For Bruces birthday (hubby) we booked him a parapente flight over Luchon for the first time. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, it was a warm day. We met his guide Freddy in the town of Luchon and set off up the mountain to the launch site at Superbagneres.
At the launch site they set out the parapente and checked the wind conditions. Then they had a quick chat to the locals who were litter picking on the mountains after the snow melt. They set themselves up and waited for the gust to lift them off the mountain.
The instructions were clear, count to 3 and launch so they counted ..1..2..3
They were off, it was a bit of a messy take off to be honest, with the gust of wind taking them a bit faster than expected. That apparently is the spring wind for you. Even early in the day the thermals are unpredictable and strong.
The views of the parapente were amazing and really exhilarating to see it so close yet so far above us. We weren’t even the ones off the ground. The kids were very excited to see daddy flying, managing to have a conversation with him too! Voices travel quiet a distance up in the mountains.
The thermals carried them for a little while straight up, and across the ski area of Superbagneres. Not a cloud around them, just a few puffs of wind, the silence up there was deafening. We headed down the mountain in the car to meet them on the landing site. The race was on! Bruce and Freddy were heard chatting away above us.
After about 30/35 minutes Freddy says its time to come down. The spring winds have kicked up and throwing them about higher up. For a first flight he didn’t want to put Bruce off. We were too slow to make the landing site… so sadly missed the touch down to earth. Bruce said it was very smooth. He was buzzing from the adrenaline and surprisingly hot from the heavy pack. Thankfully he had the GoPro to capture it all as well from the birds eye view. So often we watch clips of GoPros strapped to birds. Their view is amazing and now he can say he’s been there too.