In the world of adventure sports, perhaps the most popular one is paragliding. The act of strapping a lightweight, free-flying glider aircraft on your back and launching off the edge of a cliff can be quite an experience. And the quaint village of Bir in Himachal Pradesh is a hotspot for this sport.
Paraglider flights do not use an engine but can still last in the air for many hours and cover wide distances. In April 2022, Austrian pilot Philipp Zellner covered a distance of 272 kilometres from Bir, and the flight lasted over eight hours.
Every year, The Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA), a Paris-based agency, organises global adventure sporting events. The Paragliding World Cup (PWC) is one such cross-country flying competition that is organised in only five to six different locations worldwide.
