Glide 2 : This Time, It’s Parasail

After the tantalising taster of our one day para-gliding course in N Yorkshire ( see recent entry ) , time to go for something more substantial – a tandem  flight in the Stubai valley. Whoooof !

Max, who was generous enough to have given me this experience for my birthday,  accompanied me up the lift to the launch site and documented take-off.  Lianne wisely stayed at ground level, where more coffee and comfy chairs were available.

Cheerful local chap called Steffi was my pilot. Put me at ease by telling me he had seen YouTube footage of pilots over the White Horse at Sutton Bank. More importantly, he had done this for 15 years and was still intact.

Take off spot was on a pretty steep hill side at 1790m, ie about 800m above the valley floor. Unlike my recent attempts back home, it only took a couple of steps and we were airborne – cue JC whooping and hollering and generally showing a complete lack of cool.

He found enough thermals to keep us circling around for a good 30 minutes of smooth and glorious flight. 

Fab views all along the Stubai valley, right up to the glacier at far SW end (after which, you’d be in Italy). And we even spotted a pair of eagles in flight, a real bonus.

Absolutely stonking feeling of freedom and graceful movement – the harness is very supportive and there was no sense of being about to fall, such as you get leaning over a bridge. Did feel a bit of motion sickness after a while, and got cold hands trying to operate my phone camera, but otherwise no issues.

Landing was smooth, and I managed to avoid collapsing in an untidy heap as we touched down . ( Filming by Max again – he had legged it down in the cable car in time to catch both ends if the flight, bless him )

Buzzing !