I finished up my recent trip to Chamonix with some sunny rock climbing near Annecy. Two of my climbing partners, Alex and Dylan, took the easy way down from the top–in paragliders! It looked like far more fun than the hour hike I had to make back to the car.
Flying a floppy wing is more involved than I thought it would be. We saw evidence of the hazards of a non-rigid wing as we were climbing. I watched one wing collapse and we heard several others have the same problem. Evidently strong thermals and gusty wind conditions can cause the whole or part of the wing to fail. Generally, the wing will recover and continue to fly.
Dylan’s a highly experienced mountain climbing guide. In 2010, he added paragliding to his bag of tricks. Before I left Chamonix, we sat down to discuss the benefits of being a paraglider pilot.
A post-climb/post-flight beer
In this short conversation Dylan explains:
- The licensing requirements for flying paragliders
- The real reason paragliding is so popular in Chamonix
- The regulations regarding flying paragliders in controlled airspace
- The part of the cross-country paragliding adventure that begins once you get back on the ground
- Career opportunities as a paragliding instructor
- The lightweight revolution
We’ll explore paragliding more with Dylan and other folks in the future, as well as job opportunities for paragliding instructors. For now, I hope this short intro to the topic intrigues you as much as it did me!
Audio
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