Big-ears will be the first rapid decent technique you will become familiar with. It is easy to perform, stable, and gives you a moderately increased descent rate by reducing the surface area and effective lift. You accomplish this by folding both wing-tips in. While the big ears are in, the glider will have a higher “wing loading” and thus more resistant to deflations in turbulence.
To initiate Big Ears, you need to identify the outside A-lines of your glider. Take your brake line wrap out and reach up above the riser as high as possible. Grab hold of the outside A-lines on both sides and pull these out and down one at a time until your wing-tips fold under. Look up to confirm that you are pulling the tips in far enough, and if necessary, slide your hands up further and pull again. You should notice an increased descent rate. While holding big-ears, you can initiate turns using weight-shift. Turns with big-ears can develop a high bank angle that will further increase your rate of descent. Continue to hold this configuration until you reach your desired altitude. Release your hold on the lines quickly and evenly, the tips will pop out. You can then retake your wrap. If the wing-tips don’t come out spontaneously, give your brake lines a quick pump. One danger of big ears is that you are effectively giving up your ability to actively pilot your glider, prevent surges, etc. At altitude, this isn’t a major concern, as the glider is more stable and any surges would cause the glider to dive and lose altitude. Keep in mind that your maneuverability is very limited. For this reason big-ears should not be used low to the ground or in severe turbulence. There is also the risk of accidentally pulling the wrong line or pulling the whole A riser down causing a symmetric deflation.