the track they turned onto
it but at a large flat turn-off where the giant four-winged helibird's nest, just a few tens
of yards up they found that they could go no further. The track was already deep in
snow and theirs was no magic chariot. At this juncture the Tin Man and the Scarecrow
could only believe that at first light , after hopefully sleeping for a few hours (It was, in
fact, already an hour and a half into the new day) they would be setting off back to the
West to the possibility of another day flying at the Mountain of Diablo and the certainty
of the mockery and derision that they would surely deserve. They rode back down into
the valley where the snow could not freeze them in the night and slept soundly in the
back of their conveyance, wrapped in down-filled sacks against the bitter cold.
Morning Brings Hope and Disappointment
Halfway into the seventh hour of the day they were awakened by the one thing that
they had believed impossible just a few short hours before. The sun was shining in
their faces over the mountains to the east. The sky was as clear as crystal and as the
Tin Man tried to locate the Tower of the Wizard on the crest of the range to the north
he realized that the one small cloud still clinging to the mountain was in fact centered
around the Tower itself. This cloud, they felt sure, would burn off in the morning sun
before they had broken fast at the finest eatery in the village. They would then ride
back to the helibird's nesting-place and investigate the possibility of invading the
Wizard's domain on foot. About an hour later, after consuming a hearty breakfast, the
Tin Man and the Scarecrow stepped out of the eatery, their spirits high and their
previously prepared boastful stories now elaborated with new and glorious detail. One
look at the sky and their spirits fell. Although the eatery was bathed in sunshine the
rest of the valley was thick with cloud, which had come down so low that not even half
of the Wizard's mountain could be seen below it. For want of something better to do
they rode back up the paved road to the helibird's nesting place to look at the state of
the track. It was, as they had feared, deep in snow. Hard walking at best, and sure to
get worse higher up where the hard surface gave way to soft earth, probably rutted and
broken, under the snow. It hardly seemed to matter now that the cloud was down to
where the Oracle at the Tower of Flight had predicted it would be. They lingered a
while in the snow, and by and by a magic chariot came trundling up the track. It seemed
to have no difficulty getting up the slope just beyond them but the Tin Man knew
how
bad the surface would be further up. He doubted if even a magic chariot could ride
more than a mile or two in that direction. But ever optimistic he pointed out to the
Scarecrow that IF the clouds lifted and IF another magic chariot came through they
could maybe persuade the rider to carry them and their wings as far as possible up the
track to the Tower of The Wizard. They agreed to wait and see if the clouds would lift.
After about half an hour they began to realize that from their vantage point they would
observe no lifting of the cloud at all until and unless it rose all the way up to their
elevation. So once more they set off down into the valley, this time to watch the cloud
from below. By the tenth hour of the day the cloud seemed to have moved only very
slightly. The Scarecrow declared that if, by halfway into the tenth hour, they had seen
no more rapid lifting of the cloud they should call off their vigil and return to the West.
The Tin Man reluctantly agreed. By the appointed time the cloud had risen only very
slightly but the Tin Man persuaded the Scarecrow to persevere for one more half of an
hour.
The Long Walk.
By the eleventh hour the cloud had risen significantly faster than before, and was
revealing some of the lower ridges of the mountain. Knowing that the walk to the
Tower from the helibird's nesting-place was going to be a long one, and that if they
were to wait for the cloud to lift completely it might be too late, the pair decided to ride
up and commence walking the track anyway. The cloud at the west end of the ridge
seemed much lower than that up near the Wizard's Tower so they were not too daunted
when the arrived at the helibird's nesting-place to find themselves just as enshrouded
in cloud as they had been before descending the mountain an hour and a half earlier.
Their conveyance parked in the snow at the bottom of the track they shouldered their
wings and started walking. The tracks made by the magic chariot that had passed
earlier gave them a slightly easier route to walk until they reached the softer ground
where snow and mud mixed to make walking impossible. Deep ruts lined the track.
The only way to pass these obstacles was to strike out into the virgin snow in the
forest, skirting round until they reached more solid sections of track. Progress was
slow - the obstacles were many -but the pair pressed on and within half an hour they
were rewarded by their first glimpse of open sky for a long time. The clouds ahead
were indeed above the mountain and, rounding a bend they whooped with delight - forgetting for a moment their heavy loads - as they caught their first
glimpse of the
Tower of the Wonderful Wizard of Lap - three or four miles away as the crow flies - but
still more than five miles of hard foot-slogging away. The closer to the Wizard's tower
they walked the more treacherous the track became. The Tin Man was surprised to
see how far the magic chariot tracks did in fact go, but in the soft ground they were
much more of a hindrance than a help. They had long since forsaken trying to keep
their feet dry in favor of more rapid progress. The clouds had continued to lift steadily
as they walked - now at least 1000 ft above the Tower - and broken to reveal large
areas of blue sky where the sun shone through, bathing the valley below in patches of
sunlight. With less than a mile to go they reached a fork in the track where the path to
the Tower began to climb a section steeper than any they had thus far encountered.
The magic-chariot tracks all disappeared down the other track so their steep climb had
to be made up through deep, virgin snow. The only place where the, now much firmer,
ground showed through was where rivulets of melt-water were busy washing runnels in
the snow. Their feet already wet they once again opted for speed over comfort and
began wading through the rivulets. Twenty minutes later - over two hours since they
had started out on their long and arduous walk - they crested a shallow rise and came
face to face with the Wizard of Lap.
The Flight
A quiet awe descended upon the pair. It was - they realized - probably the first time
that any eyes had gazed upon the Tower from within the Wizard's own domain since
late the previous year when he had invoked the Power of the Child God to provide him
with a long and impenetrable winter solitude. Sun bathed the snow covered slopes on
which the Tower stands, and a gentle breeze blew directly up from the valley. Had the
Wizard released his legendary Thermals to play in the sky today? - the Tin Man had
heard rumors that the Wizard had used his magic powers to make his Thermals
unnaturally eager to play, even when hardly a ray of sun was touching the valley floor -
and by now three quarters of the valley was in sunlight. Almost as the thought crossed
their minds they heard the tell-tale rustle of trees as a Thermal summoned a triplet of
eagles to come and play. Just in front of the Tower the eagles soared in graceful level
circles for a moment, then suddenly plunging deeper into the Thermal, soared steeply
upwards. Within minutes they were out of sight - not even specks between the clouds
that were now at least 1300 ft above the top of Tower. Wasting no more time the pair
acknowledged the Wizard's welcome, fastened themselves to their wings and leapt into
the sky to play with his Thermals.
First the Scarecrow - but a little too eager he leapt almost straight onto the back of a
Sinister Sinker - one of the creatures that pursue the strongest of Thermals around the
sky. Within minutes the Scarecrow could scarce believe that he would manage to fly to
the Field of Happy Landings, way down in the valley. But the Thermals, eager to play
with their new friends sent a lone eagle to show them the way. As the Scarecrow
followed the eagle back to the Thermal the Tin Man plunged from the slope straight
into the heart of it. The Thermals took them high, too high! The Scarecrow found
himself deep in the cloud, loosing all sight of the ground and having to close down his
wing in order to plunge down - back into the open sky. But the clouds had been playing
games too - they had shaken and jostled the Scarecrow, turning him this way and that,
so that when he finally managed to get back down below them he did nor recognize the
land below him. Only by following the Tin Man did he get manage to regain his
bearings. They flew to the edge of the big cloud that lurked above the Tower and out
into sunlight. After less than twenty minutes in the sky the pair were both regretting
their wetted footwear. The temperature was well below that of ice and, though they had
otherwise dressed warmly - expecting the cold - the wind was chilling the water on and
in their sturdy boots. Even the sunlight gave little respite from the biting chill around
their feet. But they had come to fly and play and they flew far across the valley. The
North Wester was in evidence so high above the mountain and the Wizard's Thermals
delighted in coaxing the pair to fly east toward the Canyon of the Kings. Remembering
that the road so far east was closed to common transport, they tried to bend their flight
more southerly than easterly and found themselves high above the lower hills on the
southern side of the valley, just east of a gap through which a little road passes into the
next valley. Slowly pushing west to keep accessible roads within their reach they tried
to cross the gap only to be abandoned by the Wizard's Thermals. Maybe they had
quickly bored of their new playmates, maybe the pair had ventured beyond their
territory. But the Tin Man had flown with these Thermals before and knew of a place, a
rising ridge, just beyond the Field of Happy Landings, where the Thermals went to rest
and build up their strength after a long playful session. Heading straight for the ridge
he flew with the wind - as fast as he could but immediately found himself riding the
biggest Sinister Sinker he had encountered that day. Unable to dismount the beast the
Tin Man rode it all the way down to the Field of Happy Landings where it threw him off,
leaving him to the mercy of the mischievous, Hatchling Thermals that inhabit the air
scarcely a hundred feet over the Field. Presently they too tired of the novelty of
throwing the Tin Man around and let him descend gently to the ground. The Scarecrow
had the sense to stay back avoiding the Sinker but nonetheless could not find another
adult Thermal. Soon he too was being tossed around by the Hatchling Thermals who
seemed to enjoy thwarting the Scarecrow's efforts to reach the Field even more than
they had the Tin Man's, keeping him aloft barely 50 ft off the ground for more than ten
minutes. Bye and bye they let him down and the Tin Man and the Scarecrow spoke to
each other for the first time in over an hour. The first words from their lips - after the
hoots of joy at the fulfillment of their adventure: bitter complaints about the icy chill
pervading their feet!
The Long Climb
Now late in the afternoon, all that remained was for the Tin Man and the Scarecrow to
retrieve their conveyance, fill their bellies and return to the West to tell their story.
Leaving their wings hidden away they set off walking up the road back to the helibird's
nesting-place, hoping that some kindly traveler might offer them a ride along the way.
The going was easy this time - paved road - and the distance was about another six
miles but the climb was hard. They had landed almost 2400 ft below their conveyance
and neither of the two travelers that passed them along the road were disposed to offer
them a ride. Even without their heavy packs the six-mile walk took them another two
hours.
The End of an Epic Day
When the Tin Man and the Scarecrow finally reached their conveyance they found that
the snow had melted away over much of the immediate area and cold was no longer the
chief complaint from their feet! They fell exhausted into their seats, opened a flagon of
mead to quench their raging thirsts, and looked out over the valley - still bathed in the
late afternoon sunshine. They could see the Wizard's Tower thrusting out of the trees
miles away to the West, the thinning clouds still high above it. Half an hour later they
had retrieved their wings and as they rode west, out of the Valley they basked in the
glow of satisfaction brought on in part by the feeling that a session of hard physical
exertion always leaves behind when it finally ceases - with no necessity of resumption
until another day; and in part by having achieved a goal that two Oracles and a Guru
had declared impossible less than 24 hours earlier!
The "voice of reason" would be a dim and distant voice to the Tin Man and the
Scarecrow for many years to come!
The End
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USHPA Advanced Paragliding
Instructor & Observer