Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has been soaring over the peaks of Snowdonia \u2013 without ever leaving the ground.<\/p>\n
Mr Gething was given a taste of a UK first virtual reality paragliding experience during a visit to Adventure Parc Snowdonia in Dolgarrog in the Conwy Valley.<\/p>\n
The two Fly Snowdon paragliding pods were created especially for the pioneering adventure complex \u2013 which also boasts the UK\u2019s first inland surfing lagoon \u2013 by VR innovators Frontgrid who are based in Llandudno Junction.<\/p>\n
A grant from the Welsh Government helped get the idea off the ground thanks to development funding from the Creative Wales agency that was set up in 2020 to support creative industries.<\/p>\n
It has also benefited from further funding from the Clwstwr project that\u2019s designed to put innovation at the heart of media production in Wales, as part of research looking at how to use virtual reality to connect people to real world places.<\/p>\n
Using cutting edge gaming technology, they\u2019ve faithfully recreated the glacial valleys and the towering peaks of Snowdonia, including the Glyderau, Tryfan, Crib Goch and the mighty Snowdon itself.<\/p>\n
Wearing VR headsets, customers can either fly solo or as a pair \u2013 purely for pleasure or in competition against each other – in two ParaDrop VR pods which are side by side.<\/p>\n
As with a real life paraglider, the pilots sit in a harness and use steering lines to bank left or right, combining virtual reality and motion-based hardware to simulate the movement.<\/p>\n
The idea came from a conversation with Adventure Parc Snowdonia director Andy Ainscough and his father and fellow director, Martin Ainscough, 18 months ago.<\/p>\n
Frontgrid co-founder Matt Wells, an ex-paratrooper, said: \u201cWe got talking about developing some content which would allow people to fly over Snowdon and the National Park which we then fitted to our machines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat that\u2019s done is allow Adventure Parc Snowdonia to offer the UK\u2019s first location based flying experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting to see the ParadropVR Pod live and people coming off the ride and saying \u2018Wow\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the experience is multi-player, you can literally fly with your friends and see them in the VR environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel like you\u2019re fully immersed in a 360 degree environment. It\u2019s about as realistic as it can possibly be.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re connected to machine that gives you motion and that combined with the virtual reality allows you to steer yourself around the environment and feel the sensation of flying in the canopy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt enables the virtual paragliders to enjoy the incredible landscape that surrounds us from a completely new perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can go where you want to go and the beauty of the product is that you are master of your own journey. You can decide where you want to go, when you want to fly low and when you want to stay high and cruise around.<\/p>\n
\u201cSnowdonia area is one of the darkest areas of the UK where you don\u2019t have much influence from external light so, as well as a daylight version, you can also fly at night and see the constellations and the stars and experience the mountains in a different way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe product is manufactured at our base on the Tre Marl Industrial Estate in Llandudno Junction and we\u2019re now seeing a lot of interest in the ParadropVR product.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting orders from as far afield as North America and the Middle East. It\u2019s really taking off.<\/p>\n
Andy Ainscough said he was very grateful that Mr Gething had taken time out of his busy schedule to visit Adventure Parc Snowdonia.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe are very proud of what we have created here on what was the site of a redundant aluminum factory.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince creating the UK\u2019s first surfing lagoon when we launched in 2015, we have added a host of adrenalin fuelled attractions, both outdoors and indoors and the opening of the onsite Hilton Garden Inn Hotel last year was a game-changer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur aim is to tap into the corporate market, providing a venue for conferences and team building courses, so we can extend our season and create more all-year-round employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the meantime, the Fly Snowdon pods are a fantastic, ground-breaking addition to the activities we can offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all seen the queues of people waiting to get to the summit of Snowdon but now you can swoop over Wales\u2019s highest peaks and the rest of the spectacular range of mountain without ever leaving the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, as well as being a thrilling ride, it\u2019s also eminently sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, said: \u201cI\u2019m delighted that Creative Wales has been able to support the development of this brilliant VR \u2013 and that these two local companies have joined forces for Adventure Parc Snowdonia to be the first place in the UK to offer Paradrop VR, it\u2019s another exciting development to the wonderful adventures on offer here.\u201d<\/p>\n