With an excellent wx-fcst for Arosa (and more or less persistent fog at home) Ruth and I spent a few days in Arosa, enjoying the sun, mild temperatures and I also could make a few flights ;-)
Fri (12.12.) we arrived in Arosa a bit too late for a flight, but the webcam on Weisshorn showed that it has been a 'busy' day...
Sat (13.12.) I could make two flights: the first to Chur; also for the second one the plan has been flyiing to Chur: when I was ready for launch, the winds in Chur showed 8 to 15 kmh, but when I arrived over Maladers, gusts had increased to 24kmh and the lee behind Montalin could be clearly felt, so I decided to land outside Maladers. As I was walking down to the road hoping to catch a ride I passed behind a house from where a dog came running. It's owner inquired where I was going, so I told her I wanted to go to Chur and then catch the train to Arosa. She said that she was about to drive to Chur and offered to take me all the way to the train stop at Chur-Altstadt :-)) - Many thanks!!
 |
| my TO - pix by Tamara - THANKS! |
 |
| Maladers |
Sun: (14.12.) another sledder to Chur, meeting PeterWi in the train back to Arosa.
Mon (15.12.) no flying (Föhn) and returning home in the afternoon
2.12. Daytrip to Arosa, hoping to make a flight, but the Föhn didn't decrease as forecasted, instead it even became slightly stronger...
2 pilots have been flying eralier on and they came back up to launch, but in the end didn't fly again.
10.12. Daytrip for a new attempt; this time conditions have been rather nice for launching (thanks to PeterWi for your assistance!). Just a sledder to Chur, experimenting a bit with the Insta360 GoUltra - the quality of the pictures is simply amazing - except 'cropping' there is generally no more 'tweaking' needed!
 |
| (pix von Peter) |
 |
| Chur Masans |
Once Ruth had signaled her approval for my 33-day absence from home (MANY THANKS!), I started planning: whom to invite, where to stay, etc, etc. Originally I had invited 9 friends, but unfortunately 2 of them (Andy and Hartmut) declined immediately for different reasons; the 'remaining' 7: Kari, Gudrun, Oli, Vincent, Peter, Michael and Stacy. Stacy later had to decline as well, so that left an 'empty' slot. Of course I could made the group even smaller, but the organization work remains the same for 7 or 8 pilots... Earlier on, first Igor and then Eddie had heard of this trip and have asked me to put them on a eventual 'waiting-list', if by any chance a slot should become available - so that made Igor the lucky one ;-) (Sorry Eddie!)
As mentioned in my privious post, I had been too optimistic in thinking I could organize everything myself from home. I made bookings for all the places I wanted to stay just to be on the safe side, but then it became harder: finding a guide, transport/ drivers etc. That was the moment when I turned for help to Andy from Fly with Andy, as I had travelled with 'him' in 2019 to CO (actual guides have been Verena and Tini Siegl with Pedro as the 'fixer'). Unfortunately Pedro is not working in CO anymore, but Andy graciously put me in contact with Tini and her husband Lucho. Lucho has also been organizing the trips to CO for Fly with Andy for quite some years now; in addition he's guiding a group by himself (we might actually meet somewhere in the Cauca Valley).
Lucho is extremely eperienced and has a vast knowledge of paragliding sites, accommodations etc. He also has found me a guide for the whole trip: Edinson, who also runs a pg business in BGA. While there, we'll certainly fly also his own site called 'las Aguilas' in Ruitoque...
As I publish this post, everything seems to be organized: flights booked, accommodations confirmed, SIM-cards ordered etc etc :-)
 |
| the bus for our trip with Christian or Esteban as driver |
Lately I've had a long talk via WhatsApp (WA), with Lucho - my Colombian 'fixer' - about details concerning my upcoming trip to Colombia (CO) in January 2026.
But before I continue here I must say a VERY BIG 'thank you' to Andy from Fly with Andy, who put me in contact with Tini Siegl and thus with Lucho, without whose help I would have been stuck organizing this 33 days trip to Colombia with a handful of friends!
Lucho with his long background of organizing trips not only in CO, found a guide (Edinson) for us, suggested, reserved accommodations and generally did a great job ironing out all the details (muchas gracias!!)
We'll start in Cali (CLO), working our way up to Medellin (MED), thereby paragliding all the well and lesser known sites in the Cauca Valley - trying to avoid the crowds in Roldanillo as far as possible ;-) From MDE we'll transfer by plane to Bucamaranga (BGA) to fly BGA and Chichamocha Canyon sites and finally on to Bogota (BOG), where we'll scout the flying areas around Colombia's capital. Not everyone is able to stay for the whole trip, but we all meet in Santa Elena on 7.1. or 8.1.
 |
| the 'plan' |
 |
| Panettone |
 |
| Panettone |
 |
| Garden Relais (view from my balcony) |
 |
| Tapetti / da Beppe |
 |
| Casette (West) |
After having been unable to fly since late September; I have decided to go to Bassano for about 8 days.
I arrived in Semonzo Friday late evening after a 6.5hrs drive via Vereina-Ofenpass-Münstertal-Vinschgau-Meran-Bolzano-Trento-Levico. Apart from loosing about 15 in Wetzikon (right at the beginning of the drive) everything went smoothly; I have even been able to catch the train in Selfranga (Vereina) with just 5' to spare ;-) I'm staying at 'Garden Relais'; the first 2 days I',m 'on my own', On Sunday kate afternoon Peter and his group from Flatland Paragliding will be arriving and I'll join them until next Friday.
Sat, 8.11. a nice flight here in Bassano, taking off from Tapetti and flying for 1.25hrs. Good thermals (strong at times), but COLD :-(
Sun (9.11.) As next week, we're flying mostly here in Bassano; I have asked Marco to join me for the day and we went 'exploring' Col Visentin, a site near Revine. We met at 1000 at the LZ of Revine, about a 1hr drive from Garden Relais. Here we met 2 Swiss guys and we took them along. Unfortunately the launches at Col Visentin cannot be reached by car: It's approx 3km + a 350m climb from where you have to park the car. The 2 Swiss pilots decided to hike to launch. Marco then took me to the Revine launch, where already some pilots have been waiting for the tailwind to die...
Finally the wind changed and after some more waiting I also manage to launch: real nice conditions with good, smooth thermals up to 1570m; Last time (in September) zhe inversion had been much lower and the thermals not so 'nice'. Landing after about 1.2hrs.
Sat (20.9.) After some discussion, it has been decided to stay closer and go to Paolina. On the way we stopped a couple of times, as Michael was showing us some landing options. Paolina launch lies 'only' around 65m above the chairlift station, but this has been more than enough for me, especially as many 'steps' have been really high, so I had trouble lifting my weight on one leg... But in the end I also managed to get there. Luckily there has been no rush to get airborne as the conditions have been slow to develop.
 |
| LZ briefing |
 |
| Pano on launch, looking West. |
 |
| launch - looking N |
 |
| looking down to launch and chairlift station |
 |
| above launch |
 |
| 'Santnerpass'-hut |
 |
| Pano looking N (above launch) |
 |
| Pano looking NE: Val di Fassa (Canazei), Sella, Lagazoi |
 |
| Marmolada |
 |
| LZ in Tiers/ St.Cyprian |
 |
| Landquart... |
 |
| Belvedere |
 |
| Belvedere: looking W: Langkofel, Rodella (rh side) |
 |
| over Belvedere: looking East: Sella -Marmolada |
 |
| at Langkofel, looking NW towards Schlern, Alpe di Siusi |
 |
| near Langkofel: looking East: Sella, Rodella/ Marmolada |
 |
| Sven landing |
Tue (16.9.) During breakfast my friend MarcoZ had called me to discuss today's options (we had earlier agreed to spend the next 3 days together) and we decided to meet in Bassano (Semonzo - GardenRelais) at 1130. While riding to launch we checked-out first 'Stella,' but I didn't look fine, so we choose 'Tapetti'. At first cloud base has been rather low, but later it slowly rose to around 1200m. Conditions have been really nice: strongish thermals, but never bumpy. Today I had my longest flight this year so far: 3:10; second is 2:24.
Wed (17.9.) As conditions further East - where I had hoped to fly (Gemona, Lijac) - looked still windy and cloudy, we decided to meet again at 1130 at the LZ Garden Relais. Marco took me all the way up to Panettone for a 2+hr-flight. I had attempted to cross from Anttene-Costalunga to the West (Rubbio), but there the air felt 'weird' and I had lots of sink, so I turned around... As I didn't want to make another flight here at Bassano, we decided to drive to Meduno for a late afternoon flight. (1+hr) :-) and dinner together.
 |
| Meduno, looking NW |
 |
| Meduno (launch) |
 |
| Marco |
 |
| Dolomiti Bellunesi |
 |
| Passo San Boldo |
 |
| Revine Lago and LZ |
 |
| launch |
 |
| preparing... |
 |
| Pano looking East (TO just visible) |
 |
| Pano looking S |
 |
| LZ at Pieve di Alpago(on both sides of road) |
