[chuckolate milk]

Hi, my name is Chuck, and I believe I am ready to immerse myself into hanggliding. You never know what I may think, but I imagine I'll love it and I have always dreamed of flying in the air...not falling like skydiving or in a craft like an airplane. I am ready for my first tandem jump and take whatever steps necessary to learn how to go solo as soon as possible.

Question: I have been trying hard to search for schools or instruction. I am in the Northern Colorado region: Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland, and it seems I mostly only find paragliding. The nearest hanggliding instruction I've found is about 90 miles from me. Does anyone know of anyone closer to Fort Collins or even Boulder?

Also, is there a specific season or time for hanggliding or is it year round?

[Jason]

[Fred Wilson]

List of Schools http://www.ushpa.aero/schools_table.asp?state=co

Larger selection of Instructors at: http://www.ushpa.org/locator?locatormap.x=81&locatormap.y=59

[Spark]

Hey Chuck,

Welcome,

I've been living in / flying Colorado for about 4 years.

Spring and fall are best, summer has occasional monsoon thunderstorms and winter can shut down many of the mountain sites. There is aerotowing and scooter towing going on all year around.

You are very fortunate to be living very near where Mark Windsheimer teaches. He is one of very few of the best on the planet at instruction, repair, rigging, sewing, you name it.

Mark uses several scooter tow systems to teach with. He's been operating scooter tow for as long as it's been around. The tow site he uses is near Greeley

http://www.airtimeabove.com/

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Greeley,+CO&daddr=40.148668,-104.692132&hl=en&geocode=FZLPaAId9EPC-Sl5Xq_IhqFuhzEfEgpOgLrP0g%3BFbyeZAIdXIbC-Q&mra=ls&sll=40.14752,-104.691639&sspn=0.01094,0.017209&ie=UTF8&ll=40.148291,-104.692025&spn=0.01094,0.017209&t=h&z=16

I look forward to seeing you in the air someday

.

[HangDiver]

Contact the President of the Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Asso http://www.rmhpa.org/. He can help get you started - that handsome devil...

[QuienesSuPa]

Come to the next RMHPA meeting in Golden and say hi (3rd Wednesday of every month)! We'll get you the scoop on our flying this time of year and answer any questions you have about the sport. If you'd like to do an Aerotow tandem near Byers, CO, I can get you in contact with JT, our Tandem guy. We go out most Sunday's to tow.

Lots of buzz right now since that Prez is rumored to be buying a round of drinks at the next meeting... See you there!

Cheers,
BJ

[HangDiver]