I still remember my worst thermal riding day like it was yesterday. Two years ago, I was flying a 3-day cross-country route through the French Alps, 200 hours of flight time under my belt, convinced I'd mastered the basics of thermals. I watched a senior pilot climb 2,000m in 45 minutes while I circled in weak, bumpy lift for 20 minutes, lost 300m of altitude fighting a broken thermal, and landed 12km short of my intended campsite, forced to hitchhike back to my car. That day was the wake-up call I needed: I didn't just need to "find thermals" --- I needed to master how to find them fast, climb efficiently, and link them without wasting hours (or altitude) on garbage lift.
Most intermediate paragliders know the textbook definition of a thermal: a rising column of warm air that forms when the sun heats the ground. But knowing the definition doesn't mean you can consistently find them, center yourself in the core, and use them to fly longer cross-country routes. Over the past two years, I've tested these steps on 30+ backcountry flights across the Alps, Rockies, and Pyrenees, and they've cut my average climb time per thermal by 40% and doubled the length of my cross-country routes. No fancy gadgets required, just a little pre-flight prep and a lot of practice adjusting your habits.
Pre-Flight Prep: Read the Sky Before You Even Strap In
The biggest mistake intermediate pilots make is launching without a plan for where thermals will form. Thermals don't appear out of nowhere --- they follow predictable patterns based on terrain, sun exposure, and wind, and you can spot the clues before you take off. First, check the forecast: note the expected high temperature, wind speed and direction, and the time thermals are forecast to start forming (usually 1-2 hours after sunrise, and again 1-2 hours before sunset, when the ground is warmest). If you're flying in a new area, ask local pilots for the lowdown: they'll tell you which south-facing rocky slopes, dry riverbeds, or even parking lots act as reliable thermal triggers, and which areas are almost always sink. When you're on the ground before launch, scan the terrain for surface indicators: dust devils spinning up on exposed slopes, birds (especially hawks and eagles) circling in one spot, cumulus clouds starting to puff up on the horizon, or even dark, sun-baked patches of rock or asphalt that absorb more heat than surrounding grass or forest. If you see a dust devil forming on a south-facing slope 2km from launch, that's a dead giveaway that thermal activity will be strong there in 30 minutes --- plan your initial glide to head straight for that area instead of flying randomly and hoping to bump into a thermal.
Nail the Thermal Entry: Stop Turning Too Early (Or Too Late)
90% of the time I see intermediate pilots waste altitude, it's because they mess up the first turn when they hit a thermal. The goal of entry isn't to immediately start circling --- it's to confirm you're in lift, then center yourself in the core as fast as possible. Forget the old advice to do a full 360 turn as soon as you feel a bump. Instead, use the 30-degree test: when you first feel a small jolt of lift, make a shallow 30-degree banked turn into the wind (not away from it --- turning away will push you out of the thermal before you even confirm it's there). Watch your vario as you turn: if the climb rate jumps from 0 to +1 m/s or higher, keep turning gradually to a full circle. If the lift fades to -0.5 m/s or lower as you turn, straighten out immediately and keep flying forward --- you just brushed the edge of a weak thermal, and circling here will only make you lose altitude. Once you confirm you're in consistent lift, keep your circle wide at first (100m+ diameter) until you locate the core. The core of a thermal is almost always offset slightly downwind from where you first felt the lift, so adjust your circle to drift slowly downwind as you climb. A common intermediate mistake is to circle in a fixed spot while the thermal drifts away, leaving you in the weaker edges of the column. If you watch your ground speed while circling, you'll notice it's slightly faster than the wind speed at your altitude --- that's the thermal carrying you along, so match that drift to stay centered. Also, don't overbank on entry: keep your bank angle at 30-45 degrees max for the first 2-3 turns. Overbanking slows your wing down, increases your risk of a stall, and makes it harder to adjust your circle if the core shifts.
Optimize Your Climb: Stop Wasting 30% of Your Thermal's Potential
Once you're in a confirmed thermal, small adjustments to your speed, bank angle, and circle size will make a huge difference in how fast you climb --- and how much altitude you have left for the glide to your next goal. First, fly at minimum sink speed, not best glide speed. For most EN-B and EN-C wings, minimum sink is between 40-45 km/h (25-28 mph) --- this is the speed that gives you the highest possible climb rate. If you're flying into a 10 km/h headwind, add that wind speed to your minimum sink speed so you don't stall. If you're flying with a tailwind, subtract it, so you don't fly too fast and lose lift. Next, tighten your circle as the lift gets stronger. Once you're getting consistent +1.5 m/s or higher climb rate, tighten your circle to 30-50m diameter, the smallest size you can control without stalling. Smaller circles keep you in the core of the thermal, where the lift is strongest, instead of wasting time in the weaker edges. The only exception is if the thermal is turbulent: if you're getting bounced around, widen your circle slightly to smooth out your flight path, instead of overcorrecting and risking a collapse. Finally, don't chase garbage thermals. If the climb rate is inconsistent (bouncing between +0.3 m/s and -0.2 m/s) or lower than +0.8 m/s, bail after 60 seconds of trying to center it. You'll waste more altitude fighting a weak thermal than you will gliding 1-2km to find a stronger one that will get you 500m higher in half the time. I used to waste 10+ minutes per flight on weak, broken thermals before I learned this rule --- now I skip them entirely and almost never run out of altitude before my next goal.
Link Thermals for Cross-Country Success: Stop Landing Short Every Flight
The difference between a 10km flight and a 50km cross-country route isn't how high you can climb --- it's how efficiently you link thermals together. The biggest mistake intermediate pilots make here is climbing all the way to cloudbase every time they find a thermal. That's a waste of time, and it leaves you with less altitude to glide to the next thermal trigger. Instead, use the 300m rule: once you're 300m above your launch height (or 300m above the height of the next expected thermal trigger, like a ridge line or valley floor), stop climbing and start gliding toward your next goal. Climbing higher than that only adds 5-10 minutes of extra climb time per thermal, with no real benefit to your glide distance. When you're gliding between thermals, fly at best glide speed, not minimum sink --- you want to cover as much horizontal distance as possible before you hit your next thermal. At the same time, keep scanning the sky for thermal indicators: cumulus clouds, circling birds, dust devils, and even small bumps in the air that signal a thermal below. If you see a cumulus cloud, don't fly straight to its base --- the core of the thermal is almost always 100-200m upwind of the cloud, so fly to the upwind side of the cloud to intercept the rising air before it reaches the cloud base. And if you hit sink? Don't push forward. If your vario drops to -2 m/s or lower, turn 180 degrees and head back to the last thermal you were in, instead of pushing forward and risking a landing in a remote, inaccessible area. I've lost count of how many times I've seen intermediate pilots push through sink, lose 500m of altitude, and end up landing 5km from the nearest road. Turning back isn't a failure --- it's how you save altitude for the next thermal.
Handle Common Thermal Hiccups Without Panicking
Even experienced pilots run into tricky thermals: turbulent, broken lift, shifting cores, or thermals that fade halfway up your climb. The difference between a good pilot and a great one is how they handle these hiccups without losing altitude or putting themselves at risk. If you hit turbulence in a thermal: don't overcorrect with your controls. Keep your wing pressurized with small, smooth brake inputs, and if the turbulence is severe (you're getting bounced around more than normal), exit the thermal immediately by flying straight for 30 seconds to get out of the rough air before trying to find another thermal. There's no shame in bailing on a messy thermal --- it's always safer than risking a wing collapse. If the core shifts: if your climb rate suddenly drops 1 m/s or more, don't keep circling in the same spot. Make a shallow 20-degree banked turn left and right to test where the lift is stronger. 9 times out of 10, the core has drifted 50-100m downwind, so adjusting your circle to drift with the wind will put you back in the lift in 10 seconds or less. If the thermal fades halfway up your climb: don't keep circling and losing altitude. If the climb rate drops below +0.5 m/s for more than 10 seconds, exit the thermal by flying straight for 20 seconds, then look for the next one. You'll save more altitude by bailing early than you will by fighting a thermal that's already dying out.
I tested these steps last summer on a 30km cross-country route through Colorado's San Juan Mountains. I launched at 10am, found my first thermal 1km from launch, bailed on a weak +0.4 m/s lift after 1 minute, found a strong +2.1 m/s thermal 2km later, climbed to 350m above launch, then glided 6km to the next thermal. I repeated that pattern 7 times over 3 hours, never climbing higher than 400m above my launch height, and hit my goal 30km away with 500m of altitude to spare. My previous attempt at the same route, before I used these steps, took me 5 hours, and I landed 8km short because I wasted 20 minutes per thermal climbing to cloudbase and fighting weak lift.
Non-Negotiable Safety Rules for Thermal Riding
- Never fly lower than 300m above terrain unless you're absolutely sure you can make it to a landing spot. Thermals can fade suddenly, and you don't want to be stuck 200m above a forest with no lift.
- Never circle in a thermal under a cumulus cloud that's showing vertical development (towering, cauliflower-shaped tops). Those clouds indicate strong, turbulent updrafts that can lead to dangerous wing collapses.
- Always have a landing spot in mind before you start climbing a thermal. If the thermal fades, you need to know where you're going to land before you start circling.
Thermal riding is one of those skills that feels impossible when you're intermediate, then clicks suddenly after dozens of flights. You'll have days where you bail on 5 thermals in a row and land short, and days where you link 4 strong thermals and glide 20km without touching the ground. The steps above aren't a magic trick --- they're just the habits that separate pilots who struggle to stay up for an hour from pilots who fly 50km cross-country routes on a good day. The first time you link three thermals in a row and glide 10km without losing altitude, you'll understand why all the practice is worth it. Just don't forget to bring an extra snack for the landing --- you're going to be too busy grinning to stop for lunch on the way down.