Ever been parasailing? Popular at vacation destinations around the world, it involves being tethered to the back of a boat and let out gently while strapped to a parachute. You float above the world as the boat cruises around for a while. It's pretty leisurely -- bordering on boring.
So it's not to be confused with paragliding, a very difficult but overall pretty safe sport that involves jumping off of mountains, avoiding adverse winds, pulling off tricky maneuvers, and on very rare occasions (like when you're caught by an unexpectedly strong gust of wind) trying not to die with a parachute strapped to your back. There are competitive paragliding circuits, complete with paragliding professionals.
One of those professionals, Chris Santacroce, paid a visit to Alaska recently and conducted a clinic for the Alaska paragliding association Arctic Wind Walkers. After a lecture on the ups and downs of paragliding -- in which he warns of getting "G'd out," in situations where a maneuver sends you into a controlled quick spin or turn -- Santacroce took to the air, where he partially collapses his chute to execute quick turns and controlled spins before coming down for a safe landing.
YouTube user CHRISONTHELAKE uploaded an up-close-and-personal video of the run, which offers a disorienting look at the twists and turns that a professional paraglider can pull off, and it occasionally gets hard to tell which way is up and which is down.
Not all paragliding trips are this extreme though. Some, depite the high altitude, are just low-risk, gently floating down to the ground far below while taking in the Alaska scenery. The abundance of climbable mountains and majestic views in the state seem like they would make it a great place to be a part of the sport. If you don't believe it, check out these March runs launched by foot from mountains in Eagle River and Peters Creek:
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