The Cloudbase Mayhem is dedicated to dissecting excellence in flight. We interview the best pilots in the world and find out what makes them great. But in this episode we delve into the opposite end of the spectrum with world class climber, self-described goofball, North Face athlete, film director and producer Cedar Wright, who has recently caught the paragliding bug BADLY. His climbing partners include Alex Honnold, the late Dean Potter and Sean Leary, Tommy Caldwell, Will Gadd and a ton of the Yosemite Camp 4 Original Gangsters of the incredible “Valley Uprising” documentary like Peter Croft and Tommy Caldwell. Cedar and I met at last years Banff Mountain Film Festival where he happened across a paragliding film in Greenland called “Resounding Silence“.  The movie inspired Cedar to find out what paragliding was all about and five months ago he dove in feet first and hasn’t looked back. His stoke and passion for flying is infectious and his unique perspective on what makes human flight so special made for a stellar interview that was incredibly fun. Cedar came to Sun Valley last week to get a taste for big mountain air and find out how to fly cross country. It’s been incredibly fun to take him under my wing a little bit and he’s reminded me of how special the learning phase is…and more importantly how that arc never really stops. You’ll enjoy this show, Cedar is an awesome character, his energy and passion for what he calls “sky crack” is truly inspiring.

A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.

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Show Notes:

* Cedar discusses his climbing career, films and growing up in a town of 86 people

* We discuss how he got into paragliding this last year. Learning in Santa Barbara with Eagle Paragliding and Matt Henzi.

* Cedar talks about risk, and the difference in risk between climbing and paragliding, and the importance of taking risk in life.

* We talk about the level of adventure that exists in paragliding.  Is it possible to have a bigger adventure, is it the ultimate in freedom when it comes to adventure?

* What it’s like to be a beginner again

* The value of being audacious

* Being a sponsored athlete and some of Cedar’s mentors in the sport like Bill Belcourt.