Speed Flying in Canada

Hey everyone my,name's rob and im desperately wanting to speed fly in alta or bc for march how do I go about this anyone know please I wanna go so bad lol let me know please chemickill@gmail.com thank you

I'm immigrating to Canada soon, what's the verdict on best speedflying/ riding area? better to go somewhere with sick sled accessed terrain? or any particular resort towns for lift accessed backcountry/ offpiste and less trees? many roads up hills in Canada? or gondolas/ airtrams? how are the ski field access roads for summer speedflying?

Revelstoke/ Banff/ Canmore sounds good? but what about the coastal mountains?

Cheers,

Tom

Hey all,

I am an Australian travelling about, Plan to head to Banff next week and will be there all winter. I have many a skydives and Base Jumps also recently got into Paragliding whilst travelling through South America and just in the process of getting a speedwing for the Canadian winter. Love to hook up with some crew that know the area for some good times flights/jumps/climbing session/ mountain climb /back country snowboarding or what eva is goin, have all the gear and know idea so send us a email if ya keen or just need a second person to run with...

dnsharp_3@hotmail.com

Cheers and Beers
Sharpy

Im from Vancouver BC and am extremly interested in learning the basics of controling a speedflying kite. Im ready to pay a good amount of money to some who can teach me how to get from skiing to the air and back down again. Im purchasing a new Niviuk skate 10 or 12 M kite. I will bring everything needed to fly and you will bring your knowledge.

WILL PAY YOU GOOD SUM!!!!!

email rbuerge@yahoo.ca

Reuben

Hello Canadians,

Rumour has spread of a speed wing flight in Banff National Park. Please note that any type of flying in a national park is not allowed.........yet. The Parks Service is re-evaluating their stance on paragliding and associated sports but have not reached a firm decision. The Hang gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada (HPAC) is in discussion with the government about this. Any flights conducted prior to an agreement could endanger future negotiations. Please refrain for the moment or at least keep it out of the public eye. ;-]

Thanks,

Scott

Hi ram_air_man !

Yes, I do need to train prior to hit a big mountain. I'm still on the lookout for a trainer hill near Revelstoke but since I am pretty new in town it's still hard to find.

I never skydived or paraglide (only tandem with a bit of control but very basic things).

I am a snowboarder that got hooked to this sport the first time I saw someone doing it. It was like a revelation, almost a tailer made sport for me and my tastes. Got the wing and touring skis and are very motivated to get going into this sport.

This is however a long term project, as I do not absolutely want to fly this winter. I'll have plenty of time once back home in Quebec in July to go try it out and get a para training at Mt Sainte Anne.

That's about it !

Bye, Jason

Hey Jason, have you ever skydived before?? I am not sure if you are a jumper learning to speedfly or trying to learn to speedfly before skydiving or paragliding. Either way, a few of us are around and would be happy to teach but if you have no flight experience then I would say that it would be better for you to learn to launch and land on a trainer hill before hitting up the big mountains.

Hey mt7wildcard Scott !

Well as far as actually trying out the RMR resort, this I haven't done yet. I'm still re-learning to ski after a 15 yr pause (i'm a boarder). This is the easy part.

I've done a couple of groundhandling sessions on the local soccer terrain by the river and i've been trying to foot launch this afternoon from the top of the Nels Nelsen ski jump hill.

Unfortunately, the snow was deep and very 'sticky' so i was not able to run as far as I would have liked and that resulted in failed launches (but i nearly got it...) but I had a lot of fun trying it anyway !

Since RMR will now only tolerate flying tree top level, I may be forced to wait later, maybe even for an upcoming season as I doubt I would be able to handle this from top to bottom without problems and I would rather stay off than getting stuck in a tree or injuring myself and getting a bad record for speedriders here.

Anyway, my goal is not to do speedriding 'this' winter. I am not in a hurry to die so I will take all the necessary step to avoid it, even if I need to wait a few months to get better at it.

I am in a 'learn it the hard way' with this sport, never paraglide on my own (tandem only) so even if I usually get extreme pretty fast with the other sports i'm doing, this is different as we are speaking of possibly fatal endings if things goes bad...

I either need to take an intro course to paragliding or to get along with someone willing to show me the basics from where I can work my way up to full control of the wing.

However, I would love to see you and your buddies speedfly over RMR so if you come by just drop me an email at rallye_racer@hotmail.com and I'll come by to check it out and chat a bit too

Thanks ! Jason in Revy

That is good news, I will try to make it out to RMR towards the end of the season, maybe even bring some of the other speedflyers from calgary along for some fun!!

Hello Jason in Revelstoke,

Just wondering how you are doing with the speed flying? Chris and I were out flying on Monday and Tuesday. Conditions were perfect. Give me a call at 250 837-1202 if you want to get out to RMR for a flight.

On that note, to all other riders, the ski patrol have had a few words with speed riders this year and had a little chat with us too on Tuesday. The resort is still tolerant of our fun but have restricted us to keep it up at tree top level. Please contact me at the above number if you plan a trip to RMR.

Thanks,

Scott

Do you guys know of any speedflying opportunities on Vancouver Island? I am a total beginner but have kiteboarder for 6 years and assume the controls are somewhat familiar. (Don't worry, I hope to find someone here to teach me - not gonna just jump on and assume I can learn myself).

Thanks! John

Thanks Ram air man !
I'm going out today to look for such a place!

Bye, Jason

What you need is to find yourself a large hill with little to no trees and a large landing area. There are lots of beginner sites like that around Kamloops. Not sure about Revy.....

hey any one know where to buy used gear i am looking for a different canopy to launch i use my xaos 84 now but i want a gl canopy instead so i can do some foot launches not just skis. and who is ripping it up on the west coast?? it is going to be a killer season!!!

Dickson

Hello,

Revy ski hill encourages paragliders but they aren't too fond of speedriding. Overall they looked the other way when I was doing it but I was careful to stay way high when there were skiers on the runs. Weekdays were pretty quiet and then I could crank and ski down the runs.

I might be doing tandem paragliding flights there again this year. My buddy Chris, who lives there, is buying a Bobcat and is pretty stoked to get riding.

Overall, I can give you more details and site information when you are there or send me an email at adventures(at)heliparagliding.com .

Scott

Hi Mt7wildcard - tell us more about speed riding at Revelstoke. I was there 2 seasons ago briefly, but didnt have time to speak to patrol about if they would allow me to fly (and i didnt have my wing with me). If its all going ahead, i will have to make the journey there ina couple of months i think...

Yes, as it turns out there are several "runs" in Alberta around Canmore and Kananaskis country... most of which are old hike and fly sites used by paragliders.... the thing is that most people don't know about these places since nobody really flies them anymore.

In that movie, the first flight was off of Chinamen's Peak outside of Canmore and the second is off of Mt. Yamnuska, there are at least 5 more mountains that can be flown in that area... all of which are old PG sites that nobody uses anymore.

posted on YouTube video from a 2009 trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-us5fyNpg

Hey Scott, I am gonna be doing some paragliding in the Okanagan this upcoming week-end and into next week, on my way back I am thinking about stopping at Mt. 7 for a speedflying run. Will contact you via email, or you can get a hold of me at c_ifda(at)yahoo.ca

Hello,

I'm guessing that you mean Kickinghorse Mountain Resort. They have not given any official approvals to fly there although they are 'thinking' about it. They have changed from yes to no several times over their ten years of existence. There is likely also a lot of red tape if you want to launch from their property.

We did a speed riding flight from there this winter but we launched from out-of-bounds. They were not completely opposed to it.

They don't have a designated launch site.

If you are asking about the 'para-glide launch point' on Mt. 7 then there is no problem flying from there. Of course the official stance is that you must a member of the HPAC to use that site and the designated landing area.

But the best flights are from the peak of Mt. 7 where we were early this morning. The cliff faces and valleys down from there are pretty amazing. You are welcome to join us anytime. It's a bit of a hike though. We have other locations that we plan to explore soon but they also involve some hiking. Although we did fly the paragliders up a time or two with the speed wings on our backs, landed on the peak, then flew the speed wings down.

I'm sorry that I cannot find how to send a PM. Please send me an email to the previously mentioned address above.

Scott

Hey Guys if you're coming out west, send me an email (through youtube)

Hey,

No I haven't been to Kananaskis to fly. We stay pretty close to Mt. 7 most of the time. If you are coming to Golden send me an email.
adventures (at) heliparagliding.com
We are usually going early in the am before work.

Scott

Scott, have you been out to Kananaskis coutry yet? I've heard of a few people speedflying out there as well. Send me a message next time you plan on heading out and I will join you.

Hello,

We have been doing plenty of speed flying runs from the top of Mt. 7. There are two steep, rocky canyons down the west face. Plus a lot of speedriding at Revelstoke Mountain Resort this past winter. One run at KHMR too.

I've heard about a few flights being done at Whistler.

Where are you located?

Scott

Hi, Just starting on ground launching - have a Safire 2 119ft...anyone around tried Whistler? Thanks
GB

Submitted by ram_air_man on February 12, 2009 - 4:42am.

where did you go?? valemont?? I've found videos on youtube of guys speedflying at golden off of mount seven. myself, I haven't had the time to organize a trip yet, planning on trying mcbride peak in the summer.

Submitted by ram_air_man on January 13, 2009 - 8:07am.

hey, I'm from Edmonton, used to skydive at Eden North, now I just paramotor around town and paraglide at the local ridge. I recently purchased a Bobcat Eye-wink

We don't have the mountains for speedflying but we do have lots of ridges and coulees, once the deep freeze lifts I will try some ridge soaring with the bobcat.

I always thought that a guy could get away with some speedflying in the Willmore Wilderness park, just hike and fly in the summer time.

I've also heard of some guys using ski hills for practice. Maybe we should see where the skydivers do some ground launching???

Submitted by KennC on January 27, 2008 - 5:42pm.

Hi John, I'm from Alberta and recently got the bug for this as well. I skydive close to Calgary and met one fellow from BC who does bit of speedflying out there, he was showing me some of his videos, other than him I don't of anyone doing this here?? We don't have the terrain like they do elsewhere but there are some decent enough hills close by to get some short runs in.

That's why I was glad to find this website.