Disentis -3: PWC Task 2

Yesterday I have misjuged the met situation and elected not to fly. But finally they set a task...
So today in the morning again the situation didn't look very promising after a night with lots of rain.
But again in the end the day turned out better than I had expected (- sorry Peter!).
They set a pretty tactical task of 63km. 

Peter Neuenschwander (CH) / Seiko Fujuoka Naville (FR) won this task.

More info (results, pix, videos) you can find on the local webpage or on 
PWC's homepage (videos).

waiting for the briefing

Gendusas launch

getting airborne

Nicole

Alberto

the pulk

...again

my LZ at Sumvitg station

Disentis -2: Saturday: PWC -training task

Tomorrow the PWC should start (but most probably the wx will not permit a task), so today a training task of about 75km was called. Conditions looked very promising, with little wind and high cloudbase; later in the afternoon overdevellopment and RA/ TS.

view on launch 'Gendusas'

Briefing (done by Martin Scheel)

Nicole

Nicole

>> unfortunately, during the flight my camera malfunctioned :-((

landing close to our appartement

Disentis -1

Today we arrived in Disentis, where Nicole will participate in the PWC, which is starting tomorrow (SAT) with a training task.

our appartement in the basement

looking W towards Oberalp pass

Unfortunately, the upper section of the chaitlift to Lai Alv was not running, so Nicole and Alby had to renounce, as Nicoles equipment was simply to heavy (even for Alby) to be carried up to this launch (40kgs...)

Sunset, Piz Medel

For tomorrow the have announced a training task, so we should be definitely get into the air!

Arosa in August -2

Yesterday late afternoon my friends from Italy have arrived: Nicole and Alberto. They stay 2 nights at my place in Arosa. Tomorrow we'll all move to Disentis, where Nicole will participate in the PWC. So yesterday we drove to 'Medergen' to have dinner together and enjoy the sunset.

dinner in Medergen

Sunset at 2040.

Today up to the Weisshorn - of course hoping to fly.
We watched Peter (and some other pilots) taking off in the 'Rööslhang'. He climbed nicely up to 3300m and had a nice flight. Conditions became again very tricky with the wind coming from all different directions. In the end we decided that I would try to launch from the same position as yesterday further down the mountain. But also here the wind was switchy, much more out of the North and less thermic :-((

I could finally launch but didn't find anything usable, so in the end I had to glad  to be able cross the 'Carmenna Pass' - rather low and in a tail wind.
Uneventful landing in the 'Isla', the only ok thernals to be found above the LZ (where else?). 
Having watched my very unspectacular flight, Nicole and Alberto decided not to fly, which really is a pitty, as they missed seeing Arosa from a birds view.

Arosa in August -1

Finally, after more than 6 weeks without flying, a nice flight in Arosa :-))
And only thanks to my friend PeterW, who helped me to get airborne in these tricky conditions!

We had to descend almost all the way to the 'Carmennapass' to find a spot, where I was able to launch without problems (and with my lack of current 'training').

Arosa Weisshorn; PeterW getting ready in the 'Rööslihang'; I launched behind the building on the left.

Also in the air the conditions were strange: winds from different directions; sink zones in unexpected places, bumpy thermals...

looking SE towards Engadin: Bernina, Palü

So after a little more than an hour I was landing at 'Prätschli', our semi-official LZ.

Arosa in July

Pano looking SW

Twice so far I've been to the Weisshorn during these last few days; even though conditions looked great (little wind, high cloud base), I've been unable to launch due to the 'shitty' wind conditions on the mountain (that's why I call this mountain 'Scheisshorn' instead of 'Weisshorn').
There would be an alternative launch further down (so called 'Rööslihang'). It's rather steep, but normally perfectly facing the thermals. But the problem for me is: if I cannot launch (for reasons whatsoever), in my present physical condition I'm simply unable to carry my equipment back up the mountain to the cable car station :-((
So I have to hope for a launch window on top of the mountain or take the gondola down again...

wind direction...

XC Tracer (Ebenalp)

A whileback I stumbled over a crowd sourced project of a 'new' kind of vario, the XC-Tracer.
As the approach looked pretty interesting I immediately have joined and yesterday my unit was delivered. All info about the XC-Tracer can be found here or here.
The unit is extremely light ( < 60 gr) and very small. So far I use it as a stand alone instrument, meaning I'm not connecting it via Bluetooth to any app etc.

Today I was flying with XC-Tracer for the first time (2h 45min) and the instrument did exactly what was promised: extremely responsive, no time lag when entering / leaving a thermal.

Great flying conditions on Ebenalp!

Galgenen

Today being the only 'reasonable' day of this week, Andy and I went to Galgenen.
We have chose this site because it's a site mostly flown with 'Bise' (an easterly wind predicted fro today).
I have been here for the last time on in May'99, flying a ProDesign Target.

Conditions looked more promising than they finally turned out to be. While Andy could fly for about an hour, I was never able to climb above launch :-((
Shortly after we had landed, 2 Icepeaks had to land as well...

LZ - freshly manuered

When driving up to retrieve my car from launch, I met Barry, who has been our guide on my visit to South Africa in January'12 (shortly before my accident). He is touring Switzerland for about 3 weeks. I can highly recommend his company for anybody wanting to fly in ZA. Or join a group/ tour who is guided by him.

Ebenalp

Today should have been the only reasonably good day of the week. When I called Heinz G. in the morning, who lives not far from 'Ebenalp', he told me the conditions should be 'good'.
Unfortunaltely there was much more moisture left than anticipated and therefore low clouds started forming rather quickly.

But I have to say, that today I made the best TO (and Ldg) with my Rise2 until now:-))
I'm extremley glad that this 'problem' seems to be resolved!

Ebenalp

crossing from Ebenalp ot Sigel

...darker clouds...

over LZ

When I started to fold my glider, there have even been some raindrops.
Later in the afternoon it looked for a moment like the clouds would clear, but while driving home I could see a CB in the region.

Wallis -3: Fiesch (once more...)

As there is a set of scales at the cable car station in Fiesch I took the opportunity to measure my total flying weight: 141.5kgs - perfectly within the range of my AD Rise 2, which goes to 145kg.
The fcst (as well as all the people I have spoken to this morning) said that overdevellopement would be a problem today, even more than yesterday. Luckily everybody was proven wrong and it turned out a magnificient flying day!
I was airborne before 1100 (a first for me) and started heading East. I didn't reach the Sidelhorn today, as I made a mistake, which took me quite a while to correct before being able to climb to cloudbase again.

launch....

crossing to Bellwald: Fiescherglacier (left); Bellwald (under cloud); Goms (right)

just nicely develloped CU's...

Aletsch glacier (left); Eggishorn (center, below cloud)

near Riederalp

Therafter it was pretty easy: just cruising along at cloudbase :-))

As the shortest way home (Furkapass - Andermatt - Brunnen) was closed due to a rockslide between Andermatt and Göschenen, I drove via Grimselpass.

Grimselpass

Wallis -2: Fiesch

Another great day here in Fiesch! As today in many parts of Switzerland 'Fronleichnam' is a public holiday, even more pilots flocked to Fiesch, but with its many large launch possibilities, this is almost never a problem...

looking East

But already before noon many more clouds develloped compared to yesterday.

near Sidelhorn, looking East towards Grimsel and Furka

On the way back from Sidelhorn until Bellwald it was almost unnecessary to make any turns; just above Bellwald I needed to climb to cloudbase for the crossing towards Eggishorn.
Therefore also the unusually high average speed for me of 28kmh. Unfortunately the clouds grew bigger and there was also a little rain in the air, so I decided to cut the flight short and head for 'terra firma'. Of course these kind of conditions would be needed for really long flights...

Luckily for all the pilots who kept going, this cloud didn't devellop into a CB.

Wallis -1: Riederalp, Fiesch

Very promising forecast for today; so Andy proposed we should go to 'Riederalp', as the cable car in 'Fiesch' was still under maintenance (tomorrow it will be operating normally again).

When we arrived on launch, besides a few 'late comers' like us, everybody was already on their way (high up and going east).

Riederalp (TO)

With the newly learned launch technique I got off easily - on the first try :-))
but then: I seemed to miss all the thermals and had to land in Lax :-((

So I headed for Fiesch, where I could catch the 1315-gondola. The next one would have been only at 1515, way too late to attempt anything...

just a few CU's

Also here I could launch without problems and was able to climb to 3460m (1200m above launch). I also headed East, but today didn't seem to be my day. In Bellwald I had to search quite a while before climbing up again. Still heading East, but I could feel (and see) that the 'Grimsel-Wind' (East wind coming over the Grimsel-pass) was getting stronger.

Pano looking East (Aletsch glacier left, Fiescher glacier center, Goms right)

looking East towards Münster glider port (center)

So finally I turned around and landed in Ritzingen; wind upon landing: 25-30kmh...

LZ Ritzingen

Although both flights have been a bit disappointing, it still has been a wonderful day in excellent company (Andy didn't quite make it to Chur...) and very nice conditions.

My thanks go to the 2 car drivers, who stopped when I was hitch-hiking and took me
a) from Lax to the cable car and
b) from Biel back to my hotel.