Exploring from the Craigieburn Range

the Craigieburns in Canterbury is a fantastic place to fly and it’s on the back door of the Southern Alps.

The Alps provide a power playground of amazing terrains creating memorable highs which last for weeks recalling parts of a good flight. Lakes, bush gullies, glaciers, snow, waterfalls and a lot of rock against the blue sky makes every glide to new places that’s just fantastic to take in from a higher horizon that otherwise would take you a long time to see on foot.

On each revisit you see something different, and even the cloud formations can vary a lot making each day to be a new level of challenges. The more you explore the wider your playground becomes. The race is the time you have the sun and the direction is changeable after each climb.

Even more rewarding is to see other pilots sharing the same air and climbs that make the end of day debrief a chatter of experiences and stories to tell.

Every aspect of flying will challenge you in the Alps. The more you see the more you’ll want, and the rewards are forever.

Take a look at the number of chances you get each year to go exploring places and you find they rarely repeat the same way. As long as you can land safely, a bit of a walk and carry out is always worth the experience, besides, they often make the best stories. Your internal topographical thermal map will expand and make the next glide in a similar direction easier.

Hang gliding for me and my better half has been the main reason why we go to many places to explore. Even on a day that becomes limiting, you don’t have to go far to land in a meadow for a picnic or a walk in some quality countryside.

Whether its left or right at the top of a thermal, be tempted to take the move that you won’t regret, as getting the same chance again is rare. So pull on the VG and never let a chance go by...