Full Paragliding Flight from Schiltgrat to Stechelberg | Thermal Struggles & Aerial Battles

Описание: What was meant to be a quick lunchtime flight turned into an intense battle for altitude and a lesson in patience!

On February 4th, 2025, I planned for a short midday scratch flight, expecting minimal thermals. I aimed to leave at 11:30 and return quickly, but delays pushed my start to 12:00, and well… I ended up coming back way too late—but it was absolutely worth it!

After heading up to Mürren, I met up with Ueli and Tom, who had already flown once before I arrived. We took the seat lift up to Schiltgrat, where we quickly got ready and launched. Ueli took off first, followed by Tom and me. He seemed to have much better luck with the conditions—either his flying was sharper than ours, or we just launched at a time when thermals were weaker. While Ueli soared above, Tom and I were locked in a desperate struggle to stay in the air. We scratched hard, fighting for lift like two drowning men, occasionally blocking each other unintentionally. I tried my best to stay out of Tom’s way, but in such tight conditions, it was tricky.

Eventually, Tom had to give up and head down, while I barely managed to find a lifeline and rescue myself. However, as soon as I started climbing, a swarm of pilots appeared, flying at me like hyenas sensing prey. Among them was one particularly clueless thermal pilot who repeatedly cut in front of me, forcing me to work extra hard to avoid risky situations. At one point, I even yelled at him—it’s all captured on video!

Despite the chaos, I managed to climb above launch and really enjoyed the flight. When Ueli and I finally started feeling the cold, we decided to call it a day, took a scenic little detour over Mürren, and then glided down to Stechelberg for landing. After touching down, we had a quick debrief, sharing a laugh over the adventure and agreeing that the guy with the green Nova wing had zero thermal etiquette.

All in all, an exciting and rewarding flight full of learning moments and unexpected drama. Join me for this Alpine adventure—don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more paragliding action!

00:00 Start Tom
00:31 My Launch
01:05 Flying towards the Thermal Spot
02:35 Scratching for Life
12:00 Thermals are starting to Catch on
21:00 First time reaching top of the Gaggle
24:30 Gifting away the Height for fun
27:00 Re-Entering Thermals for another Climb
40:00 Back at the Bottom - lets find some more Climb
42:00 Climbing again
42:00 Annoying Guy getting on my nerve
43:05 Yelling at the Guy
46:00 Topping out highest height of the Day
50:00 Trying out if there are Topland Possibilities
51:00 Climbing up again
53:30 Mürren Sightseeing
56:30 Over Lauterbrunnen Valley flying towards Landing
01:06:00 Landing Approach
01:07:00 Landing finished waiting for Ueli
01:08:00 Landing Approach Ueli