On launch with: Matthias Rüegger

The Engadine Valley has always been like a second home for me. My mother’s family is from here, and we used to visit on vacation. I’m 44 now, so I’ve known it for a long time.

It was the first place I saw hang gliders and paragliders, when I was eight or nine. I always told myself, “When I grow up, that’s what I’m gonna do!”

It took quite some time because I didn’t start flying until I was 30. Before that I went to university late, studied communication sciences, and I was an audio engineer. When I reached 30 I told myself, “I will not grow up any more – it’s now or never.”

I learned to paraglide first, it’s definitely more accessible. My first wing was a Swing Arcus. I flew that for 18 months then switched to a Swing Mistral for about a year. Then I started to fly C gliders, the Advance Sigma 8, which looking back was too early. I recommend to all my students to take their...