Through the Wine Glass: Bozeman-based hot air balloonist makes speedy flight over Livingston

Colin Graham has known he would fly since he was barely old enough to walk.

At the age of 3, a tenderfooted Graham sat wide-eyed while his father — also a balloonist — thumbed through the pages of his hot air balloon magazines collection.

“We’d look at these magazines, just a typical little 3-year-old boy,” Graham said in a phone interview. “We’ve got three boys of our own now, you know, and they just love the colors.”

A little more than a decade later, Graham was airborn in Georgia, earning his balloon pilot license at the age of 14 before he could legally drive. He also is a licensed airplane pilot.

In 2001, Graham started his own hot air balloon business, Endeavor Ballooning, in Gallatin County where a team of pilots is available to take civillians up for a bird’s eye view over the Gallatin Valley.

Unbeknownst to the majority of residents prior to his arrival, Graham’s recent flight over Livingston started early Friday morning. The Enterprise was fortunate enough to recieve a call from an associate of Graham’s in the minutes leading up to his return through the Wine Glass.

A certified aeronaut for 26 years, Graham’s experience served him well last week during his first flight through Paradise Valley in 14 years.

“It took us a little bit to get to the area where the air started to funnel us through the Wine Glass,” he told the Enterprise.

That’s where you pick up speed, he said.

Increased pressure caused by the squeezing of the surrounding lands boost airflow speed, hastening the flight.

“Probably got up to 30 miles an hour there,” Graham said.

Onlookers only had a brief few minutes to take note of the balloon before Graham had soared past Livingston and out of sight.