Elizabeth Speedgliding Southside

Awhile back I decided that it would be a good idea to start speedflying. Of the many ways I’ve been exposed to flight and free-fall – B.A.S.E., skydiving, hang-gliding, paragliding, speedflying, wingsuiting, you name it – I’ve thought that paragliding seemed, well, the most achievable and intriguing for me. And, for the lack of a better word, fun. So, after many months of saving, my idea of paragliding evolved into the decision to buy my own Ozone XT 16 meter Speedglider.

Northside Launch, Elizabeth is about to take off!

(By the way, a speedglider is different than a paraglider. The wing is designed differently, and it has a much smaller glide ratio. As opposed to a paraglider, I will sink out faster, and as the name would imply, be flying at a higher speed, but the idea is somewhat the same.)

Point of the Mountain Southside, Glider Time!

For the New Year’s weekend, I headed to Utah’ s Point of the Mountain, with expectations of more forgiving terrain than here in Boulder and high hopes of steady wind. Not so early on the first of the year, I confronted the South Side gradually working my way up and down the hill.. The soft, gentle wind wasn’t exactly ideal, so I spent the morning skipping down the hillside with 20 or 30 foot gaps in steps. This turns out to be not as much fun as you’d think, and ultimately left me frustrated. As the day progressed, the wind died down, and it ended up being less about flying and more about getting vehicles out of the snow drifts, as one care after another piled into snow drifts.

Arms back, run hard, don’t hesitate, and commit. Those are the rules as I discover flight.

Gliding the Southside of Point of The Mountain

Despite the poor conditions on the first day, I’m back again for more. I plan my course, looking from the top wind sock to the bottom, aiming into the wind. My glider inflates above me, and I run as hard as I can towards the edge of the hill. Instead of tumbling down through weeds and snow, I’m lifted away from the earth and nearly weightless in the air. Sitting back, flying steady and relaxed, before I hit the ground running, bringing my brakes into my side, slowing me to a complete stop.

Acro-Gliding the Southside line up

On just my fourth flight, the winds switch direction and after a quick lunch, I find myself hiking up a seemingly vertical mountain to a 750-1000 foot launch. At exit, I’m quickly popped off the ground and sent soaring, higher than any of us expected! My lessons hadn’t taken me as far as soaring yet, but this gives me a lot of time to get comfortable and fly it out, overlooking Salt Lake City, making several passes at the mountain before I finally lost altitude. Awesome!

The Line up, all of us on the Southside, pretty sweet!!

In three days, I completed 14 flights, which left me ready for more and excited to take on more challenging sites. Needless to say, it’s a great way to start a new year with a new adventure!

Jesse and Matt about to push me off without the Glider, not quite ready!