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Tandem paraglider ride offers an ‘amazing’ new perspective
Tandem paragliders soar from the launch point near the top of the Bridger Gondola at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
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Colorful nylon canopies looking like elongated parachutes can often be seen on summer mornings and evenings in Jackson Hole, sweeping the valley’s horizons. They dance across the sky, a smattering of color. No matter how long you have lived here, you can’t help but pause and crane your neck to watch, at least for a moment. I had seen the vibrant paragliders plenty of times, but never really thought of myself floating in one, high above the mountains and trails of my home.
So, I couldn’t have been more excited when I received this magazine assignment to try out and write about paragliding. I hadn’t known that someone like me, with no experience, could simply sign up and take to the air. Jackson Hole Paragliding not only offers instruction, but also a tandem flight that gets anyone looking for a new perspective gliding high above it all.
Then I broke my arm. All sports, including paragliding, were off-limits. I resigned myself to reporting the story vicariously through the experiences of others.
I met Rajhu Gopalakrishnan of New Jersey, who had planned a paragliding trip in advance of his vacation in the Tetons. “Anything out of the ordinary is always fun,” he said. Gopalakrishnan, who previously had tried skydiving and loved the thrill, read about Jackson’s paragliding opportunities. It sounded to him like an adrenaline rush, but also something a little different.
“When I saw it, I had to try it,” he said.
Carrie Severson of Minnesota was a little more hesitant. She began by taking pictures of the launches. “I thought, ‘no way I’m doing it,’” she said. “‘Those people are crazy.’”
But Scott Harris, owner of Jackson Hole Paragliding, goaded Severson into taking a flight. She couldn’t resist the last-minute sales pitch, and it was worth it, she said. “It was tranquil and humbling. It is better than any view you could possibly have [otherwise].”
Time and time again the word “amazing” came up after I asked people about their trip in the sky. They fumbled with the words to describe their experience.
Luckily for me, Jackson Hole paragliding runs year-round, so I signed up for a winter trip once I was cleared for activity—in time to augment my story, and coming out with a much better sense of what paragliding is really like.
Jackson Hole Paragliding offers a variety of flying services, from equipment sales to lessons for those aspiring to fly on their own. But the most popular service they offer is the tandem flights, on which an instructor sits behind you while in the air. Flying is most popular during the summer, Harris said, when launches take place in the mornings and evenings. Midday the thermals tend to be too intense for novice fliers.
Jackson Hole Paragliding often launches from the top of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s Aerial Tram. If the wind isn’t cooperating there, they also can launch from the top of the gondola, a site they used when the new tram was under construction. While other potential launch sites are found near Jackson, including the top of Snow King Mountain and the smaller High School Butte, for those working on their pilot training, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is the place. From the top of the tram, paragliders launch and fly into the wind, landing in the parking lot below. The launch site is at 10,320 feet above sea level, allowing for a flight of about four thousand vertical feet to the valley floor.
