PATRICK

Flying, flying, flying - I was basically born with a paraglider in my cradle.

​

Here is why - in the mid 80s the first paragliders were seen in the Swiss sky and my parents were some of those early flying pioneers.

Ten years later, in 1994, I was born. As a baby I already felt drawn upwards. For many summers since the age of 7 I went to Alp to help my grandmother and save some money for my paragliding course.

By the time I had turned 14 I convinced my mother one day to leave her paraglider with me so I could do some ground handling while she went away with my father in the mountains. I was soon bored of just ground handling so I went to a steep slope and took off for the first time by myself. It was Hara-Kiri style and I was two years under the legal age limit for flying. I didn’t realise it at the time but other paraglider pilots at the Frutigen Hangar had seen me take off and hence my mother later tried to forbid me from flying. My father convinced her it would be safer if I continued to take lessons.

My training consisted of hours and hours on the training slopes doing short flights before I could do a real high flight. Finally in April 2010 I got the chance for my first high flight. As I stood waiting on take off shrouded in fog i was nervous if I could fly but the instructor gave me the green light and I launched. After a few seconds flying through the fog I burst into the sunlight and I knew, this is it. This is what I want to do.

I got my paragliding certificate at 16 and I have been flying above the clouds ever since!