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!!
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| my TO - pix by Tamara - THANKS! |
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| 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!
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| (pix von Peter) |
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| 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 :-)
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| the bus for our trip with Christian or Esteban as driver |
