Date: Aug 3 – Aug 6, 2026

Location: Tiger Mountain (Issaquah, WA)

Format: 1 day ground school, 3 days flying (1 weather buffer/rest day)

Cost: $1,195 + tax (tips optional)

Instructors: Matt, Austin, Brian

How thermals form

1. The sun heats the ground; the ground heats the air.
2. Warm air wants to rise; cool air wants to sink.
3. Air tends to cling to the ground. An area that both heats the air and holds onto it is a collector — a crop field, dry grass, forest, rocky terrain.
4. That trapped warm air stays put until it reaches something that lets it go. That something is a trigger: a sharp peak, the boundary between a dry field and a green one, a tree line. These don’t move, so they’re called passive triggers.
5. Active triggers move — a tractor, a car, a person walking, a paraglider landing.
6. When a thermal rises far enough to reach the dew point, a cloud forms.

In the air, actively hunt for collectors, triggers, and clouds. They’re the only clues you get to where the invisible air is going up. We will talk about how to read from other pilots later.

The best collectors — the ground that heats the air most — are the ones that:

1. have been in the sun the longest;
2. face the sun most directly;
3. haven’t had their surface air stripped away by wind.

So in the morning, look to southeast-facing slopes on the lee side. Make sure you have enough altitude above the ridge.

How thermals behave

1. A thermal is a column of air, and it drifts downwind much more slowly than you do.
   • When thermalling, push a little further upwind than feels natural, and tighten your turn on the downwind side.
2. Thermals hold together — think of the column as something solid. Its lee side is turbulent.
3. When you hit a thermal, turn upwind (terrain clearance permitting). A thermal is an oval, and odds are you clipped the tail of it first.
4. Every thermal is different. They cycle on and off. Some aren’t organized columns at all, just a loose train of warm bubbles.

Zeroing: If you find yourself in zero sink (maintaining altitude), stay alert, sniff around the edges, and wait for the next release cycle to lift you.

Active piloting

1. Keep constant communication pressure — feel the wing’s weight through your arms at all times.
2. Feel the risers and where the canopy sits, and keep working to hold it over your head.
3. Pitch: canopy behind you, ease off; canopy ahead of you, add pressure. Read this from the risers, not from brake pressure.
4. Roll: when the wing rolls left — you swing out to the right side, your right riser higher than your left — pull the left brake and lean left. While counter-intuitive, this corrects the roll balance.

Practice: Practice forward kiting on strong-wind days while holding the wing steady overhead—it is one of the best ways to build muscle memory for active piloting.

Thermalling technique

Right as you enter a thermal, weightshift toward your intended turn direction while applying outside brake to hold a straight line. When you are ready to initiate the turn, ease off the outside brake and smoothly increase inside brake pressure.

Read the other pilots

Watch the pilots and the birds. Where are they? Are they turning? Are they climbing? If they’re climbing, go join them — speedbar on the glide over if you need it.

Cloud suck

• Managing cloud suck
  • Keep the edge of the cloud at a 45-degree angle relative to your flight path—that path is your escape route. Always aim toward the nearest blue sky.
  • Use a combination of big ears and speedbar to maintain a safe escape angle away from the cloud base.
• If You Get Sucked into a Cloud:
  • Maintain Heading: Rely on instrument headings or visual ground references outside the cloud edge (e.g., a reflective lake or shiny building).
  • Descend: Apply big ears combined with speedbar to maximize sink rate.

Situational awareness

Don’t assume everyone will respect right of way. Keep looking around. And work out early who “that guy” is — the one nobody wants to share a thermal with.

Handling Collapses (Asymmetric or Frontal):

1. Hands up to let the wing fly and rebuild airspeed.
2. Maintain your heading using weightshift away from the collapsed side.
3. Look up to assess the wing state.
4. On EN-A or EN-B wings, the glider is designed to self-recover automatically.
5. If the collapse sticks, apply a clear, deep pump on the affected side.
6. Minor wingtip ruffles do not require aggressive input—maintain communication pressure and continue active piloting.

The Two Fundamental Rules of Paragliding

When answering 90% of paragliding questions, the answer comes down to:

1. Do more kiting.
2. It depends.

References:

USHPA — Thermals Part One: Collectors, Wicks and Triggers:

https://www.ushpa.org/public/articles/2001-thermals-part-one-collectors-wicks-and-triggers.aspx

How to center a thermal

Aug. 10th, 2026

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