My birthday is typically either completely windless and muggy or stormy, both of which tend to hamper my adventure attempts. This year there was a little bit of both. The day before and my birthday were both rainy, yucky days. Not good flying weather. The plan had been to start ground school the day before with the first flight on the actual day. The weather threw off the schedule a bit, but it was still all accomplished eventually.
Training started the day before my birthday with "Ground School". The first day ended up just watching videos learning about the physics of flight in the instructors basement. Birthday was a total washout. Then the 31st was almost completely calm and relatively yucky by Boulder standards, but worth a try. The task for the day was for each student to run successfully across a field wearing a harness and helmet tied to a paraglider over head.
That may sound easy, but paragliders are strong, ornery devices loaded with strings that are not easily tamed by small, people like myself who have only rough motor skills. The other two students were midsized men who seem to have no problem. But I spent several hours taking just a few steps and watching the glider fall to one side. I never really did figure out on the two good attempts what I had done differently to make it actually work, but I had little confidence that trying this game while running off the side of a mountain would make me more comfortable. The instructor assured me that he would bring along a tandem harness in case anyone just couldn't fly. I think he just said that to make me feel better.Saturday ended up being flight day number one. A good change in schedule so Alex and Wee could watch. Each student donned a giant backpack containing a paraglider, helmet, and radio and we hiked about 30 minutes up the hill. According to Google Maps it is a rise of 400-600 feet due West from North Boulder Park .
View Larger Map I got to the top realizing that I had the digital camera and Alex refused to come get it, so all my first flight pics are from his iPhone. The first task for today was to get a good run in and abort. Ugh. I had spent all afternoon the day before trying to get a good run and my arms, legs, and confidence were bruised and aching from the memories. Fellow student, Peder, did his first run perfectly. OK. I can do that. Nope. Collapse to the side. Then Luke tried and he had a collapse too. Well, my ego was happy to have some company in its misery, but I still was no closer to going down. Peder and Luke both had successful flights before I was able to even get one good practice run in. But eventually I was cleared for takeoff. Apparently my skill is in the air. As soon as I left the ground I got much more lift than the other two had and I was soaring.
Bumping around and moving at about 20 mph I didn't trust this flimsy fabric that had collapsed on me so many times on the ground, but it held its own to land me within just a few feet of my cheering sweetie and Wee One. Yay! So much fun! 
I did one more flight that day with a little less lift and a blurry video. Then the next day I only had like 3 failed ground attempts before each of my two flights, which seemed like a bit of an improvement. Overall my flights were uneventful and fun. My fellow students each had slightly more adventure. On the first day Peder had one attempt where he never really got off the ground and had to hike a few hundred feet through the cactus and rocks to get back to the launch pad. Luke had one flight where he sat back too soon and whacked his butt into the ground (but still flew). Then right before my last flight Peder flew and the guide's radio wasn't working so he was up there and landed safely completely on his own. Meanwhile I had great lift again on my last flight to end the day right.
Of all my adventure attempts, this one is seeming the most appealing to try again. It's a great combination of hiking and floating. It's exciting, but not quite as death defying as sky diving (I think). I'm sure I can get over my uncoordination on the ground with a little practice. Apparently there are great places to paraglide all over the world and the equipment is small enough to fit into a luggage checkable backpack. An interesting idea, but I'm not totally hooked yet.
More pictures and some seriously blurry video can be found here:
A better view can be found from another student at the same location with the same guide here:
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