Colima, MExico
Fly Colima, Mexico
Seven days in Colima will level up any pilot’s skills. This all-inclusive tour takes you to the most accessible flying site in Mexico and gives you plenty of time with our instructors to radically improve your handling, thermaling and XC skills.
Over the seven days, we will cover a variety of different flying techniques. From foundational pitch control and glider handling, to more advanced XC flying, terrain decisions, micro meteorology and more. By the end of this adventure tour you will feel more comfortable in the air and you will have a confident road map of how to continue progressing in your flying.
We will fly from La Cumbre launch in Colima, because of its proximity to our lodging (~20min!) and its unbelievable consistency of flyable weather. There are other options in the area if the weather demands. (Tapalpa, Zapotiltic) We are hopeful that our groups can achieve the local XC milk runs – La Cumbre to Comala (Mariachi and tequila, anyone?) or the 100km La Cumbre to Tapalpa! The flying there is so good, we’re so excited to show it to you.
WHO IS THE 7-DAY ADVENTURE TOUR RIGHT FOR?
- P2, P3 and P4 Pilots who want to learn and improve their thermalling technique and XC skills – From experience, we have noticed that all pilots learn more when in a group of mixed abilities
- Pilots who want to explore the paragliding in Mexico with a guide that knows the local area
- Pilots who can launch and land with minimal or no help
- People who are open-minded, curious, motivated, enthusiastic, friendly, polite, team-oriented, mindful, and fun!
only 8 spots Available
Tour 1 Jan 20-28
Tour 2 Jan 28 – Feb 4
ABOUT Colima
Flying Conditions
Colima has an easily accessed, drive-up launch. The launch itself is more than 300′ wide and is covered in astroturf. The conditions on launch are consistently perfect for beginners to launch, and local schools even use it for student’s first flights. Colima is near the ocean, so there is moisture that makes the thermals very approachable – soft edges and broad climbs. The site is mainly flatland thermaling, with abundant LZs. It is the perfect place. to learn, which is why we’ve been doing tours here since 2016.
Adventures on the ground
We always maximise flying on our tours but should a day or afternoon pass where it’s not possible to fly, plenty of other activities are at our fingertips to try. Including hot air balloons, skydiving, tandem paramotor trike flights with a world-reknowned acro pilot, beaches!!!, local culture and cuisine and a massive 12,500’ tall volcano!
Accommodations
We’ll stay in a sweet airbnb, or two. It’ll be homie paraglide vacation vibes. We’ll have a local woman cooking breakfast in the mornings and doing some light cooking. Plenty of space to spread out and rest, and plenty of common area to convene over tracklogs, gear setup and storytelling. We’re a group of friends and we’ll all work together to accommodate and support one another.
(Ari reserves the right to change the accommodation to a different hotel/bnb at any time, we will always substitute like for like and get the best possible option available)
WHAT’S INCLUDED
- 7 days of flying and adventure with our tour guides
- 8 nights accommodation
- Coffee and Breakfast
- Daily site and weather briefings
- In-air radio guidance
- Launch Fees
- 1-to-1 time with an instructor to discuss your current level and any goals you are working towards
- Shuttles between the different flying sites and hotels
- Daily shuttles to the launch site, landing zone pick-up and XC retrieve
- Ground transport following the group on XC flights
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
- Airline flights or travel to the destination of Colima
- Food and drink (except where breakfast may be included in the hotel stay, our detailed itinerary will let you know once you’re booked)
- Cost of any additional or optional activities
- Insurance (required)
- Covid-19 tests for travel
- Any additional nights accommodation if you arrive early or leave late
Packages
WHAT YOU NEED
- USHPA P2 license or above or international equivalent license
- Paragliding Equipment
- Certified paraglider (EN B or above)
- Certified harness
- Reserve parachute
- Helmet
- Unlocked dual-band VHF radio – we recommend the Yaesu FT-270 or FT-65R.
- audible vario
- Highly recommended to have a cockpit and flight instrument, could be as simple as your phone
- Garmin inreach or similar gps tracking device with 2 way messaging
- Ability to confidently take off and land on your own.
- Basic fitness level – ability to sustain a 35-minute power walk or hike your glider kit 2 miles continuous
- Warm clothes – you will feel the cold once you’ve thermalled to cloud base
- Comfortable and sturdy shoes – hiking boots are ideal
- USHPA does not cover third party insurance outside of USA. You can purchase travel insurance from World Nomads, you can click here to get a quote.
GUIDES
Ari Delashmutt
FounderAri in the Air – Ari has been a professional action sports athlete his entire adult life. He’s been paragliding for more than 9 years and over 2000 flight hours in 16 countries on 5 continents. Initially he chased acrobatics, reminiscent of his freeskiing background. Eventually, after his first 115km XC flight, (acro harness, no flight instrument, food or water or any idea what he was doing), he was hooked. He’s been chasing XC and competition flying ever since. He was married to a Mexican woman for nearly a decade, so has traveled extensively through the country and speaks spanish. He’s also guided paragliding tours in Colima before, and loves this place so much.
Kris Holub
Dean of Siv & acro“when I started paragliding I took a relatively unusual path at the time – I found myself almost immediately drawn to aerobatics and received my first taste of SIV at the conclusion of my first season, and knew that this was going to become a significant part of my life. I was so captivated by acro flying that I quit my job as a successful aerospace robotics engineer and moved to Europe for 4 months, where I lived, ate, and breathed acro flying. For those 4 months I flew whenever it was flyable – all day, 7 days a week, attempting to feed my insatiable appetite for knowledge and progression.
My mission now is to combine my talents as a communicator, my knowledge as pilot, and my passion for this community in order to help others accelerate their learning curve. It is my sincere desire that every pilot I work with is able to learn as much as possible, as safely and efficiently as possible, so that they can become better, safer, and more confident pilots whatever their dreams and aspirations are.
SKILLS PRACTICE
Colima is a thermal site and offers the perfect place for pilots to practice techniques and ask for observation and radio guidance when they want it. Tasks and skills practiced are based on the pilot’s current ability but can include:
Glider handling – pitch control, carving and active piloting
Thermalling technique – mapping, coring and finding triggers
Speed bar and active piloting on speed bar
Speed to fly theory and practice
Gliding techniques for efficiency and performance
XC Theory – LZ’s, weather, cloud flying, flight instruments and anything else you could possibly want to learn about flying paragliders cross-country
Colima, Mexico
Gallery of Colima
