Tandem Jump in Nevada

Nevada is mostly sky and space, and it shows from the door. Drop zones scattered across the state trade on it: the Mojave running flat to the south, the Spring Mountains rising out of it, the Sierra Nevada stacked on the far western edge. From the outskirts of Las Vegas to the high plateaus around Reno and Carson City, the settings shift from desert floor to mountain rim, and both first-time tandems and seasoned fun-jumpers get an outsized view for their trouble.

New jumpers ride tandem, harnessed to a certified instructor for the whole thing: freefall, canopy, and landing. The desert air often sits stable, and the ground beneath turns a routine jump into a scenic one, laying the state's raw terrain out end to end. The facilities tend to be well set up, with the focus on keeping students safe and comfortable while the instructor does the flying.