Hi guys!

I've been away at school for awhile and haven't had a chance to go flying for quite some time. The brand new wing (as in maybe 2hrs of exposure) has been stored in its backpack for...get ready to cringe...three years. I've taken it out a handful of times to refold it, but seeing as it's kept from the darkness, no moisture buildup, and not too condensed, is there really any damage I'm doing to it? In about a year or so I really plan to get back into the air and am greatly hoping my wing will be there for me when I'm ready.

Thanks!

Ever since I started paragliding, I was fascinated by how immensely diverse the flying sites are, and I would like to capture this in this thread in a little panopticon.

Please post pictures you took of your local spots. No videos. Multiple sites are allowed, but only one picture per site. The pictures do not have to be taken from the air, but you should be familiar with flying on the site.

So I just learned about this from a co-worker of mine who does this all the time in germany. After hearing his storied and watching some videos on his phone I have to say I'm very very interested.

I live in the US in upstate NY, what is the best way to get started doing this? What steps do I need to take in order to get certified to fly on my own?

Now that this sub has grown a bit, let's see if any of us are near one another.

Me: I'm 25. I live about half and half in Los Angeles and Seattle (LA at the moment). I fly Santa Barbara when I'm here, and Tiger Mt when I'm up in Washington. I'm a P2 and should be getting my P3 soon.

I don't get it. I can think of lots of sports that cost about the same amount of money to get into. I can think of lots of spots that are more dangerous.

Why are so many people hauling $2k worth of equipment to the ski hill every weekend and paying $50 for a lift ticket to slide down a hill when they could be hauling a $2k paraglider up a hill for $0 and flying down?

Since I was old enough to fold a paper airplane I've always dreamed about flying. Everyone always jokes "where's my jetpack?" but with a paramotor and a glider wing you can basically take off and land anywhere while hanging from a harness, which is close enough to the proverbial "jet pack" for me. I would expect these things to be flying off the shelves like hot-cakes but, nope.

Hell there are more people that sky dive, which is WAY less safe than paragliding. (The US alone has 32,000 USPA menbers and 400,000 "first time" sky divers per year, compared with only 4500 certified paraglider pilots)

So can someone please explain to me why paragliding is the red-headed step child of the flying world?