Learning to Fly

"Theres no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit"
-"Leaning to Fly" Pink Floyd
Humans have seemingly always had the dream to fly. The amazing invention of the airplane has made this possible for the masses. However, there are still those who want to soar quietly through the air and feel the air around them. Here in Switzerland, the mountain environment is well suited for paragliding and we see people doing it every time we are in the mountains. Ever since watching someone pull up their wing (that's what they call the large parachute part) and float off of the side of a mountain back in May, I have been wanting to give it a try.
Last week Susan's dad and his wife were visiting and we spent several days with them in the Bernese Oberland, in and around the Lauterbrunnen Valley. It is a spectacular Yosemite-like glacially-carved valley with steep walls and big waterfalls and is a popular spot for paragliding and BASE jumping. We saw many people with BASE jumping and paragliding packs on their backs on their way to fly from the valley walls. One morning S went for a run to check out one of the BASE jumping sites that was near where we were staying. She met a Finnish guy who was on his way to jump and tagged along to watch. BASE jumping involves freefall jumping off of a cliff or fixed object and pulling a small parachute before you hit the ground. Included is a BASE video shot in the valley so you have a bit of an idea what it looks like. (As a side note, the North Face of the Eiger, in the next valley over is also a popular BASE jumping location. Just this summer Dean Potter free soloed (climbed without a rope) a difficult route (5.12+) on the North Face with nothing but a base jumping pack. Presumably, if he fell he would have the composure to pull the cord and float back to the valley below. See news here).
When she returned for breakfast, S was still full of adrenaline from watching the jump and, although she acknowledged that BASE jumping was too scary for her, she was fired up to try paragliding. I didn't realize quite how serious she was until we ended up at the local guide shop later that morning and by that afternoon we had made plans to go the following day. The next morning we took a train to Grindelwald, in the shadow of the famous North Face of the Eiger, to meet our guides. The weather was cool but sunny with good thermals for flying. I wasn't really nervous about the mechanics of the flying in terms of safety. The way the Swiss are about regulations and licensing, I suspect it it one of the safest places to try it (I found out during the flight that my guide had been flying for 23 years). The one nagging concern I had was that my predisposition for motion sickness might make the flight less enjoyable. We took a cable car up to one of the hills above Grindelwald and walked downhill about 2 minutes to the launch site. Our guides spread out the wings on the hillside and we put on our harnesses and helmets. We flew harnessed to the wing and to our guide who sat straddled behind us. Within 5 minutes we were standing facing downhill and my guide said "OK, start running and don't stop until we are in the air". With the strong thermals that day it took about 2 steps until our wing pulled up into the air and then another 2 steps until my feet could no longer touch the ground. We immediately began circling and climbing in the strong thermals so that within 2 minutes when S and her guide launched we were already several hundred meters above them. This is S shortly after launching with the town of Grindelwald below and the Eiger on the right side of the picture. We floated above the valley for about 20 minutes. We were cruising at somewhere around 40km/hr as we gradually circled and drifted back towards town. It was amazing to just be floating above everything, to feel the wind rush past and to see the curious birds flying by, wondering what we were doing. I can't say that I was completely relaxed. At one point my pilot asked if I wanted to steer. He gave me the handles and told me to pull down on the right one to initiate a turn. I pulled it gently down about one inch not wanting to move too suddenly. "More," he said. I pulled another inch, we were barely turning. "Keep going," he said, "8 or 10 cm." I slowly pulled more and the turn was now more noticeable, but by no means extreme. That was enough for me. No sudden movements please. As we approached our landing site, my guide said "Now we will drop down" and started a sharp turn to drop us more quickly in altitude. The sharp turn thrusts you up more horizontal than vertical and the additional G-forces that the centrifugal motion create made my stomach drop. I immediately started to feel sick. "Everything OK, " he said. "I get motion sickness easily," I said. After that we descended more gently. Fortunately, it was only another minute or 2 before we landed. It was a great experience and I am glad I did it. The sick feeling passed within an hour or so. The one thing about it that felt odd about it was being guided. How can you feel free like you are flying free when you have a a guy strapped to your back? As I saw S come in and land after me, I laughed because she looked as goofy as I felt, strapped in with her guide straddled behind her. It is great that we had the opportunity to fly without having to go through the lengthy training involved to fly on our own, but I don't think this was intended to be a tandem sport. The other strange thing for me was to be on the other side of the client/guide relationship. Having spent much more time as the leader or guide, I also felt goofy just standing there and having everything done for me.