Justin discovered paragliding in 2021 on a BGD Magic, exploring the steep valleys and lakes around his home in Nelson, British Columbia. From the start he was captivated by the mix of freedom, focus, and discovery that each flight demanded. That feeling continues to shape his life today.
Now flying the Base 3, the sport has carried Justin across Interior BC and the Oregon Coast, and into adventures like ski-fly and vol-biv. He co-founded the annual “Kootenagan,” a four-day self-supported vol-biv from Osoyoos to Nelson, and he has been steadily pioneering new routes, launches, and milestones, including his first 100 km XC. What keeps him coming back is not just distance, but the sense of connection to landscapes and people that only paragliding offers.
Curiosity and safety drive many of his projects. He builds homebrew weather stations to capture data in remote mountains and is rolling out FANET ground-stations across BC to give pilots real-time awareness in the backcountry. He also collaborates on VR paraglider simulators and is establishing a dedicated SIV site on Kootenay Lake. Alongside this he is pursuing instructor and tandem ratings so he can help new pilots progress and share the joy of free flight more widely.
Beyond the hill, he is a software engineer working on AI systems, but his happiest hours are in the mountains, snowboarding, diving into cold lakes, and building community around the stoke of flight.