Paragliding and hang-gliding are one step closer to legally getting off the ground in Banff National Park.
While still a forbidden activity in Banff, changes to national park aircraft regulations on Feb. 13 mean non-motorized paragliders and hang-gliders can now legally land in Banff without fear of charges being laid.
Parks Canada officials say the next step – which would allow gliders to launch off mountains – involves a detailed local assessment for Banff, though what that includes is not yet clear.
“While not an approved activity in the park, non-motorized hang-gliders and paragliders can legally land as of the Gazette (the official newspaper of the government of Canada) listing on Feb. 13, 2013,” said Michelle Macullo, a spokesperson for Banff National Park.
“Now that the regulatory changes are complete, we can proceed to look at it for Banff. A local assessment of both activities for Banff National Park is currently underway. There is no completion date for the assessment at this time.”
Paragliding and hang-gliding were approved as acceptable new recreational activities at a national level by Parks Canada in 2010, along with mountain biking, via ferrata, aerial parks, canopy tours and traction kiting.
At that point, it was up to the superintendents of the individual national parks to consider the activities at a local level. So far, only via ferrata has gone though a full local assessment in Banff.
Zip lines and downhill mountain biking are forbidden across all parks.
Famed Canmore-based glider Will Gadd welcomed changes to Parks Canada’s aircraft regulations as a first step in the process, and hopes national parks will soon become a premiere guiding destination in Canada.
“I think it’s great news,” said the adventurer who has been representing the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada (HPAC) in discussions with Parks Canada.
“It’s a human-powered activity that’s very non-damaging to the landscape and fits in well with Parks Canada’s mandate. I look forward to flying personally and sharing the mountains with other people from my glider.”
Gadd, who has been gliding for 20 years, said there also has been talk of private businesses, such as ski hills, running commercial tandem gliding operations.
“We have talked to a couple of ski hills and businesses about that, but it’s premature to talk about that until it’s an approved activity in the national park,” he said. “There’s only a couple of locations that would be any good for that.”
Jim Pissot, executive director of WildCanada Conservation Alliance, is worried recreational hang-gliding and paragliding will morph into organized spectator events or open the door to commercial business ventures.
“If this is the opening of the door for additional commercial activities, then Parks is continuing to go down the road of sacrificing authentic national park experience for chances for local businesses to make a buck,” he said.
“It has the ability to move the casual observation of a paraglider to one where there’s a bunch of cars parked at a scenic overlook to see 20 paragliders in a staged weekend event.”
Pissot also said Canada’s national parks are not meant to be venues for people to be entertained by other people.
“We all might take a look at someone climbing an ice waterfall, or someone taking a kayak down Johnston Canyon, but that’s not the principle reason we come,” he said.
“When spectator events, whether it’s a PGA golf tournament or a dragon boat race, begin to replace personal experiences, then our national parks are moving more into the realm of entertainment and away from personal exploration and learning.”
Gadd said hang-gliding and paragliding are very low impact and said there is no request by HPAC for any infrastructure to be built in the parks to support these activities.
“In paragliding, we tend to launch above tree line and scree, and where we tend to land we don’t need runways and prepared landing areas. One of the key things is we don’t want any new infrastructure,” he said.
“Once on the ground, hang glider pilots are subject to every rule every other user in the national park has to follow, and once we’re in the air we basically disappear. There is not much visible impact.”
