Winter Parapenting in Val Thorens

I booked a tandem parapente with Evolution 2 online which was really easy and they were quick to respond to a late request on Monday evening for a flight the following day. The company is fairly new to Val Thorens and was only set up last season as mountain specialists offering ski lessons and “mountain adventures”.

Having checked the forecast for the week I could see that yesterday was the only sunny day so sent over a request and I was offered a flight time of 11am. There are two options with Evolution 2 either a flight from the top of the ‘Boismint’ lift or higher up at the top of the ‘Peclet’ lift. I opted for the lower (and less expensive) flight and was given instructions to meet the instructor at the bottom of the lift. When I arrived the instructor, Nico, was easy to spot with a massive backpack on the snow. He was a little alarmed to see that I had a snowboard rather than skis but after enquiring if I was proficient we headed up the lift to the start point.

Having previously taken a parapente flight in the Meribel valley on a snowboard I was not really concerned about the takeoff however I was soon to be proven wrong! The Meribel flight took place at the top of ‘La Loze’ lift with a smooth snow section for takeoff and afterwards basically dropping off the mountain for the descent down to La Praz. The Val Thorens parapente experience is slightly different and more extreme I would say. The previous experience was a gentle flight heading down taking in the views, this one was more sweeping and certainly more exciting and entertaining.

Back to the takeoff, if you are unsure about how this operates, you are firstly given a loose backpack and harness which is clipped on. The instructor then straightens out the parapente behind and lines up his skis on the outside with your skis or in my case, snowboard in the centre. You are then clipped together, clipped into skis/board and the idea is to just glide down the mountain before you then find that you are both floating in the air.

The main instruction is to keep your skis/snowboard straight. When we began our takeoff all seemed to be going smoothly until my snowboard caught in some choppy and hard off piste before I then ended up bizarrely on my stomach - I was kind of hoping the flight would continue like this to be honest! It didn’t and we came to a halt with me in a less than gracious position face down in the snow between the instructors legs and tangled in the strings of the parachute. It was at least entertaining for the skiers who had stopped to watch!

Take two. We walked back up to the start point to try again. This attempt was much more successful despite still a little clip of my board at the last minute making for a brilliant blooper on the video as I took to the air once again head first. The parachute however this time kicked in and before I knew it I was comfortably floating above the mountains, phew.

As mentioned above, the Val Thorens flight was significantly different to the previous experience in Meribel. It is a much quicker descent and the instructor immediately began to twist and turn the parachute as we wound our way around the sky, dropping and rising, nearly touching the mountains and the top of skiers heads at some points! It was just awesome. The views are immense and the backpack you are given to wear with harness is really comfortable and you certainly feel that you are in safe hands. The instructor did keep checking if I was OK as I was quiet, but I just had a huge grin on my face!

Before I knew it we were heading for the landing area, which went much more smoothly than the take-off. Again just keeping your board/skis straight you gently touch the snow and you are safely down. The landing point is just above the Cairn lift so you can continue your ski day from there.

All in all the flight lasts around just 4 minutes and costs 70 euros but is worth every penny! It is definitely an experience to remember and if you are with family or friends they would be able to view most of the flight from the takeoff point at Boismint. I also opted for the video and photo package which I would recommend as the flight goes so quickly it is nice to re-watch it back home.

Evolution 2 were a great company to deal with, the only problem for them being weather conditions. Before booking just make sure that you check the forecast so you are not disappointed. It does not always take a lot of wind for them to not be able to fly and the flights at Peclet suffer from this more than at Boismint.

Just one final thing, if you are a snowboarder they do prefer that you advise then in advance. I did not think it was a problem from my previous flight however the conditions were significantly different for takeoff. You can still do the flight just let them know and apparently they have an adapted snowboard set-up with skis underneath to allow for a smoother takeoff and successful flight. Apparently I was the first to attempt the head first type takeoff, all of Nico’s previous flights in Val Thorens in the past two years have all been completed smoothly so don’t worry I was a oneoff!

This is certainly one to include on your Val Thorens bucketlist that’s for sure, enjoy.