The idea of pulling a large parachute behind you until the wind catches it,

then running down a mountainside until you're swept up into the air, is called paragliding.

Some might argue that what was just described sounds more like a nightmare.

For a professional paraglider, 36-year-old Eva Wisnirska, back in 2007 at the Manila

XC Open, it was a little bit of both. Welcome to Maroon, harrowing tales of the catastrophically

lost. I'm Jack Luna. This is Aaron Habel. From the moment Ava Viznirska tried paragliding, she knew she was hooked.

Becoming addicted to the freedom and adrenaline,

Ava took to her newfound obsession with natural talent,

and soon her entire lifestyle would revolve around the sport.

Born in Poland in 1971, Ava moved to Germany in her 20s. Just before her 30th birthday,

she was introduced to paragliding and sought out a flight school in Germany where she could

obtain her license. Once she had that, Ava knew she had found what she wanted to do for the rest of

her life. Shortly after beginning her paragliding journey, some friends suggested she get into flying

competitively, and after researching competitions in her area, she thought, why not? After entering and

winning her first competition, Ava would go on to win more, finding success in every competition

she entered. In 2004, she was ranked sixth in the German League after only one year of competing.

This sparked her desire to combine her talent and hard work to become the best paraglider in the

world. Eva began living in her car to be able to follow the competition circuit, and four

years later, she had gained a collection of awards and competition wins, including winning

four of the five World Cups. She entered in the women's category and was placed 20th overall.

Ava represented Germany in the Paragliding World Cup, earning the respect of her fellow pilots,

and the title of the top female paraglider and one of the most skilled paragliders in the world.

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