In the past decade or two paragliding changed and became more comfortable, especially in the European Alps. Pilots no longer hike in order to get up to be able to fly. They use cable cars or other means of transport to reach the top and after a short hike they are standing on the starting zone. On the other hand, is there a better feeling than conquering a mountain on your own by foot?

As I used to love hiking uphill, but downhill was a pain – for my knees especially, it was always my dream to fly down after reaching the top. Thanks to paragliding, this dream is now a reality. Fortunately the modern paragliding gear is pretty lightweight and hiking can be fairly comfortable. Yes, the gear still adds about 7-14kg of weight in most cases, but with the lightest kits we can be around 4kg or less! It all depends on the compromise – gear safety vs. its weight.

Thanks to my friend, great person and a fellow Couchsurfer, Dario, I managed to stay in the area of Bellinzona in Switzerland. He is located in Claro, near a nice paragliding spot called Parüsciana. This place is especially popular for afternoon and evening soaring sessions. Because the weather conditions were not especially favorable for flying, I tried to connect flying with hiking to fill the days with more positive body activity. From Claro to the top of the mountain it is about 5,5 Km with 950 vertical meters, via the red hiking trial. It is possible to reach the starting zone on the top within two hours if we keep the tempo and don’t make it a sightseeing tour. I flew my lightweight glider from Airwave, Alpine S, weighing only 3,2 Kg. Even though it is not the lightest one out there, it is a nice one to fly and a very stable one thanks to the “fat” profile. Nevertheless my bag did still weigh over 15kg with all the other stuff inside like paragliding equipment, clothes, food and water.

I managed to get up and fly down three times, three days in a row, so I think it was a positive experience.. Two flight logs are linked below, I didn’t carry my GPS during the first day… All in all I have to recommend this kind of flying, especially if the conditions are not perfect or really good. Otherwise during the scarce “perfect days” it is nice to be able to save time thanks the modern transport methods and get up quicker.

The promissed flight logs: Log #1; Log #2… Big thanks to Dario for the photos!