Just about three years ago, I was driving from Franz Josef on New Zealand’s West Coast to Queenstown in a rusty, old, 1986 Toyota campervan. As I arrived in Queenstown, I viewed the emerald blue waters of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains for the first time. It’s a stunning sight, and one that drops the jaws of thousands of visitors to the Adventure Capital of the World each year.
Rounding the corner and pulling into Queenstown’s small, yet oh-so-busy town centre, I laid eyes on the tree-covered Bob’s Peak backed by the towering Ben Lomond. As is common on most sunny and calm days of the year in Queenstown, the skyline was dotted with no less than a dozen paragliders making their way slowly back to earth.
I’d like to say that I knew then that one day I’d be one of those paragliders, but that’s a lie.
No, I never expected I’d stick around Queenstown. Heck, I never expected I’d stick around New Zealand for now going on three years. Yet living in this small mountain town has resulted in me learning loads of things about myself. As someone who grew up in small town Iowa, hundreds of miles away from anything taller than a big hill, most surprising perhaps is my love of the mountains.
Somewhere in between landing a job with a web start-up and developing an addition to riding my bike and running in the mountains, I realized I wanted to learn how to fly. I flew tandem with Coronet Peak Tandems this past winter, and that was that decided –
I wanted to experience the freedom of flight.
I’ve spent the last three months dreaming of flying.
Watching videos, reading forums, talking to pilots and daydreaming from my desk watching paragliders flying above Queenstown. And finally, last weekend, I began the journey towards becoming a licensed paragliding pilot.
Learning to paraglide is a quick process. Or, to clarify, learning to paraglide under close supervision is a relatively quick process. Becoming an experienced and competent pilot who can fly in a variety of conditions will take years. The lessons I’m taking will result in me being able to fly solo without supervision, but it’s my understanding that as a paraglider I’ll be learning each time I step off a mountain and begin a flight.
For anyone unfamiliar with the sport, it’s worth noting what paragliding isn’t. It’s not sky-diving. It’s not base jumping. It doesn’t involve leaping off of cliffs. Paragliding is a form of free flight whereby the pilot is suspended below an inflated wing – its origins are rooted as far back as the 1960s, but paragliding in its current form started in France in the 1970s.
I began last weekend with an Introductory Day.
We spent a day learning the mechanics of the paraglider – what lines were what, what controls did what, how to understand the wind and read the weather conditions. Most importantly, we learned the basics that would hopefully remain engrained in our heads for years to come so we’d be safe, competant pilots.
After some time ‘kiting’ the wing, we were to have moved onto flying the “Beginner Hill.” A wee hill of only 50 metres – supposedly. Standing at the top looking out over the field below, I was convinced I was on the summit of Everest. Much to my dismay (er, relief), the wind had picked up and we were ‘grounded.’ The thrill of running down a hill and flying would have to wait.
As it turns out, I couldn’t handle the wait.
After 48 hours of waiting for the weekend, I took a half day at work and opted for a bright and early 7am start mid-week. A quick refresher reminded me of how everything worked and that was that – I was off to the beginner hill.
Taking off is a relatively straight forward process. After setting up your wing so you’re facing into the wind, you run down a moderate sloped hill with your hands pressed forward. As you begin running, the wing inflates and rises above your head. As you continue to run and use your controls (your breaks) to make sure the wing stays above your head, you find that you’re no longer running. Your legs are moving as though you should be, but you’re no longer on the ground. You’re flying. And it’s a beautiful feeling.
This video shows my first experience taking off on the beginner hill – if you can’t tell from the shrieks, I’m pretty bloody stoked.
High Flights from Coronet Peak
With two more 7 second flights off the 50 metre beginner hill out of the way, we made our way to Coronet Peak. From the green run, to the black. From the tricycle, to the unicycle. You’ll remember me mentioning above how learning to paraglide is a quick process. Coronet Peak sits about 800 metres above the Wakatipu Basin valley floor. In the course of an hour, I’d graduated from a 50 metre hill to an 800 metre hill – from a 7 second flight, to a 7 minute flight. See what I’m saying?
Most surprisingly perhaps, I wasn’t nervous. It’s hard to explain how you can feel so confident with an inflated paraglider above you – yet, after only a day and a half of training, I was ready for my first high flight.
It was, quite simply – incredible.
This series of photos shows my launch and subsequent first long and high flight. From here, I flew about 4 kms to the Flight Park. The entire flight I’m under supervision and radio support from the paragliding school’s instructors.
Waiting…
Run … !
Hands forward…
And… I’m flying.
One flight down, 39 to go until I’m signed off to fly solo. I’ll keep you updated on my journey towards becoming a paraglider, so check back soon.
I’m learning to fly with the Infinity Paragliding School in Queenstown. Have you ever been paragliding? Let us know where in the comments section below.
Backpacking Matt 
This is very much something I’d like to achieve in the next few years–just need to live in the right place where I can fully take advantage of being able to fly solo! Congratulations on seeing this through 🙂
@Christine Thanks! I figured if I was ever going to learn to fly, now is the time to do it. When I get signed off, over my lunch hour I can go up the Skyline Gondola from town, fly and head back to work. You’d have to head upstate to find any hills t fly off I guess?!
That’s SO cool!
I have a terrible fear of heights, but someone once told me that you only get that when you’re still in contact with a ground. For example, on a bridge, a tower, a high building, but not on an aerplane…
@Sofie I wouldn’t say I have a huge fear of heights, but I’m certainly uncomfortable while climbing or hiking in really exposed places. I’m able to conquer the fear, but it’s definitely a challenge every time. I didn’t really feel that same fear while paragliding. On my first flight, I did at one point look down and think – wow, it’s a looong way to the ground. Yet overall I felt pretty confident underneath the wing.
VERY cool man. We saw the guys paragliding while we were there and I too was inspired… The wifey, not so much. Maybe when we return one day I’ll be able to change her mind.
Dan
@Dan Definitely worth a try. You can do a two day course for a pretty good price that gets you doing your own solo flights!
You’re quite brave! This looks like fun, but I know it would scare me to death. Quite the place to do it, if you’re gonna do it!
@Ellen It’s a pretty epic place to learn!
So cool. I have always wanted to do this. Had to be an amazing 7 minutes.
The first picture with the whole view sums it up: it looks AMAZING 🙂
I’m planning to travel to New Zealand next year, and Queenstown is definitely in my list! I wonder how much you paid for this beginner’s flight? 🙂
@FrugalWanderer The beginners day is $250, which in terms of New Zealand adventure activities, is pretty good value for a full day (compared to $200+ for a bungy jump which only lasts seconds). Even better value in my opinion is to spend a couple days with the school and get trained up to your PG1. This would include the beginners day + 6 high flights solo from Coronet Peak – all for $650. Given you’d easily spend over $500 on a Skydive + DVD/photos, it’s incredibly good value. I’ll be recommending this to anyone looking for QT adventure activity ideas for sure.
Matt, fantastic post! I was in Queenstown about ten years ago but I didn’t do this. Did an intro flight in Japan later, but … this scenery is unreal. The dark silhouette of your flying figure on the green field was a nice touch. Plan that?
@David Thanks mate! No, not planned! 🙂
How cool! I can only imagine the rush of doing something like this solo. Especially in a place as gorgeous as Queenstown!
@Amanda We’ll sign you up the next time you’re in town!
I have a feeling this may be the next gig for me to indulge my addiction to “adrenalin from fear of heights in stunning locations”. Admittedly, it’d be a tandem. Kudos that you’re learning to fly, very brave! And you’re absolutely right, that hill looks really, really high. Are you sure that was the beginners hill??
@Christina It certainly didn’t feel like the beginner hill from the top! I’d totally recommend a tandem flight – pretty incredible experience.
That looks like a lot of fun. My brother learnt how to paraglide in Lima, Peru. He told me it was an incredible experience. I’ve yet to get around to it, but one day in the not too distant future 🙂
Nice one dude, this is awesome! I went hang gliding once in New Zealand and absolutely loved it – you really feel incredible when you’re up in the air. Learning to para glide looks FUN! Great vid!
@Tom Cheers mate! I have not hang glided but would love to give that a go too.
I’m not sure which is better, the paragliding or being in New Zealand. I’ve always wanted to visit there, but the paragliding looks amazing for sure. Safe travels!
Awesom article I have alwys wanted to do that. Both paraglidingand visit New Zealand are on the old buket list. Check out this video of my travels in Cenral America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KhfH_FGKXY&list=PLiV0gc6nijx3FTTX3A0PMNyNnRc041q0S
WoW I think I would literally travel half way around the world to NZ to have an experience like this. Any idea of somewheres in Europe thats as beautiful and I can have a go at this?
Learning to fly has always been on my list of things to do. I can’t imagine a much better place to learn than New Zealand. I am envious.
Really super cool Matt! I’m so psyched for you. That video looked so cool!
It looks like the most ideal setting for learning how to glide, great photos!
Wow, New Zealand looks amazing especially from your height. I do not feel I could hand glide though. My brother in law is an avid hang glider that would love the opportunity you have had. I love how you set your goals and are so excited to achieve them. Good luck with all your endeavors!
Very cool mate
Way, way cool. Nothing can beat the thrill of flying. If you ever make it to Turkey, I’d recommend heading down to Oludeniz, a world famous beach known for its wonderful paragliding vantage point. I paraglided for the very first time here and absolutely loved it.
This’s amazing. I want to try now!!! Thanks for sharing
Congratulations on following your dreams! I keep trying out these scary sports and wondering how anyone ever has the courage to learn how to do them solo! Do you think you’ll get into skydiving on your own too? It’s only a matter of time living in QT!
Skydiving doesn’t really appeal to me. What’s so special about paragliding is you can walk up using your own two feet, and then fly back down the mountain – or, if the thermals are right, you can fly up and over the mountain – what a great way to explore NZ!
It is a cool guide to those who wanted to try paragliding. I am just wondering how you’ve manage your landing on your first try.
Throughout all of your flights in school you’re on radio and an instructor always has line of sight on you; landing is as easy as following their directions!
Amazing adventure Matt 🙂 A really cool guide 🙂
Thanks Tim!