Between Saturday 17th & Tuesday 20th June this year I traveled to the french Alps to try paragliding for the first time. Four of us made the trip, flying from Belfast to Geneva with Easyjet. We stayed in a private chalet in the village of Le Grand Bornand in the French Alps. This picturesque village, which is 1000m above sea level, is a main ski resort in the winter. Swiss stlye chalets are the main accomodation in the area and all the cows in the fields have large bells around their necks, the sound of which can sound quite strange for the first day or so.

The weather was very sunny & quite hot for early summer. After a little sight seeing and visiting friends we met up with Emmanuel Schiltz, one of the local Paraglide instructors. Emmanul's team were very friendly & professional. The plan was for two of us to do a tandem flight followed by the second pair. About 15 minutes after heading of in the 4x4 towards the launch site, we got a phone call from one of Emmanuel's friends saying there was a large storm heading towards us through the mountains. We could see no sign of any bad weather but we took the information at face value and returned to our hire car. Arrangements were made for the following morning and the four of us visitied a local bar for some lunch. Before we were served our food the sky grew very dark and some of the heavyist rain I have ever seen began to bounce off the road & the wind speed picked up at an alarming rate. The info had been spot on. The storm only lasted about an hour or so & we were able to return to our site seeing.

Next morning we met up with Emmanuel and his team at the landing site. We were introduced to a girl who is part of the team. She had just returned from a competition with a large cup and French Female Champion title. The best piece of news was that two additional instructors had offered to assist and we were all to fly at the same time. A forty minute drive in a 4x4 up a narrow mountain track made most of us fell a little ill but it was worth it once we stepped out of the jeeps and sew the view. We had travelled up the mountain to Mont Lechat (2100m). I thought they were joking when I was shown a very steep slope on the side of the mountain & told "we launch from here". I relaised they were serious when they started laying out the four canopies on the hillside. Within minutes we were all wearing helmets and harnesses and clipping ourselves to canopies of up to 48 sq metres.(and you thought your Frenzy was big).

I was second to launch after my wife Johneen, Emmanuel simply said "we run now" and we did. Running down a muddy mountainside after all the prevoius days rain was not as simple as I had imagined. I must confess that I did slip a little, leaving a lot of the work to Emmanuel. The run was shorter than expected and within seconds we were airborne. I looked around to see the rest of the group already in the air. Emmanuel gave me a brief leson and controls while we swooped around the side of the mountain where I could see cliff faces. He explained how we would use the thermal air rising from the cliffs which were being heated by the sun, this would in turn give us lift. The lift was amazing & soon we wer well above the other three. I had to use this vantage point to produce my camera from inside my jacket. It was amazing to be able to sit up there and take the time to focus the camera on someone who was hundreds of feet below you. During the flight I was given the opportunity to control the canopy for quite a while. I had a difficult decision to make, take control or take photographs? As the flight lasted about 40 minutes I had plenty of time to do both. I was able to watch the others, Johneen , Stephen & Erin fly around the mountains and over the village as we all desended towards Le Grand Bornand. One thing that was dificult to take in was being above the birds as they flew, very odd indeed.

Landing the canopy was also much easier that I could have imagined, simply slip forward & start walking. We all greeted each other as we landed beside our hire car. One thing was for sure, we all wanted to do it again.

After packing away we went to the bar where Emmanuel & the others gave us a CD of photographs taken during the flight. A few beers and we were off to see a little more of the area but not before making arrangements for the next trip. We will most certainly be returning to Le Grand Bornand to do it all over again.

I plan to run a trip in June 2007 to do it all over again & Emmanuel can cater for groups booked in advance. If anyone is interested in giving it a go, feel free to contact me at kitecrew or Emmanuel direct via his website. http://www.aravis-concept.com/english/news.htm

See the photos of the trip in the gallery now.

Mark