Mountain Flying Theory
What?
The introduction to mountain flying clinic is focused on helping pilots develop a toolset for trip planning, site assessment, weather forecasting, risk evaluation, and sustainable decision making. Learning these fundamentals is the core of hike and fly, crosscountry flying, vol biv, and multi sport link ups.
Who?
The clinic is designed for beginner to intermediate pilots who have an interest in branching out and exploring new launches in mountainous terrain.
Where?
The ground school portion of the course will take place near Seattle. The field day will be decided upon as a team to best suit group experience and weather conditions, there are numerous sites across the Cascades that will be considered.
Format
The core of this clinic is focused on ground school, group discussion, and site assessment. Due to the nature of paragliding there is no guarantee of flying during the course, we may end up walking down during the field assessment if conditions aren’t suitable for flying. The maximum group size is five clients to ensure quality instruction and attention to safety.
Online Zoom Meeting:
Prior to the scheduled weekend we will do an evening zoom meeting to introduce the course material and demo a site assessment, and introduce the homework site assessment for the ground school portion of the course.
Day 1:
The first day will consist of sharing everyone’s site assessment assignment, discussing risk evaluation, sustainable decision making, equipment for mountain flying, medical kit, repair kit, landing patterns, self sufficiency tricks, and more!
Day 2:
The location of day two will be decided upon as a group based on weather conditions and group experience. We will begin with a thorough assessment of the landing and launch, if conditions permit we will have the opportunity to fly. The remainder of the time will be used to continue any topics and discussions from the previous day.
2026 Schedule
Course 1 (Anchorage, Alaska): August 29th - 30th
Course 2 (Anchorage, Alaska): September 5th - 6th (Full)
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Course 3 (Washington State): September 12th - 13th
(Full)
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Course 4 (Washington State): September 19th - 20th (1 spot left)
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Course 5 (Washington State): October 3rd - 4th
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Pricing
The price for the clinic is $595. It is structured similar to an AIRE 2 Avalanche course. This includes:
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Pre - planning online meeting
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Day 1 - Ground School
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Day 2 - Field Day, Site Assessment, Potential Flight
Please email nwparagliding@gmail.com for more information or to reserve your spot!
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Clay Blackiston
I gained so much confidence from the P2+ clinic this past week with Matt Senior and Austin Cox. It really is a missing step between P2 and "the next level". I feel so much more confident in the air now. Matty and Austin were such a calming and informative presence on radio while flying. I also asked about 45 questions per day and they never once rolled their eyes at me. So much positivity and encouragement! If you're considering doing a clinic in the future, especially with these two, don't even think twice just do it- you won't regret it!
Brian Olsen
Highly recommend! It was like getting not only an intro to thermal and xc flying, but also the keys to Tiger!
Chandler Haberlack
I want to thank Matty and Austin for hosting such a kick a** clinic. I highly recommend anyone who wants to try and progress in this sport to take the clinic next year. You'll be blown away with how much you learn and the confidence you'll get in your flying ability.