Verbier Summits was my second foreign paragliding holiday since qualifying as a novice CP pilot arriving with 2 hours thermalling time. The accommodation was in a beautifully restored building, initially sharing a twin a room for the first couple of nights but then as other rooms became vacant I had a room to myself. A continental breakfast buffet was served from 8am in the restaurant downstairs, excellent muesli, croissants, yoghurts and fruit salads with fresh brewed coffee. At 8:30am we loaded up into minibuses in our respective groups to go up the mountain (at this time of year the gondola was not operating). Most days there was the opportunity to do up to four flights a day if you wished, but usually I just did the first morning top to bottom (15-20 mins) followed by a longer afternoon flight, the longest being about 3.5 hours. The conditions were fantastic, sunny every day, temperatures in the valley up to 30 degrees centigrade by the end of the week. In my group there were a couple of other low airtime pilots, one with a few years experience and our guide /instructor for the week Theunis from South Africa. Theunis was a brilliant guide, supervising the launches for the less experienced, then once we were all in the air guiding us over the radio to the best lift whilst all the time making sure we were flying safely. Once we had gained height he would then lead us across the valley on the planned route for the day. The first couple of days I didn't manage to stay up in the house launch thermal so was directed over to the back ridge next to the large landing field to play with the thermals that were easier to work. I managed to stay up for an hour or two in these which was good practice. The following days with Theunis's excellent direction and encouragement I managed to climb up in the launch thermal and joined the party flying around the valley at up to 4000m and even made it the top of the glacier on the opposite side of the valley. I finished the week with about 17 hours airtime to my name and even had some instruction in rapid descent techniques on the day when we reached 4200m, awesome! Although I never got to fly with them, I met up with Stu and Mike that run Verbier Summits who were both great guys, very enthusiastic and encouraging (though being identical twins I could never tell them apart!). All in all a fantastic holiday, well organised, excellent instruction from a dedicated team and really good value for money.

This was my 6th year in a row that I have stopped with Verbier Summits for a weeks guided paragliding holiday. Access from Geneva airport is very easy, just hop on a train at the airport and two & half hours later you arrive at Le Chable station which is only 5 minutes walk from the apartments. The accommodation is first class, very comfortable with a restaurant / bar on the ground floor, again the food is excellent. Stu and Mike run a very slick operation, top class instructors / guides, very safe and relaxed fun atmosphere, suitable for all levels of pilots. The top take off from Ruinettes (2200m) is a large grassy easy slope, with a spectacular view. It is free from crowds and you can take off from where you set up. First take offs start just after 9:00am with a silky smooth 20 minute 1300m top to bottom.The landing field is in a flat wide valley surrounded by open pasture There is usually an option of up to 4 flights a day so even if your thermalling is not quite up to scratch there is still plenty of action / opportunity. For the more experienced pilot you can find some of the most spectacular flying in the alps up around the snow fields / glaciers of the 4000+m peaks with views of the Matterhorn & Mont Blanc. I have never had less than 4 days flying out of 6 and some years 6 out of 6 which is a pretty good for the Alps (I might just be very lucky). This place is a hidden gem.

This was our second trip to Verbier Summits, and the first with my girlfriend. It is a fantastic place and the paragliding/coaching set up is second to none. Even a top-to-bottom flight lasts 20 minutes, and the valley is very forgiving to fly, even when conditions are strong. As with the last time, I learnt a huge amount from Mike, Stu and their team of coaches. My girlfriend spent the days exploring the mountain biking trails and even had one afternoon flying with us by tandem. The accomodation is lovely and the restaurant attached to the hotel is impressively good. We cannot recommend Verbier Summits enough.