Well, here I am in my Cameron A-180 G-BVHJ, flying a balloon ride over Sheffield.
I bought this balloon in late 1998, when I was operating as Peak Balloons and selling balloon flights in the Sheffield area. The basket and burners were in excellent shape, but the envelope had done well over 400 hours by the time I got my hands on it. Even after some new fabric and a bit of tweaking it's flying characteristics were still rather challenging. At the end of the 1999 season I stopped doing the passenger rides, and sold the balloon to a chap in Holland, who put a new Lindstrand 240 envelope on it. If you call the number on the basket banner, you'll now reach Dragon Balloons in Nottingham. Ian and Christine Hooker gallantly took on the remnants of Peak Balloons after I had elected to spend more time with my sofa.
This is my Cameron N-105, which I bought back in 1996. It's an excellent piece of equipment, and for three seaons worked as my only ride balloon. This one can normally fly with a pilot and up to four passengers, with fuel for about one and three quarter hours on board. Go off with fewer people and lots more fuel, and it's an ideal size for the Alps.
My first Alpine flight, over the French Alps near Briancon. High over the mountains we caught a 50 knot wind which took us South East, out of the Alps and into a small ski resort called St Jean, the Alpine resort equivalent of Clevedon. Only three of the eight balloons which flew that day went for a long, high flight - the rest stayed down in the relative comfort of the valley.
One of the most insidious effect of hypoxia, which you won't read about in the text books, is that you lose you inhibitions and become completely shameless about having your photo taken whilst wearing unpleasant-looking hats. We're up at about 17,500 feet at this point and, oops, we've left the oxygen in the Land Rover. All went fairly well until one of the pilot lights went out, as a result of using a tank spiked with Nitrogen (to boost the fuel pressure). A quick fumbling change to another (unspiked) tank restored normal service.
Strapped to the basket upright are the GPS, instruments and radio.
When you are flying in the Alps you need to take lots of fuel with you - this flight in 1999 lasted almost four hours, with the last ninety minutes spent working our way towards a landing spot. We had about 360 litres of fuel on board on takeoff, and landed with enough left to keep going for another hour at least. On the front of the basket you can see the (green) envelope bag, and the rucksac containing our survival gear (sleeping bag & tasty snacks).
To find out more about ballooning try the British Balloon and Airship Club (the BBAC). If you are interested in buying a ride from a commercial operator, take a look at The British Association Of Balloon Operators (BABO). There's lots of used balloon equipment for sale in the Zebedee List.