My first experience paragliding was back in 2006 during a travel study program hosted by my university. We visited communities across New Zealand and Australia to study Adventure Tourism business models and their impact on local economies. I can’t remember my tandem pilot’s name, but I remember he mentioned learning paragliding in Washington, out near Chelan. At the time, I mentally noted that I would take a trip to Washington one day.

Eighteen years after that first flight and fourteen years after moving to Washington, I received my P2 certification as a Paragliding pilot.

Signing up for a paragliding course took some time. My partner, Aaron, started flying in 2021. When he started, I was excited for him but had mentally decided it was a sport for him, not myself. It seemed extreme, and at the time, I had been struggling for years with SI Joint issues and back pain that led me to stop rock climbing, backpacking, mountaineering, and limited my paddling. A belief that my big adventure days were behind me had taken root during those years, and my life shifted more towards settling into our home.

However, during the years that Aaron built up his flying skills, I had some opportunities to spend time with the local paragliding community. I slowly started to change the story around the belief that flying wasn’t for me. Over two years, I had the chance to go on a handful of tandem flights when our families visited from out of town, flying with a friend and her father and a stunning flight with Peter. I also started flyfishing with a friend, Sierra, who got me excited about how everyone can choose to fly the type of air they want to experience - flying smooth air at sunset rather than jumping into thermic flying right away. These experiences were paired with finding a great physical therapist who helped me build back stability into my SI Joint, which made me feel more confident that I could try the ground school to see if I liked it.

I remembered the desire my younger self had to fly and realized I was finally at a point in life where I had time and the financial means to give it a go. I owed it to myself to take up the opportunity.

Aaron took a cross-country clinic and met Austin and Matt from Northwest Paragliding. He said if I wanted to learn to fly, these were the guys to get connected with for my learning style.

Ready for our flights! Dad, I, and Aaron.

Aaron's family visit and post-flight cheers!

My Dad waving to Aaron during our tandem family flight.

Jenny was stoked! We joined her and her father for tandem flights to celebrate his birthday. Pilot Will Pardis.

When I signed up for the course, I wanted to make sure my interest in this sport was rooted in a desire to learn for myself and not for others. Paragliding is a higher-risk activity, and I wanted to be honest with myself that my motivation to learn to fly was because it was something that I truly wanted to do and not something I felt I should do. I decided not to post anything on social media while I was learning so that I could keep the bar low for external motivation / demotivation / pressure / fear, etc.

I started my training the second week of September 2023, near the end of the season. Over three weeks, I had ten days of forward launch practice and a few days of reverse launch practice. We didn’t get enough wind to be signed off to fly, but I was able to use the time to focus solely on the ground school skills and techniques.

It was an immense amount of work in a short period of time, and it was also by far the most proud of myself that I had been since learning to sea kayak in college. Building on skills week by week and making progress while connecting to the wing felt empowering in a way I wasn’t expecting. Handling the wing with grace and balance reminded me of working horses as a kid - learning to lead and follow something potentially stronger than myself and putting in the right inputs to build a partnership rather than getting dragged across a field. I loved it. I was excited to return to my training in May of this year.

September 13, 2023. Learning how to kite. This was my third time kiting and fist time with laminar wind from the lake where we played with using weight shifting and hip pressure to keep the wing up. Photo by Matt Senior.

During the off-season we went to Santa Barbara and got in some high-wind kiting with Eagle Paragliding. Video by Julian. Nov 17, 2023

In May, I re-started my training and was surprised at how nervous I was, even in my excitement. I had to regain some wing-control confidence I had lost over the winter. We started with a few higher wind days, focusing on learning to control the wing and kill the energy if a gust threatened to overpower us. After a few days, the movements and connection came back, and by the second week of May, I had completed my simulated solo flights (flying tandem while you, as the passenger, held the controls) and was ready for my first solo flight.

My first launch felt excellent, and I was easily off the hill and in the air. During the flight, I rolled through some bubbles of air and little bumps, and I worked to stay calm and to keep my focus on simply listening to the radio with the support of my instructors. They provided a great flight plan telling me exactly when to lean into a turn, initiate the next turn, and start my landing approach. I didn’t stick my first landing, but it was caught on video, which was helpful to review with my instructors to prepare for my future flights. I flew solo!

Aaron made it to the launch for my first flight to cheer me on from up top, and I had a few fellow students and friends in the landing area to celebrate with.

Flight 1 on May 10th at 11 am. First solo flight launch supported by Austin Cox. Video by Aaron Nash

Flight 1 on May 10th at 11 am. First solo flight plan supported by Luc. Photo by Paige Schemenauer

Over the next few months, I worked on building the skills I would need to fly independently. The weather in May left us with significant breaks between flying days. We kited when we could and studied while the rain fell and the wind blew—the breaks in May built in time to process each flying day and each flight.

On my third flight, I remember having a more mental capacity to look around more freely. I was able to pivot and look in all directions. It struck me as odd that the only time I had a physical gut-sink moment of “oh, this can’t be real” was looking up at the wing above and seeing it beautifully inflated. It was just me, a harness, and a wing I could nearly see through. It was a moment of realization of truly being alone (with radios) in the sky yet feeling safe. I was starting to understand what exploring the world above me would be like rather than standing on or paddling along the water and earth below.

Kiting at Meadowbrook. R to L: Charles Mawby, Ran G, Luc Lachapelle, Patti.

May 18th. Kiting my new wing under the instruction of Luc Lachapelle. I named my wing the Safety Dance after nearly tripping over the safety cone while managing a gust of wind. You can dance if you want to... Photo by Austin Cox.

While practicing the skills to inflate our wings, launch, maneuver smoothly, descend, and set ourselves up for good landings, we started to learn less technical skills related to decision-making, planning, and risk management.

The concept of the Pilot in Command was one we talked about often. If you see something or experience something that your instructor isn’t aware of - or if they tell you something that doesn’t make sense - it is up to you to make a decision that will be right for you and the situation to the best of your ability. It is an excellent lesson in taking accountability for your actions, good and bad, and for you to learn from your instructors as you prepare to make these decisions independently as you go through the course.

I have notes from flights early on where I could take parts of the pattern and make the right decisions independently, and there are other flights where I relied heavily on instructor support. Comparison, self-criticism, and worrying about not keeping up were common themes that would come up for me that I needed to work through and process. Every pilot progresses at a different pace, and every flight is different - the time of day, the wind speed & direction, the broad weather patterns, the air traffic, mental state, and emotional state - everything can influence how you perform during a specific flight. Flying helped me gain confidence in my abilities - even if it was a slower lesson to sink in.

I learned that my brain tends to default to becoming nervous and not trusting the skills I have developed if conditions change or I’m in a new location. Recognizing this has allowed me to ask for help and to start to internally challenge my initial fears and ask if they are rooted in real, present risk or in the perception of risk due to a lack of confidence. I even found a therapist specializing in women’s fear processing in adventure sports. I started sessions with her to work through an old ski fear injury and proactively build some practices I could use while preparing to fly to help me stay calm and neutral. She said that you can build safety by trusting your body, your ability, and your world (surrounding people and the environment), and if all three feel true in the moment, you can bring your nervous system into a more neutral state. These lessons have been ones that I’ve revisited often as I have flown and have allowed me to build better confidence in who I am and that I can lean into the skills I’m developing.

Flight 19 on May 31st, at 5:35pm. Higher wind launch supported by Matt Senior. Video by Patti.

Flight 26 on June 1st, at 1:35 pm. South launch, supported by Matt Senior. Video by Chris Blatchley.

One of my favorite landings caught on video. Video by Aaron Nash

Some of our flying days were a single, 8-minute, top-to-bottom flight, and on other days, we could go for multiple laps as long as the conditions held. Near the end of my course, I completed 11 fights in two days. The multi-flight days can be tiring, but they can also be helpful as you can repeat your flight pattern in a closer window of time to understand your turns in relationship to height judgment, drift, glide, etc. The repeated pattern helped me recognize areas where I was improving and highlighted areas where my behaviors were becoming habits - some good and others not so good. To this day, I still hear the calm voice of my instructor asking me to round out my turns as I scrub height on the base leg of the landing pattern. On some flights, I round out my turns beautifully, following the voice in my head, and on other days, I see why the coaching was necessary and end up going long on my landing. I’ve found that mimicking my instructors and talking the flight plan out loud can keep my mind calm and help me to shift from Plan A to Plan B if my intentions and actions do not get the result I’m looking for.

A multi-flight day can also help build resilience after safe mistakes - getting back on the horse. I had one day of flying from our South launch, where I made a steep turn as I was coming in to land and scared myself, even though I touched down without incident. It took a few laps with support to understand where I put in the wrong inputs and made the wrong height decision and to make better decisions. I made three landings that day that I was proud of. I’m still working on my ability to judge my height well today, and the South landings are still tricky for me, but I can see progress over time through my flight logs and notes. I’m pretty hard on myself, and learning to use your mistakes as information to support learning and skill development, rather than failures of character, is necessary and will help build safer skills and reduce risk in the long term.

Flight 36 on June 8th, at 7:02 pm. South. First flight as a P2.

I gained my P2 rating during another multi-flight day on the South Launch. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to fly alone. Thankfully, many very kind folks, including my instructors, were available for questions, wing fluffing, and to lend a watchful eye as I launched. Knowing I was a bit nervous, I set my initial goals low. I told myself I would only work on launching and landing for 15 flights to reinforce the skills I had already developed and to establish internal confidence around doing them more independently.

For a few weeks, I followed other pilots around, asking for support wherever I could, and everyone was friendly enough to help me feel ready for my flights. By flight 48, a fellow pilot said that I should try soaring a bit and that I was more than ready. I was able to gain a 20-minute flight off that launch. A few days later, I went on my first road trip to a new site, Blanchard.

Flight 50 on July 14th at 1:39pm. First new site! Blanchard. Photo by Sierra Schemenauer

P2 Road Trip!!!! Blanchard with Chris and Kai

Sierra and I had a day free and decided it was a perfect chance to fly up at Blanchard, a gorgeous location on the way up to Bellingham near Bow, WA. A few fellow P2 recent grads joined us, and we were in for our first paragliding road trip! Blanchard was a perfect spot, and we were fortunate to spend the day with Sydney, who was part of the local paragliding club. Sydney waited with us and helped us learn about the local wind direction and safe margins for flying. After a few hours, we were able to launch. I waited and joined for a single lap. Flying in a new location greatly reinforced our skills, and the larger landing zone gave us ample space to make new decisions on height and landing without our typical reference points.

Returning to Tiger that week, I had two beautiful evening flights, one for just over an hour, the other for 50 minutes. I could stay up in the lift, experience my wing, and fly in a new way. As students, we learned a launch-to-land pattern to establish good behaviors and help our minds understand multi-axis movements - Right, Left, and Down. On these flights, I started to add a new axis, Up. Gaining just a few hundred feet above the launch site felt liberating, and being above fellow pilots in smooth air gave me a new perspective and appreciation for flying. These flights were considered ridge soaring and happened in the evening as the valley heat lifted at the end of the day, a glassoff flight. This type of lift provides smooth air, compared to flying in thermals, and requires very little active piloting to manage your wing, allowing you to focus more on flying with others and your flight path along the terrain. I gave people plenty of room and tried to be as predictable as possible. These flights were a highlight of the season for me, and evening flights became my goal for the next month.

Flight 51 on July 15th, at 7:11pm launch. Glassoff with fellow P2, Chris. Photo by Robert Fitzgerald.

Flight 63 on August 3rd, at 8:23pm. Forward launch reset. Image capture form helmet cam, Kai Jameson.

Mount Rainier on a clear and beautiful evening flight. Aaron and I were able to soar together for a bit. Photo by Aaron Nash.

My folks came out for a visit in August, and we thought it would be fun to go for a flight together. My Dad had flown two years prior and was thrilled to return to the air. My Mom cheered us on from the landing zone as my Dad, Aaron, I, and my cousin Brad and his girlfriend, Kelly, road the shuttle up the hill. My Dad was so excited. Hearing him cheer on as he launched was one of the most joyful experiences. We had some wildfire haze and light conditions that evening, so our flights were short but incredibly smooth and beautiful. It felt really special to share the experience with my family.

Flight 65 on August, 9th, at 6:49pm. Flying with family.

August, 9th. My Dad in flight with Matt Pardis.

In August, I shifted my goals from simple launch-to-landing patterns to wanting to stay in the air longer. Flying in rising thermic air is how paragliders can climb high and use the height to start flying to new places. In flying, people refer to bump tolerance when you enter and exit thermals as your wing will pitch, dive, and roll as it enters different air speeds and directions. This is safe and something you can expect, but it can also feel a little scary until you help your brain understand that these movements are expected. Similar to paddling in currents with eddies, you need to know how to move through the changes in air to be efficient and safe and to move where you want to move. Knowing my bump tolerance is nearly zero; I signed up for a Thermal Post-P2 Clinic to help build confidence. The days leading up to the clinic were difficult as I started to worry that I wasn’t ready for this next phase of flying skill progression. Aaron reminded me that we can always choose to fly and not to fly when we want to and that by showing up, I would learn a lot from watching other pilots.

Matt Senior and Brian Fletcher were our guides and helped us get situated. We spent a day kiting our wings and reviewing thermal theory and techniques in class. We looked at the weather, and with a few overcast days, it would mean a little lift but also not chaotically turbulent conditions, which I was thankful for.

The course was also a nice shift from flying as soon as the shuttle arrived at the hill, to taking our time observing everything. We did take one quick flight to orient everyone to the location, but afterward, we spent plenty of time on launch watching and waiting for the conditions to be right. We were looking for indicators and shifts in the conditions to find the best time to fly to maintain height and climb - birds soaring, changes in wind speed, clouds forming and deteriorating, shadows and sun spots, and what was happening to other pilots in the sky as they worked to climb and maintain height.

During the course, we could turn within a thermal as a group and work to stay high. It was the first time I used a thermal rather than just passing through one. I learned a lot and gained skills I could take into my flights as I progressed.

Flights 66-74. August 13 & 14th. Thermal Clinic, photo taken 8/14.

August 16th. Thermal Clinic; watching pilots use a thermal to climb.

With a reorganization at my work, stress, business of life, socializing, and a butt-landing that stiffened up my back pinching a few nerves, I took off nearly a month of flying. I rested and, in that rest, realized how much I had missed flying. I missed the act of flying, the learning process, skill development, and the connection to the community. I had been a more cautious learner and sometimes wondered if the sport was a good fit for my life. During my break from flying, I realized that it was important to me, and I saw how much it had given my life in a single season. I did have a few weeks' reflection on the risk of flying and how to balance choosing to engage in a sport that could cause an injury, especially with a history of SI issues, but can give you moments of joy so profound it nearly brings you to tears.

As the season in the PNW with Northwest wrapped, I got back into flying with easy conditions and worked on trying to get in a few longer flights. I never did get in the hours of lift I had hoped for. However, I was so lucky that we had good weather - I was able to fly after work nearly every day for a week and a half, I saw a whole new cohort of students progress through the program, I was able to fly with my friends and my partner, and lift a glass and cheers our instructors and community for the end-of-season party. I had a few moments where I was looking out to the sunset with no one around, feeling content, stress-free, and simply happy.

Flight 78 on September 16th, at 6:30pm. Image taken while flying out to the valley and lake.

Flight 78 on September 16th, at 6:30pm. First flight selfie.

Flight 87 on September 24th, at 6:18 pm. Photo by Julia Lieberman.

Many thanks to the entire paragliding community at Tiger and Blanchard, my fellow students, the tandem guys, free pilots, and Sierra for instigating the paragliding love. I appreciated everyone’s kind words, good vibes, stoke, cheerleading, and supportive actions. I can’t count the times I was told, “You’ve got this, Kay,” exactly when I needed to hear it.

Thank you to my instructors: Austin Cox, Matt Senior, Luc Lachapelle, and Brian Fletcher.

Many thanks to William for the encouragement and ongoing help as he became an instructor and to Tom for all the shuttle chats.

A heartfelt thank you for the support on my flying journey and the constant reinforcement to believe in myself, to my love, Aaron Nash.

Cheers, Kay