Hello Mika, can you introduce yourself (who are you? where are you from?)?
Mickaël, 36 years old, in a couple with a wonderful wife, father of 2, living in Embrun for 6 years. I work in winter at Les Orres ski resort and in summer mainly for my website dedicated to paragliders and paragliders: www.toutleparapente.fr
I'm originally from Castres, and learned to paraglide with some friends on a hill in the Tarn region in 2009, at the age of 23. I've been hooked ever since, so it was a no-brainer to move to the mountains!
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How did you end up in Embrun?
I discovered the Alps through a paragliding competition in Isère, then I started doing seasons in different mountain resorts, first in Savoie. The aim was to combine seasonal employment with discovering mountain flying... which is still pretty much the case today. It was in this environment of seasonal workers that I met my wife, with whom we started a family, while continuing to do seasons in different resorts together, a sort of nomadic home in tune with the seasons. Naturally, we wanted to settle down and started looking for the ideal place for our cosy nest: my wife wanted swimming, warmth and water sports, and I obviously needed the best possible flying conditions... On the occasion of theOutdoormix Festival we discovered Embrun and Lac de Serre-Ponçon, and it was love at first sight. It was exactly the atmosphere we were looking for: lake, mountains, sun, conviviality...and big thermals!
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Can you tell me about your paragliding?
What I enjoy most is freestyle flying, which is basically flying along the mountains. I've also done a bit of competitive cross-country flying, with the aim of progressing and perfecting my skills. Today, it's just for fun, for me and to share my passion with my family and friends, since I'm a "tandem pilot" (I have the federal tandem qualification, which means I'm officially allowed to take friends flying). However, I'm not allowed to do so for remuneration; to do so, you have to become a professional by passing a DEJEPS exam). My absolute hobby is sharing my passion with my 5-year-old son Naël, in a tandem flight. They're not the longest flights I've ever done, far from it, but they're perhaps the most emotionally rich. In short, I'm a happy amateur, amateurism in the noblest sense of the word.
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What are your favorite spots around Serre-Ponçon?
First and foremost Saint-Vincent Les Forts for comfort: carpet on the take-off area, assistant for two-seater take-offs, solar panels for charging electronic equipment, toilets, running water, parking 50m away and the possibility of taking off and landing in the same place... Except when you miss your launch, in which case it's a lakeside landing that can lead to epic hitchhikes back to Saint-Vincent Les Forts... But apart from that, Saint-Vincent Les Forts is the luxury spot. Otherwise, I really like the Col de la Gardette and the "jambons" (site of a friendly and festive paragliding competition under the Piolit (commune of Chorges). It's a cross-country flight with an hour's walk. The aim of these flights is to cover some distance, to go from summit to summit, over the Grande Autane, to the Lac du Sautet and back over the western faces of the Dévoluy.
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What advice would you give to someone wishing to take up paragliding?
Take the time to learn and progress, and get in touch with clubs and experienced paragliders close to home. In paragliding, as in many outdoor sports, jumping the gun can have serious consequences. It's a sport where there's little room for error, and you need to remain humble and patient as you learn... You don't have 9 lives like a cat! As a first step, go flying with one of the professionals at Serre-Ponçon.
How has your professional life evolved? Tell us about this website you've created?
Indeed, www.toutleparapente.fr has been online for 2 years now. At the outset, it was just an information site, to help paragliders in their search for information: weather, tutorials, specific applications... But very quickly, as a result of requests in this direction, it became not only an online sales site, but also a place for sharing experiences: most recently, a pilot shared his experience of bivouac flying in Kyrgyzstan in an article with photos and videos, and another example, a fine article on paragliding in the cirque of Mafate on Reunion Island. I sell all paragliding-related equipment: from canopies to clothing, electronic instruments, online technical training, emergency parachutes... But I'm not just in it for the business, we're a close-knit community of paragliders, and if any independent pilots are looking for information on sites or conditions around Serre-Ponçon, they can contact me via this same website.
