OK So I'm lost here. Todd are you out there on vacation or did you move?
Anyway, Very cool video and I'm glad you did the walk up. Now put on a 40lb pack and come through the mountains with us for 15 days. Although we have to walk back down too I'm glad you had a blast. And I'm glad you shared it with us.

Todd this is awesome..... thanks for sharing..... wow....

I found this doing some searches..... Paragliding Montana

I think I will have to look up some family along I90 from Billings to Bozeman and get signed up for a one day lesson and more if I can handle it.....

It maybe time to move back to where my roots are from.....

B-roc,............Thats sick! I want to do it!

Fun vid. Thanks for sharing!

Freaking incredible, Todd!
Looked like an amazing view - way to catch it all in GoPro style.

I bet you're still smilin'

Quote:

Originally posted by B-Roc Cool. Soon you'll be just like this guy...

Sadly Mathias Rothen perished doing what he loved the most... Paragliding. What an accomplished pilot and will be missed by the sport.


Thank everyone for the kind compliments! Waiting patiently for a break in the weather to get up there and do some real filming.

Great movie Todd! Good score on the ride!

There's as big if not bigger scene here for powered-paragliding and a really good mountain an hours drive away ... great, just what I need - another hobby though surely I won't need more than ONE paraglider ...???

Thanks Kevin, that's just what I was thinking... another hobby


Just look at this site :evil:

http://www.paragliders.com/cgi/commerce.cgi?display=home


This goes into a bit more on what type of pilot Mathias was.

Quote:

What Is Paragliding? Paragliding is a fun, safe way to experience flight in its simplest form. You simply lay out a wing on a hillside or mountain, inflate it over your head like a kite, then walk to the edge of the hill and step off into the sky! Once in the air, a pilot is able to maintain and even gain altitude using lifting air currents and thermals. The entire paragliding set up weighs less than forty pounds and easily fits into a backpack.

Geez, sounds easy!! I'll bet it aint that simple. Todd, if you get into this, I'd like to hear all about it

Last October I was down the beach with the Manta 8m Demo and a couple of guys set up their paragliders and soared the main dune - up and down for several km's. They weren't very high and with a softish dune underneath them, it did look quite safe.

One day......

I agree John... one day. Start up cost is high so it will be a while to round up some gear of my own. If I do take to the sky I'm sure it will be solo, I wouldn't want to take out someone’s life due to my lack of judgment or mishap.

Looked like a blast todd!

I still havent been able to hook up with the gliding intructor here.... It sounds like $3.5-4k will get you up and running with new gear thatll last you a long time.... I priced out a mid level ozone wing and harness... But yeah.... When I get going, itll just be me, no one attatched to me... Unless she's cute

why buy a new wing ? just buy a used, safe beginner wing (DHV1 / EN-A) in good condition. you can even get complete equipment (wing, harness, helmet, rescue chute) for less than 1600 dollar on ebay and similiar sites. just make sure the wing is regularly checked, look at the check protocol - if it says at least "good condition" then its safe to buy and fly.
btw - i can just repeat myself: paragliding is incredibly fantastic! might look boring from the distance, but heck if you are up there in the sky - adrenaline rush guaranteed! "dont fly a kite.. fly yourself" (of course kiting is also fun, if it blows enough. but paragliding in a soft summer breeze with thermals that lift you up above to the birds - priceless!)

Great information Herc thank you!

an even cheaper and more direct step into paragliding is groundhandling !
three easy steps:
* buy a used paraglider in your weight range with a build date at least 1998 (you can get such gliders for 100-200 dollar)
* buy a cheap old harness - 50 dollar and up (but preferably with foam airbag protector)
* buy a groundhandling dvd - for example: http://www.learnparagliding.com/learn_to_fly/paragliding_gro...
* practice glider control on a flat meadow - its very very similiar to kiting ! only important thing is to watch the wind - should not be above 12 knots in the gusts. so 5-12 knots is perfect. best would be smooth coastal winds

if you master groundhandling - and i am sure you will because it is so similiar to kiting - you are almost 95% ready to fly. canopy ground control and launching is the key component for a successful paragliding start. if you did groundhandling before, you will be the best student in the paragliding school and progress lightningly fast. because then the wing is already a part of your body scheme.

you can even do groundhandling with your kite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taiW7TC5ZJo

but its nod the perfect training, because kites dont have separate risers and the smaller kites are much more "wriggly". the big paraglider wings are slower and damped and more well-behaved. and you can make small but floaty jumps with them :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9xt5pbfW78&hd=1 (btw, in the video you can see my advance alpha 3 paraglider that i got for 100 dollar - perfect beginner groundhandling wing)

Todd's next gopro mount......

Wingmancam mount

heh heh heh.......

PS: Herc - cheers for that link. I've just ordered a copy of that for myself... I like the idea of a s/h paraglider for a few hundred bucks too - just for groundhandling, I'm not silly enough to try and teach myself to fly. Actually, I'm pretty sure you need a license, membership to HGFA, and 20 hours or so of supervised flight before you're allowed to fly solo here...or something to that effect. Really must book myself in for a course next autumn....