Cross-country training

You're passionate about paragliding and want to continue your training with a cross-country course.

Once you’ve got your licence, you can move on to several different paragliding disciplines, including cross-country, acro and mountain flying. If you’re a young (or not so young) pilot and want to progress safely in any of these areas, you’ve come to the right place! On request, we offer a range of training courses and other post-certificate progression courses.

 

Introduction to thermalling course in collaboration with the Flyin’high paragliding school in Crans-Montana

Cross Country
Thermal flight

Make a distance flight
Cross country​

The Rhone Valley lends itself very well to longer cross-country flights, with numerous options that can even take you fairly quickly into the Bernese Alps. The aim of this course is no longer to learn how to climb in thermal lift, but to optimise its use so as to fly efficiently and intelligently with the idea of advancing in a desired direction. Track, average Vz, convective layer, flight regimes, airspace, waypoints and GPS, cowl point… It’s all about getting to grips with and understanding all the jargon used in the cross-country world and putting it to good use 😉

This course takes place over one day, with the theory done the day before, either online or at the school. There is a maximum of 2 participants per instructor. The 3 of us take off around 11am and fly as a group, which also makes the flight much more efficient, even if we sometimes have to wait for one or other member of the group. We follow the route we decided on in the morning, depending on the weather conditions, staying in radio contact throughout the flight. If conditions allow, we can fly for up to 3 or 4 hours.

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Ideas for cross-country routes​

  • Take off from Fiesch/Riederalp -> Goms valley -> possibly down part of the Rhône valley
  • Take off from Crans-Montana or Anzère then switch to the Bernese Alps
  • Take off from Crans-Montana or Anzère to do part of the tour of the Sion CTR.

Who should attend the cross-country course?

    • Experienced pilots who already have very good experience of thermalling, who are able to fly for at least 2 hours locally on and around a known flying site, and who have mastered weak thermals (able to maintain themselves in small thermals while waiting for the next cycle) to strong thermals (able to manage their glider and turbulence well).

    • Pilots who have completed the Level 1 and 2 course in a previous season.

    • Pilots who have already done a SIV course

    The main aim of this course is to guide participants with thermal flying experience through the different flight paths and optimise their flight strategies.

Equipment required​

  • Personal flying equipment: glider, harness with airbag or moussebag, reserve parachute repacked less than 12 months ago.
  • Warm clothing, if the flight goes as planned it could last between 3h30-4h or more
  • Personal Vario, with which the participant is familiar
  • PMR radio with the ability to talk during the flight (can be hired for €10 per day)
  • Something to eat and drink during the flight

Course dates - March to September

  • The course is organised via a Whatsapp group: anyone interested in taking this course can register by contacting Cédric by phone, email, Whatsapp or SMS, specifying which course they would like to sign up for.
  • Dates are proposed from week to week, weather permitting.
  • A course is set up when 2 people respond positively to a proposed date. On request, only one person can be booked for an instructor, who will then pay the fee for the two places available.
  • The optimum period for these courses is from March to around September.

Course price​

  • 360 per person for the course
  • 30 discount on the course for students and clients of our schools
  • Minimum 2 / maximum 2 people per instructor; up to 3 groups possible in parallel

Still interested ?

Training sessions take place between march and september, depending on the weather. As this is an outdoor sport, please contact us so that together we can find the most suitable dates to start your training. The course is organised via a Whatsapp group

Register for cross-country flight