Paragliding

I’ve always been a bit of a daredevil.  When I was younger this took the form of trying to fly by jumping off our tree house into the sandbox.  In later years, this has encompassed cliff diving into the Susquehanna near Bucknell, sky diving and bungy jumping in Australia, and hang gliding and shot over jetting in New Zealand.  While we were in Interlaken, Kelly, Susanna, and I resolved to seize the day and go paragliding.

Gliders in action

After spending the morning cannyoning with Luki, we decided to spend the afternoon with him flying.  The three of us suited up in our flying gear, got in the van, and headed up the mountain with our flying partners.  Our guides laid out the parachutes, strapped us to them, and we were ready.  In paragliding, you run but a few paces down the hill until the wind picks up the chute and you are lifted up.

Luki setting up our chute

Luki was a fantastic partner.  We glided amongst the clouds, dipped behind the mountains, skirted shockingly close to trees, flitted amongst the leaves, and only came close to colliding with a few birds.  When we were solidly over the center of Interlaken, Luki amped up the paragliding experience by maneuvering our glider like a roller coaster with flips and turns.  Sadly before I knew it the flight was over and we were skimming across the grass.

Me in my flying chute post flight