On the first day we will meet you at the Camino Real Restaurant parking lot (see directions). From there you will follow the school truck to our designated parking area, where you will transfer into the school truck for transport to the flight park.

We meet at 8am and leave for the flight park shortly afterwards. It’s just a few miles away up a Forest Service road that has restricted access, which is the reason for the transport arrangement. On arrival to the flight park we go through the site introduction and a brief pre-flight discussion, followed by the paperwork. From here we assign gear and head to the training hill where you'll get an introduction to the gear, brief demonstration and then we'll get you hooked in to the paraglider and practicing the first skills. This will lead up to your first launches and short skimmer flights followed by low level flights to get you comfortable before you move onto higher and higher flights! Around noon we’ll take a mid-day break due to the thermal activity becoming too strong and the conditions no longer being appropriate for training.

Mid-day the students take a lunch break and rated pilots can take advantage of the more advanced conditions. This time will also be used for ground school, watching educational or entertaining videos, or simply relaxing on the grass in the shade. When conditions are again appropriate for training we head back out to the hills to continue where we left off. You’ll work on launching and landing as well as in-flight skills, however, just getting comfortable being in the air and checking out how cool it looks from up there will probably be all you're concerned with your first day. The fun continues until the sun starts to go down and the warm flow of air we’d been using all day slows down and eventually switches direction to downhill (katabatic flow). After the last flight we pack up the gear, load into the truck and head down to the parking area so you can eat, sleep and recover for another day even better than this day!

Bring

• Water: Enough for the day, from 8am to about an hour before sunset. Keep in mind that it will be warm and you will be fairly active. We do have bottled water for sale at the shop if you run out. There is also tap water, but it has a heavy mineral taste. 
• Food: For the same time frame, generally a lunch and possibly snacks depending on what you think you’ll need. There is a refrigerator available for storing food and drinks. Food is not readily available without a drive down into town, about 20 minutes each way, so come prepared!
• Sunscreen: and sunglasses are highly recommended.

Wear

Lightweight active wear works the best, but cotton t-shirts and jeans will do the job. What you would be comfortable walking or hiking in for the day (varies depending on weather). Shorts are fine, but should be long enough that they won’t bunch up in the harness leg straps (mid-thigh). Sleeveless shirts are not recommended, because the harness rests on your shoulders and could be uncomfortable on bare skin. You may also like to have a light-weight windbreaker,a pair of leather or other protective gloves, and sunglasses. Footwear is important, as you will be moving around on uneven ground, mostly grass but also loose dirt. High sturdy boots are preferred, moving down from there to tennis shoes, which will work but don’t offer ankle support or keep dirt out. There are specialty boots for paragliding, but you don’t need to purchase those unless you are 100% committed to the sport. Most people start out with a pair of light weight hikers.