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By using rising currents of air in the atmosphere, called lift (not to be confused with the lift produced by a glider's wings). These invisible currents are typically generated by three mechanisms:
- Thermal lift. Solar heating of the ground warms the air above it, which then rises in bubbles or columns called thermals. The tops of thermals are often marked by puffy cumulus clouds, a reliable sign to the glider pilot that lift is active.
- Ridge lift. Wind blowing perpendicular to a slope is deflected upward, which the glider can use to stay aloft. Flights of hundreds of miles along the Appalachians are made in this manner.
- Wave lift. Wind blowing over mountains sometimes results in "ripples" in the atmosphere, as the wind compresses and rebounds after passing over them. These ripples, or waves, can extend high into the atmosphere. Flights over 20,000 feet in wave lift are not uncommon.
Thermals are the most ubiquitous type of lift, and make soaring possible almost anywhere in the world. This is the type of flying done in Michigan.