Paragliding

Miles from Home - 5214.51
Firsts / Highlights - Paragliding, Hot chocolate at Shilthorn rotating restaurant, Swiss chocolate, riding in the engine driver’s compartment of a mountain train
Miles Hiked - 0 miles
Vertical Feet - 0 ft.
Route - No route today
People - Simon – Paraglider pilot.

This post is from July 2, 2009.



Today was to be my last day in Interlaken, so if I wanted to experience one of the adventure sports that people do here, this was my last chance. Rather than leave the possibility of being shutout by lightning again, I decided to get going first thing. Okay, “my” first thing. 10:30.



Of all the sports I wrote about last time, I decided to go paragliding. I chose it because I thought it would be a safe thrill with great views of the lakes and would be a variation on flying glider planes like I did a few years ago. I think I made a good choice. Like flying a glider, paragliding is “pure flying”. There are no motors or instruments involved, and you ride the thermals just like a bird. There is no parachute opening to worry about because it is already open when you take off. There is a reserve chute for emergencies, but use is extremely rare.

George, the owner of Hotel Derby, made arrangements for the tour company to pick me up and take me to the landing area where I met my pilot Simon. Simon was a good-natured guy from Bern. His “real” job was as a PC tech, but he had a pretty flexible schedule that allowed him to drive to Interlaken a few days a week and take people flying on his tandem paraglider. He told me that his company has 90 commercial paraglider pilots, and 30 of them make their full-time living giving rides. That doesn’t even include people who fly non-commercially and all of the other outfitter companies. As you might guess, there are gliders in the skies over Interlaken most of the time.

I just realized that I never even signed a release form. Can you imagine? Simon just rounded up a driver and we loaded his 55-pound backpack into the car and we were ready to head up the mountain for our launch. A good indication that we were launching for a picturesque Swiss hillside is that Ricola (the candy company) was up there filming a commercial.

Simon’s tandem rig was big enough that you really would not want to hike very far, but there are lighter solo kits that weigh as little as 10 pounds. Small rigs create some interesting possibilities. You could hike wherever you want to go, and then fly home rather than do the painful downhill hike. Sounds like a fun day.

One of the things that made paragliding like nothing else I have done is the take-off. You don’t jump off of anything. You just run down a hill until the hill drops away from your feet. Simon’s strongest advice was, “don’t stop running, even when you think you have taken off, keep running”. That was good advice, because the first thing you think when your feet start feeling light is that you must be in the air. You really need to keep driving forward, however, to achieve flight.



Once truly off the ground, Simon told me to sit down in the harness. That was the only uncomfortable moment of the flight. I couldn’t get the harness to convert from the vertical running position to the horizontal sitting position. I could have safely taken the entire flight hanging vertically from the harness, but it would not have been very comfortable and it gave me the sensation that I was hanging on rather than being supported by the harness. It was a welcome feeling when I finally got situated.



Since I had previously flown gliders, Simon almost immediately turned over the controls to me. It was more fun for me and it allowed him to take more photographs. I took all of the scenery shots, but he was able to get shots of the two of us using a camera mounted on the end of a telescoping pole with a remote shutter release. This allowed him to get the camera far enough away from us that he could take really good pictures from all different angles. The photographs were a way for the pilots to have a little side-business apart from the tour operator. I was happy to help out Simon and ended up with some pictures that I could not have taken myself.

For the landing, I gave the controls back to Simon. We landed softly in a field right back where we started. A few feet above the ground, he stalled the chute and we set down gently with only a few running strides necessary. It was much softer than my previous parachute landings.



With my adventure sport objective satisfied, I still had enough of the day remaining for a trip into the mountains. Doug Allen had suggested that I check out the aerial tramway system leading up to Shilthorn. The destination was a revolving mountaintop restaurant that was made famous in one of the early James Bond movies. It is perched on top of a rocky peak with top-of-the-world views. It is impressive that it was possible to build a tram to reach such a rugged spot, much less construct a revolving restaurant. The tram gives access to a location that most people would never see in their lifetimes without.



The route to Shilthorn actually required 2 trains and 3 trams (Train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, Tram to Grutschalp, train to Murren, 2 trams to Shilthorn). There was some minor hiking between some of the stations, but this was not a bad day on the feet. The second train was almost like a hobbyist train set all grown up. I was able to sit in the front compartment with the engine driver. It was interesting to see that perspective on train travel after so many hours of looking only sideways.

I am starting to miss my bike, but all in all, this was a pretty great day.



Tomorrow is a long travel day to get down to Monaco for the start of the Tour de France.