Knee-high summer grass atop the Lake George escarpment trembles in the sea breeze at dawn.
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East from the Tasman Sea, the breeze rises up the edge of the ridge like a wave, collecting anyone who wants a ride.
Paragliders say the ridge north of Canberra climbing sharply from the lake's flat bed is world-class. And the best time to let the breeze fill a canopy and sail into the sky is the peak of summer.
Paragliders gather before the wind becomes too powerful. An early falcon has the same idea, as do two magpies that lift swiftly as if shot from a cannon.
They unzip their 15-kilo packs and tuck into their clothes and strap on altimeters, variometers, GPS, UHF radios, video and still cameras. And a good helmet.
Paraglider Clancy Pamment unravels 300-kilo breaking strain strands that will carry him under his canopy. To lessen drag the strands taper to 60-kilo breaking strain - as fine as tooth floss for maximum performance.
He started 18 months ago, the same as many before him who realised that while mountaineering, paragliding from a peak would cut to 20 minutes a three-hour trek to the bottom.
As adrenalin rewards the thrill seeker, so too does exhilaration, bringing paragliders out into an icy breeze with early sunlight on their shoulders.
Mr Pamment's best flight came mid-morning in April last year, when he thermal-hopped for more than 100 kilometres over Collector, Yass, Bowning, stubble fields and highways before landing at Harden.
"It was great. One of those days when everything just worked and was easy, which is unusual," Mr Pamment said.
ACT Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association president Alistair Dickie said every pilot had the same word for catching the tail end of a sea breeze:
"Magical. Flying at Lake George either in the afternoon as the sun is setting, or in the morning as the sun rises is like magic," he said.
"You are soaring with eagles and enjoying the air. It is very beautiful."
Pilots can scoot along the controlled air space and get out to well past Yass.
"Just jumping from thermal to thermal. It is one of those sports most people are just not aware of, I guess," Mr Dickie said.
A cranky wedge-tailed eagle often gives paragliders an extra thrill, tailing them and tearing holes into their canopies. It doesn't have a problem with the hang gliders.
Other eagles are happy to accompany paragliders, but become aggressive with hang gliders.
After assembling their equipment out of the wind, paragliders walk to the edge of the ridge to reverse launch, first facing their canopy to check its structure and strands.
They then turn to face the breeze, taking a few stuttering steps before the wind carries them off over tree tops and the Federal Highway's traffic below.
Mr Pamment said a wrong move would cause a canopy to fold up, a horrible prospect given they are hundreds of metres in the air.
"It is a beautiful safety feature," he said, explaining that if not for the collapse the pilot could become entangled, preventing the canopy from re-opening and resuming their flight.
