The Canadian prairies might seem like a strange place to learn to fly. But Prairie Paragliding, based in Saskatoon, can make that happen. Here you will find information on how we fly, learning to fly, and guides to the places we fly.
It might seem like the prairies doesn’t offer much for flying, but pilots can launch from low ridges (the record soaring flight at blackstrap is 30 minutes), and by towing behind a vehicle (using a specially designed winch). Hang glider pilots in the Saskatoon area have flown 100+km, and paraglider pilots near Edmonton have posted similar distances.
Pilots use ridge lift, from wind blowing up a hill, as well as thermal lift, from rising hot air, to stay in the air and get to higher altitudes. In mountain areas such as Golden, BC, pilots have reached 14,000ft.
Free-flight is the closest we can get to feeling like birds. The sensation of climbing in lift away from the ground cannot be completely explained.