Cari: finally :-))

As I only made up my mind this very morning about going to Cari again, Andy unfortunately couldn't come along. The Regtherm for Bedretto/ Leventina looked rather promising. 

 

The Föhndiagram on the other hand gave some North-overpressure - increasing in the afternoon. This normally means no flying in Ticino, as Northföhn can be (very) turbulent.

When arriving at the middlestation of the chairlift it really looked as the Föhndiagramm would be correct: 'strong' Bergwind (= catabatic wind), thus permitting no TO and I feared that I had made today's trip in vain... Luckily on launch there was almost nil tailwind. But this made for a tricky launch with lots of running. But I got away on the first try :-)

The first part of the flight was rather slow, but then conditions improved and it became a really great and enjoyable flight with ample, nice and strong thermals, not too much wind and almost no turbulence.

Pano looking North: Ambri (left side); Val Bedretto at 12 o'clock; Lago Ritom (rt side).

I turned around just before Airolo.

Pano looking south

Valle Blenio: Aquarossa

For the final leg after the southern turnpoint (short of Biasca) there was no need for a single circle; that's why I managed an average speed of > 20kmh over the whole 2.5hrs (which is unusally high for my style of flying).

Faido: LZ

Looking at my flightlog: this has been my longest flight since August'20 (19.8. Scuol with PeterW).

The flight on ayvri.com

Arosa

24.2. Even knowing that Cari today would have been excellent, I elected not to go there: too many people in a overcrowded bus from Faido to Cari, as well as on launch... At least 70 flights have been uploaded to XContest from Cari.

So I drove to Arosa where I could make 2 nice flights. Unfortunately the thermals have been rather weak and so it has been 'hard work' to make the flight last more than an hour ;-) Conditions on launch have been good for both flights.

25.2. Much more demanding conditions on launch: gusty South wind. After about 2 hrs conditions improved, but contrary to expectations/ yesterday thermal activity has been rather weak :-(

Cari

After I had blown too many launches when visiting Cari the week before, I used the last three days for some groundhandling/ low wind speed launches. On the first of these days I went with Andy to Alp Scheidegg. He took some videos and tried to help me 'fix' my foreward launches, but I'm not posting any of those videos as I look really very silly ;-)

22./23.2. Driving again to Cari (as on Monday the Föhn was still blowing strongly on the North side of the Alps). Unfortunately much more clouds than forcasted and almost no wind on launch. So this was going to be a test if my launchung skills had improved...

On the almost flat area I managed a good forward launch in very little wind (albeit only on the second attempt). There have even been some weak thermals so I managed to extend my flight to a little more than 50 minutes :-)  

As tomorrow the conditions are supposed to be better (less clouds), I'm staying overnight in nearby Airolo.

...not the perfect conditions for launching ;-)

The day looked better, but it was very hazy (due to dust from the Sahara desert) and conditions on launch have been even more demanding than yesterday. Also the high pressure (1035hpa) wouldn't allow for really good thermal devellopement.

But with some help I had a good launch (- thanks to the two pilots from Thun!) and flew for close to 1.5hrs :-)

launch area

Pano looking South

Cari is a really nice flying site for late winter/ early spring with good xc-potential - as long as the chair lift is running. Although on my 3 visits here so far the conditions for launching never have been really good: always tricky in nil wind or even a little from behind.

(Arosa) / (Cari)

 

2 daytrips to Arosa (24.1./ 4.2.), but due to the wind situation I didn't fly :-(

15.2. a (day)trip to Cari (Leventina, Tessin) with my friend Andy. Cari is a site I have not visited before; in winter the top launch at 2280m can be reached by chairlift ;-)  There are several lower launches as well - one even right in the village of Cari at approx 1600m.

Many (!) pilots -at least 50- had the same idea. Never since Covid started I have been in a public bus (from Faido to Cari) so tightly packed with people :-(

 Basically nice conditions with good thermals, little wind, but VERY cold!

But it has not been my day: on the rather shallow slope I blew the launch 3 times, then I was completely drenched in sweat and had to call it a day :-((

Andy landed after 1.25hrs due to feeling too cold. On XContest there are flights >4hrs - I don't know how those pilots do it...

riding down