This forum is dedicated to discussions on how to grow the sport of hang gliding. We will take a methodical approach to collect data and come up with implementable ideas on how to increase our numbers. This includes effective marketing, lead generation, site access issues, improving regulations, lack of instructors, lack of sites, etc

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By Azz
#167414
Apologies to any hangliding enthusiasts who find my lack of knowledge a stain on glory of hanggliding firstly lol

Quite simply a friend and i are very much into rock climbing and mountaineering, and out of nowhere we wondered if there was a hangglider that was compact enough to transport as a hiker (without a car) up to a mountain, set up and take off with.

Is there anything currently out there like this??

I know you could paraglide but for me the beauty is in hanggliding and i'd love to look into this further to see if someone has developed something

Cheers
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By peanuts
#167415
probably not. while there are a few gliders that will pack up to 6-7 feet, there is still the weight to contend with. glider will weigh 25+kilos, and equipment(harness, parachute, helmet, etc. will add another 10 k. just how strong are you and your friend, and how far are you planning to hike with this?
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By peanuts
#167418
TomGalvin wrote:I hike with regular packed length gliders a fair bit. My personal limit is about 3 miles and no more than 2000 feet elevation gain, and most pilots think I am crazy for even going even half that distance.

I would like to have one of these though.

http://www.finsterwalder-charly.de/html ... rachen.php

tom, i salute you. a few decades ago, i also hiked in to fly, though not the distances you describe, and my wing only weighed about 35 # and no parachute. you are certainly a rarity today.
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By red
#167419
Azz wrote:Apologies to any hangliding enthusiasts who find my lack of knowledge a stain on glory of hanggliding firstly lol
Quite simply a friend and i are very much into rock climbing and mountaineering, and out of nowhere we wondered if there was a hangglider that was compact enough to transport as a hiker (without a car) up to a mountain, set up and take off with.
Cheers
Azz,

:welcome: to the HG forum! No apology needed! 8)

Finsterwalder gliders are one good option, for short-packing gliders,
http://www.finsterwalder-charly.de/html ... rachen.php
with several choices available. Not many gliders "short-pack" as well and as easily as they do.

In the UK, contact the
http://www.bhpa.co.uk/
for advice on HG lessons, if you have not done so. They have a good programme of HG instruction, and beyond that, mentoring, as you gain experience.

:welcome: to the forum!
:welcome: to the sky!

:mrgreen:
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By boarini2003
#167422
I hate myself for saying this, but if mountaineering is your thing, learn to paraglide. They even have extra light paragliders built for that purpose. You can hike a hang glider, but for real mountaineering a paraglider is the only option of you want to fly.
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By HangDiver
#167427
A friend here had a Finsterwalder and loved it. Very light weight. He ordered it from a dealer and it was delivered the next day Fed Ex in a box to his door step.
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By woodysr2
#167444
I had a funfex for about a year it is a very nice glider to fly nice and lightweight also but because it shortpacks to just over 6 feet the sail needs to be removed as part of the derigging/rigging process.
I must admit I know nothing about mountaineering/rock climbing but would there be enough of a rigging area to build the glider once you have reached the summit and they are not the best of gliders to rig in windy conditions and it would need almost an hour once you have become proficient at rigging it.
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By zamuro
#167448
HangDiver:
A friend here had a Finsterwalder and loved it. Very light weight. He ordered it from a dealer and it was delivered the next day Fed Ex in a box to his door step.
Which one?
how does it fly (handling, performance)?.
Does he hike with it?
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By addicted2climbing
#167450
Hello Azz,

Why not just do both but seperately. It's what I do.

Anyhow, Sadly I would have to agree with the suggestion of PG. I had absolutley no desire to fly PG until I read about the X-Alps. Somethng similar to that may be perfect for you. http://www.redbullxalps.com/index.aspx

I suppose if your an Aid climber you could always haul a short packed Falcon 3 but then only one of you would get to fly down.

Nothing like an E9 climb dragging a 50lb glider...oh and a full rack of cams.. :goodidea:

Marc
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By HangDiver
#167470
zamuro wrote:HangDiver:
A friend here had a Finsterwalder and loved it. Very light weight. He ordered it from a dealer and it was delivered the next day Fed Ex in a box to his door step.
Which one?
how does it fly (handling, performance)?.
Does he hike with it?
He had the perfex single surface. H4 pilot - he used it as a floater/light conditions small landing area glider.
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By hangster
#167493
First thing is that you do not want a glider that breaks down to 6 ft cuz setting it up would take you over an hour (if not two) and by that time conditions could change and you won't be able to launch so you'd be looking at a real pain in the ass .....In your case i think a Paraglider would be your best bet but be aware that they do experience collapses and all sorts of things personally wouldn't want to deal with.
By Matt John
#185119
What we're all doing with orgonite is real magic by any standards, of course, but it's not sensationalized--probably can't be sensationalized.

I saw a fellow take his fingers off and replace them in the middle of a small crowd in a bowling alley. I noticed that his associate was walking close around the edge of the crowd and I assumed that one was picking pockets. They left really fast

A Persian friend told me that when he was in the army (that was before the war that destroyed both countries) he was a teacher in a rural village, where clearly saw a man remove his head and replace it during a ceremony.

Sensationalism is perhaps just a distraction that keeps us from looking at reality with a balanced mind, which is why the disinformation websites get a lot more traffic than the substantive ones do.

That's not to say that the African witch doctor in the film isn't performing a legitimate task, of course. I didn't get a creepy feeling from it but that's only my personal impression, of course. I read about an initiation rite for young men in West Africa in which a drum was turned into a hyperdimensional portal that the initiate had to jump into. Talk about trust!

When I do firewalks it doesn't feel sensational or even strange. When we bust a big blue hole with a home-made cloudbuster in a DOR-saturated sky it also doesn't feel sensational, though it's a lot of fun and it's genuinely empowering.

I gotta tell ya that this flying thing is pretty daunting. On my own, I still haven't done more than hop up around fifty feet while going down teh runway a few times but at least that experience boosted my confidence and also put an end to my anxiety-induced insomnia a month ago. I've got one more lesson in Roger's plane, then he's going to start coaching me over the radio from the ground, here at the field.

It snowed a lot last week. I laboriously shovelled through the foot of snow from the hangar to the taxiway, then the guys plowed the runway and taxiway, then the next couple of days all the snow melted but it looks like my final lesson will be coming up on Saturday, grid willing.

Anthony W told me that he thinks it's an absolute hoot to consider me flying that funny little airplane to a mountain top, dropping equally ridiculous, apparently inane objects on a billion-dollar death ray array and disabling it. Nobody appreciates the humor of this scenario more than I do, though.

Hey, what do you suppose the Unorganized Etheric Air Force will look like in five years? I bet it will have some real airplanes in it. Maybe we'll have a C-130 to drop cloudbusters all across the Sahara, for instance. Talk about humble beginnings!

~Matt :goodidea:
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By Tigouille
#185960
WIKIDELTA
didier favre and vol bivouac...
he carried it up!
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By CAL
#185976
peanuts wrote:
TomGalvin wrote:I hike with regular packed length gliders a fair bit. My personal limit is about 3 miles and no more than 2000 feet elevation gain, and most pilots think I am crazy for even going even half that distance.

I would like to have one of these though.

http://www.finsterwalder-charly.de/html ... rachen.php

tom, i salute you. a few decades ago, i also hiked in to fly, though not the distances you describe, and my wing only weighed about 35 # and no parachute. you are certainly a rarity today.
i am with you peanuts i used to hike with the same set up , i also used a swing seat which did not require a harness, I Salute you Tom as well :thumbsup:
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By skyshaddo
#186055
They do make portable hang gliders....there call paragliders :twisted:

Blaze away!

Shaddo
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By CAL
#186108
skyshaddo wrote:They do make portable hang gliders....there call paragliders :twisted:

Blaze away!

Shaddo
Awesome Avatar Shadd !
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By skyshaddo
#186139
Thanks Cal,
Well...actually thank Ryan, It's a picture from our Cali trip

Shaddo
By noman3
#186198
TomGalvin wrote:I hike with regular packed length gliders a fair bit. My personal limit is about 3 miles and no more than 2000 feet elevation gain, and most pilots think I am crazy for even going even half that distance.

I would like to have one of these though.

http://www.finsterwalder-charly.de/html ... rachen.php

holy jumpin sheep shitt batman,you are a monster sir!!!!!Keithster is our local iron man,hes a monster to!.Id cough up a lung or two before i could do that.You have got my salute to. :shock: