Paragliding Picketpost Mountain 12/2024 | First Flight

[@milesb4231]

Pretty -- but yikes. looks like you intentionally went over to the lee side of that mountain.

[@arizonahikeflyparagliding2664]

Valid comment. I think It only appears that way from this short video. The wind was light and variable, as per the forecast. I missed my planned window to launch south (sunny side) and took this opportunity to launch north after waiting about 30 minutes for sufficient wind for a reverse launch. You can't tell because of the camera distortion, but I'm standing a few steps from a drop-off, so a forward launch wasn't possible. I was flying to the sunny face as the rocks were starting to produce thermals. I was ultimately able to bench up on the sunny face, but not all the way to the peak or to a sufficient level to catch any stronger thermals. There's a steep learning curve flying terrain like this, and you definitely do have to be wary of rotor and wind shear near the rock faces. At some point I'd like to explain my planning in my videos and get feedback from other pilots based on their experiences.