A PARAGLIDER is being hailed "the luckiest woman in the world" after surviving a violent storm that sucked her up higher than the peak of Mt Everest.

Ewa Wisnierska, 35, was catapulted upwards like a leaf at speeds of up to 20 metres per second to a height of almost 10,000m.

The German world champion paraglider then lapsed into unconsciousness as she was pounded by hail, almost struck by lightning, and covered in ice.

She was unconscious inside the storm system for 40 minutes before coming to and being found, still covered in ice, about 60km from where she had taken off in northern NSW.

A Chinese paraglider, 42, who was sucked into the same storm, was found dead on Thursday, a day after disappearing.

The pair were among 200 paragliders who took part in training flights on Wednesday for next week's Paragliding World Championships in Manila.

Wisnierska, ranked number 1 in last year's world championships in Brazil, said yesterday she had been unable to avoid the storm.

"I was just praying, please, please put me somewhere away from the cloud," she said from her hotel room, where she was resting her bruised and frostbitten body.

As she was flung upward, above the height of the 8850m Mt Everest to near the cruising height of jumbo jets, Wisnierska noticed ice forming on her sunglasses and instruments, before losing consciousness.

At that height, temperatures can drop to -40C or 50C.

Eventually Wisnierska, who reached 9946m (30,000 feet), lost consciousness. Doctors told her later that blacking out may have saved her life, because her metabolism had slowed down.

More than 40 minutes later, and still at a height of 6900m, she woke to find herself still stuck in the storm, in darkness and with her gloves frozen.

"It was amazing, because the glider was still flying." she said.

"I don't know how is it possible, because there was hail everywhere, into the glider, into my harness and it was still flying."

Though dazed and confused from a lack of oxygen, Wisnierska turned her attention to getting back to the ground after she escaped the storm clouds.

"I was shaking and everything, but I thought I just need to fly straight and get out of this cloud," Wisnierska said.

"I thought I need to go down just to warm up.

"I thought 'Where could I land?' I couldn't see any road or anything, but then I saw a small farm, and tried to fly towards it, and landed very safe."

Unable to gather her thoughts to call for help, it was several minutes before her crew called by radio.

They found her, about 60km from her launch site, still covered with ice.

Godfrey Wenness, the organiser of the championships, said Wisnierska was the luckiest woman alive.

"This is like winning lotto 10 times in a row. That's how lucky this woman is," Wenness said.

"I would say she is the luckiest woman in the world right now, not exaggerating or being sensational at all. The Chinese man died, she survived.

"There's no logical reason why she got away with it," he said.

Organisers of the World Paragliding Championships have confirmed that He Zhongpin, 42, of the Chinese paragliding team, died after being sucked into the storm.

An exact cause of death was yet to be determined, but it is believed he died from extreme hypothermia and hypoxia, or lack of oxygen to the brain.

Though all pilots were extremely saddened by Mr He's death, the championships would continue as scheduled, organisers said.

Despite frostbite to her ears and legs, Wisnierska still hopes to compete.

"Flying is too fantastic to stop because of an accident," she said. "I don't know who to thank.

"I thanked the angels, but I don't believe in God."

Originally published as Paraglider survives wild flight