A High-Flying Metaphor

Somewhere in the Egyptian desert west of Luxor, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones bumped to a landing in their elegant Breitling Orbiter 3--19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes and 29,055 miles after lifting off from Chateau-d’Oex in the Swiss Alps. Another great challenge overcome: the first circumnavigation of the globe in a hot air balloon.

Then they sat in the Sahara for seven hours awaiting pickup. No problem, Jones said. It seemed right--the solitude of the desert, time for reflection, putting things in perspective.

This feat could not have been done without millions of dollars of investment in high-technology equipment and satellite navigation gear, a far cry from the British attempts on Mt. Everest in tweed jackets in the 1920s.

That is not to minimize the degree of adventure involved. It was cold in their tiny capsule--their water froze at night--and their fuel was nearly gone. As with any true adventure, nature was the wild card. All the technology at their disposal was nothing if the winds were not in their favor. As it happened, the winds were just favorable enough.

Was this the last great earthly challenge? Surely not, with so much of the oceans’ geography unexplored, so much about the polar regions not understood. Today’s explorations, as were yesterday’s, are often wealthy men’s indulgences. But they are also adventures that knit the globe in a common excitement.

As Piccard said, the trip was not just about setting a balloon record. Rather, “it was a fabulous metaphor of life. To try is the only way to survive.”