Grouse Mountain

Paragliding at Grouse Mountain from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.

Vancouver, on the West coast of Canada, is a beautiful city; usually rated the second best city to live in, behind Geneva. I used to live here but recently had a chance to visit during a weekend. The weather forecast was good so I brought my glider with me and had a fun fly.

It was fun thermalling low over the Grizzly bear enclosure on top of the mountain, the waterfall, and waving to tourists having lunch on the restaurant patio. The Lions Gate bridge, the Capilano dam, and downtown Vancouver are also beautiful from the air.

Floating above the mountain in the warm summer air, on this lazy Saturday afternoon, was good for the soul.

Muller Windsports

Paragliding at Muller Windsports from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.

Muller Windsports has everything you need to hangglide, paraglide or kite surf.

Chris and Tihi taught me to paraglide on this hill years after I started hanggliding. I was really just curious about paragliding and had no idea I would enjoy it so much.

I like coming to this hill every so often. There's always someone I haven't seen in a while and the Rocky Mountain air on this little hill makes every day just a little different. Watching students learning the basics also reminds me of everything I went through to be able to have all the amazing experiences that flying has given me.

On this day the prevailing wind was only about 10 km/h but the thermal cycles brought gusts of 40 km/h. This place can teach you a lot about how to fly a paraglider.

Devin McMurdo -future Canadian Champion- was out with his shiny new UP Kantega XC. That thing has some nice lines for a LTF 1-2 wing. Seems to have a good sink rate. I bet you could get some pretty sweet distances with it.

Mount Cheam

Paragliding @ Bridal Falls from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.

After living and flying in Vancouver, British Columbia for ten years I had still never been fortunate enough to soar Mount Cheam, the highest mountain in the Fraser Valley.

Then this week I was visiting family over the weekend and decided to go out for a quick flight from Bridal Falls, because my Dad wanted to see me fly.

Soon after launching I hit a strong thermal that allowed me to bench up to the ridge behind launch. I kept getting a little higher, a little deeper and a little over, until finally I was soaring the face of this massive mountain named 'wild strawberries' in Halkomelem, that stands at 2100 m (7000 ft).

I was only wearing shorts and speedsleeves, not expecting to get that high. Man, it was cold.

Chill session @ Müller Hill

Modern life is too complicated, disconnected. Too noisy. Every so often I need to disconnect from the disconnected, reconnect with the wind and just flow.....

Paragliding @ Müller Hill from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.