Paragliding basic skills
Everything starts from basics
I start paragliding in the Alps. The start of the project has already been postponed twice, but at some point it will be realized when all the stars in Otava are aligned. Everything starts with the basics and it takes at least 2-3 years to develop basic skills before you can start applying different skills together.
Fortunately, Paragliding is affordable after your own shadow, uphill training a kilometer or two uphill, and a flight back to the village at the bottom of the valley. However, paragliding is dangerous, so the first year must be taken slowly so that I can get to know the mountain winds and air currents.
Paragliding to Alpine villages
After the basic courses, you have to gain experience with different mountain wind conditions, clouds, lifts, eddies and different kinds of parachutes, and one of the most difficult things is taking off from a mountain ridge in bad weather.
After that, there is a winter course in the program, the biggest challenge of which is how to keep your fingers warm and control the parachute strings with bucket-sized mittens. You can practice these skills in the Alps in winter.
Then, when the basic and advanced skills are gathered, the height increase begins, first from 2500 meters to 4000 meters and from Mont Blanc to Chamonix at nightfall. You have to remember to take a headlamp, GPS and radio with you when the guy shows a light on the grass field for orientation.
Around the same time, I start to combine rock climbing and paragliding down to the Alpine villages and helmet camera and drone videography with all the other skills I have learned. I prefer to leave Speed Gliding and skis to others, there are better friends for that on Red Bull’s website. With skis, I prefer alpine ones.
Combination of different kind of basic skills
My goal is to combine paragliding, rock climbing, Jeep driving and mountain videography in some way and on a schedule. We’ll see what comes. I myself don’t know yet 🙂 This would be easier and faster in a team, but I don’t know Finns who run and climb up these mountains with their shadows.