A flight above the clouds- Paragliding in Bir Billing

Adventure is an exciting, unusual and hazardous experience.  Who wants to live their lives in the comfort zone? Maybe many.

But I want to live a life that exhilarates and excites me. A life where passion becomes my bread and excitement becomes my sweat. My bucketlist is full of adventurous adventures and I keep adding more to it. Just to put a tick to one on my list, I planned for paragliding in Bir Billing..

Me and my companion boarded a bus at night around 9 PM and reached Mandi early in morning. The valley of Joginder Nagar where Bir village is located, was about 80 kms away from Mandi. We boarded the bus from Mandi to Bir at 8 am, the bus dropped us at Bir road around 11 am. The place generally remains busy and crowded but fortunately we managed to ease past it. We started looking for homestays around the area which are not very difficult to find. suddenly between our hunt a kid with a pamphlet came running and asked us if we were there for the Paragliding. We acknowledged his query, and he started his pitch. The pitch was aggressive and compelling at the same moment. We were convinced, it was then when he picked my backpack and started walking.  He took us to the one in charge, who apparently was also the flight coach/trainer. On initially pitched INR 5000/- we got a good discount and we settled in at INR 4400/- for two which also includes videography on GoPro. Paragliding in Bir Billing is for 15 to 30 mins which include take off from Billing at the altitude of 8020 feet. We left our bags in a shack shop and hopped on a car which took us to the summit point.  We were absolutely pumped and ready to spread our wings. During the journey till the summit we started discussing the flight and how it is going to be, which scared my partner to bits. Somehow we managed to pull his pants up and reach the summit. We got down of our car, the guide started preparing us for the jump. We got our kits and gears, which made the moment more exciting. We started walking towards the starting cliff, it was a long green steep slope. Other aviators were discussing strategies on how to take off and land while some were busy checking their kits.

Paragliding in Bir Billing

We finally reached the top and started waiting for our turn to make the jump. The guides started instructing us of the safety measures, after doing his basic chores of keeping the gliders and harness in position, checking for the damages, inspecting for holes and patches and checking the direction of the winds (which apparently should not be coming from the side we were facing).

At that the moment, I too got scared. My heart started pounding heavily. My partner was having serious doubts after he saw others making the jump. His heart was in his mouth. Somehow we managed to brave up and got all geared up. We were ready to run down the steep slope for the flight. There comes our turn to make the run, my partner started running like a bull and upon reaching the cliff he made the jump. For a moment I thought... Read More