Nathan’s accident occurred while he was pursuing his new hobby of paragliding. The challenge for the day was learning to thermal fly, which involves catching rising hot air from the afternoon sun to climb up toward the clouds. This air can be very turbulent and unpredictable. Soon after takeoff, while searching for thermals, Nathan was hit by a strong gust of wind that caused him to stall his paraglider. The stall resulted in a hard crash onto the side of the mountain, and upon impact, he burst fractured his L1 vertebrae.