Japan - Nagano Paragliding

On our second paragliding attempt, we drove back out to Aoki hoping for good wind conditions. We were told the wind was not too good at Aoki but there was a location about 45 min away that was flyable. So we jumped back into our rental car and followed a van full of Japanese Paraglider students through the back roads of Nagano to a different (more flyable) mountain. After spending quite some time studying a local map I determined this second location was either at or nearby the Mizutori Park between Ikeda and Ikusaka (45 min west of Aoki).

A beautiful training hill and mountain to fly off.


When we finally arrived at the top of the mountain the wind conditions had become slightly "not ideal". They were getting a little gusty and turbulent however, there were a few other gliders in the air that seemed to be doing just fine.  So Kingsley made the decision to launch and had an brief but very exciting (partial wing collapse) flight. 


Kingsley, after years of dreaming about it finally flew in Japan.


Kingsley handled the rocky flight just fine but was not desperate to fly again after all that adventure and no other pilots launched after they saw how Kingsley's flight went.  So we said goodbye to our new Japanese paraglider friends and drove along the river till we found a nice spot for (yet another) paragliders picnic of tuna, crackers and cheese.  I'm sure by this point my parents were pretty tired of tuna and crackers, though they never once complained.  

Overall the day was a success. It was another beautiful day in the mountains of Japan and we had a lovely time just being together driving along and exploring tiny farms and villages. 


Labels: edit post

4 Response to "Japan - Nagano Paragliding "

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)