La Palma (Torre delTime) / Campanarios

Yesterday, as the wx has not been very promising, we did some sightseeing and I showed Hartmut different launches and landings. Only in the late afternoon it looked as we could fly from 'Torre del Time'. But the wind was either very light or completely cross, so after one failed attempt I packed up; Bernd finally was able to get off.

Luckily, this morning looked rather better.

The forecast promised little wind with cloud base around 1500m. So we drove 'my' Fiat Panda 4x4 to Campanarios.

Bernd (Swing Nyos)

Campanarios (upper launch)

Hartmut (Wings of change) getting ready

Very nice thermals took me to almost 1700m; with more patience probably 2000m would have been possible.
Later Bernd flew again from el Time, but the conditions have been very weak and I'm happy that I decided not to go there after this morning's nice flight.

la Palma

Sunrise over Berne

...unfortunately I had not chosen wisely when I had selected the seat on my flight from ZRH to SPC (Santa Cruz de la Palma), as I was sitting on the 'wrong side'; so I missed some good pictures (alos on arrival). The early departure had asked for an even earlier wake up, but at 1100 I was already on la Plama. After having picked up my car and being shown my little house in Los Llanos I met my friends from Germany (Gaby & Hartmut, Carola & Bernd) for a small lunch. When we had finished eating, I showed Hartmut the LZ in PtoTazacorte and we drove up to el Time. Meanwhile the wind had dropped significantly, so it was possible to make a short flight :-))

Bernd (Swing Nyos)

Hartmut / Puerto Tazacorte

...la Palma and Morocco instead...

Some of you might have noticed in my other blog, that the upcoming voyage to Antarctica was cancelled due to 'fatal main engine damage' of the expedition ship 'NG Orion'.

: - ((

Therefore I needed to adapt my plans for the next three months...
First, I'll be going back to la Palma for a week (starting coming Sunday, 15.1.), where I'll be meeting my friends Hartmut and Gaby from Germany. Hartmut is supposed to bring me along a modified KOBO eReader (hopefully!), which is running 'Top Hat', a glide compter for hang- and paragliders. Incredible how much research, time and effort it took him to get that far!

'All' that remains to be done is 'hooking up' the Kobo via Bluetooth with my XCTracer...
If anyone out there knows how to do it, his knowledge would be highly appreciated ;-)

In mid February (17.2.) I intend to join Peter from Paragliding.ch for his 2 weeks trip to Morocco...

: - ))

New Year: Arosa / Medergen

It seems that today I have been a little too optimistic: to me it looked as conditions would be (at least) as good as yesterday. But apparently the thermals had 'a hang over' and didn't get up in time for my flight ;-)

Never so far there has been as little snow as this winter, so together with Ruth I drove to Medergen after my flight: all the way up to our hut - something we never have been able to do in late December/ early January. (Until 2000 we spent all New Year Eves up there together with friends, but of course we had to walk up on skies.)

lunch

view from our terrasse (towards 'Weisshorn')

Medergen

New Year's Eve

...and it even got better! 

Markus

climbing (even if just a little) above launch :-))

What a way to finish the year!

Yesterday afternoon, the hotel 'Post' has caught fire and burned copletely down.

 

Arosa in December -3

Incredible: 30.December - some weak thermals allowing to climb about 100m and prolong the flight by 20 minutes!! But I have to say that I think that with the Epsilon this would not have been possible; luckily I took the 777 Rook along :-))

Markus

Happy Holidays!

Many thanks to all the regular (and of course also occasional) readers of my (rather irrelevant) blog!

I wish you all a merry XMas, a happy NewYear and of course all the Best for 2017 - including many great flights!

Fly high! Fly safe!

Taggi

Almunecar-7: 'Fremde'; Heimflug

I've received also some pix from Manfred (taken while flying in Loja). On the return flight to ZRH I was able to see and recognize some sites as well. And (as usual) the day started with to a (almost) cloudless sky...

Sunrise from my apartement in Almunecar

Loja (by Manfred)

Loja (by Manfred)

Loja (by Manfred)

Granada, Sierra Nevada, Cenes de la Vega

Darro, Sierra Arana

Almunecar-6: Otivar

My final flying day here on this trip: by far the nicest flying of the whole week! Herbert proposed 'Otivar',asite about 10kms (as the crow flies) from the coast. When we got there around 1100, the first pilots had already launched and were heading west towards la Herradura.

Jürg getting ready

Jürg

looking East towards the Sierra Nevada

I also tried to fly there, but the first 2 attempts to cross towards the first ridge to the west failed due to much sink/ headwind; on the 3rd attempt I managed to reach the first ridge ('Pyramid') but rather low and I couldn't find any lift, so I had to turn back (again), but didn't reach the LZ...

Launch

Sierra Nevada

Jürg flew well past la Herradura towards Velez Malaga and Manfred (almost) reached the beach at la Herradura. I made a second flight, but no more attempt(s) to get to the coast. As much as I like to fly the Advance Epsilon 8 (easy to launch, very stable etc) making crossings against a (even slight) headwind is a pain in the ass. I've noticed this before in Fiesch and in the Dolomites, where even on short crossings I had lost more than 1500m in hight :-((
Manfred meant that I should have the glider checked for proper trim, as in his eyes it didn't look as it is suposed to be...
Anyway: even though the first days have been unflyable and it became really good only on the last days I had a good time here in Almunecar in the company of nice fellow pilots (Jürg, Manfred ed alt). If I ever come back here' I'll certainly take Herbert as a guide again, as he as a 'good hand' at finding the best site of the day for flying. And don't take at face value everything people tell about him; his foremost interest is to get his clients flying (as much as possible and as they want) and the rest for me is not really important.
For the next 2 weeks (XMas-New Year) this place is becomig really busy and overcrowded, as 'hundreds' of pilots come here, so in a way I'm glad I get away.

Almunecar-5: Darro

Again North wind. Herbert proposed a site called 'Darro' on the Sierra Arana, NE of Granada (140km/ 1.5hrs from Almunecar). So far I haven't found any info yet about this site on the web, but Herbert was again right on with his site selection! The only 'draw back': a 110m hight hike-up to launch :-((

 

Norbert and I needed much more time to get up to launch, so when we finally got there, Jürg was ready  to launch.

looking North from launch (Jürg)

launch: normally towards North; East would also be an option

above the ridge: great views to the South: Sierra Nevada

For a while the conditions were just a little too strong and cross for me, so I waited until the wind had dropped sufficiently, but of course the 'price' for these mellower conditions was less lift; so I had to land after 35' when the wind had died. With better conditions it should be possible to fly along the Sierra to Iznalloz (and back: one-way 20km).

Almunecar-4: Loja

Waking up to another beautiful sunrise. We met at 1000 and as planned drove to Loja.
We launched just a little too early so Manfred, Jürg and I had to land after a short flight. While packing up, we saw the first pilots getting above launch, so Manfred (Fly Center Almunecar) quickly drove us back up for a second flight. I landed after about 1 hour as it was getting rather cold. Jürg had been cleverer by bringing his heated gloves along...

Loja:  looking West

Jürg

Manfred

over LZ: looking back to launch

pix by Jürg

sunset/ lenticularis over the Sierra Nevada (driving back to Almunecar)

Almunecar-3: Herradura

Today I woke up to an almost cloudless sky :-))
As there was still northerly wind (which is not good here) it was not clear where to go. Some 'locals' (German pilots, with good local knowldege here) proposed 'Loma del Gato'. I opted to drive as well, as I wanted to get to know the local roads.

Launch at 'Loma del Gato'

Loma del Gato: looking towards Almunecar

At launch the winds were to much (north-) westerly, so we continued further up the 'road' towards 'Cerro Itrabo'. For the last part 4x4 was needed, so I offered to take some gliders along, but I didn't make it all the way to the top. At a certain point - not knowing the track and if it would be possible to turn back- I had to stop and unload. As it would have been at least another 30 minutes walking for me, I decided to 'quit'. Those who went all the way only could make an extended sledride.

Launch at 'Cerro Itrabo' (picture taken in the afternoon)

So I went to 'la Herradura', where it was supposed to become good later in the afternoon...

la Herradura

la Herradura

la Herradura

But it turned on earlier as anticipated, never got as strong as predicted and turned off rather quickly: so just a short sledder for me (and many others as well)...
Here I met 2 Swiss pilots, which were guided by Herbert, a German offering guiding services (Fly Center Almunecar). He has many years experience here, so I asked if I could join his small group for the remaining 3 days. Tomorrow (winds permitting) we'll go to Loja.
In the late afternoon I went searching for the 'good' track up to Cerro Itrabo (from the back side). I found it easily; driving down the front side, I saw, that I probably would have made it in the morning...

Almunecar-2: WInd, Rain

Today's wx in the morning and also the forecast have been rather disapointing: rain and northerly winds for most of the day :-((
So I decided to drive to Abdalajis in order to visit some old friends: I was lucky as Geri was just at his guest house doing some cleaning - otherwise I probably wouldn't have found him. 
I also asked Geri about the flying situation in VdA: interestingly he didn't have much information, BUT he said that lately lots of pilots have been flying here and that Michele (a French PG guide) had many guests here as well; furthermore that the local 'Guardia Civil' didn't go after PG pilots at all (as I had been told and have read)...
Afterwards I stopped at Giacco's place. He invited me for lunch and we had a nice meal together. Incredibly how fit he still is approaching 90! He also confirmed that many pilots had been flying. 
Rolfito unfortunatley has been busy.
On my way back to Almunecar I decided to drive via Loja. As there the winds came out of the East (!) here, I took the chance to go looking for the easterly take-off. With a little lucky I found the road to launch - and what a beautifully prepared/ groomed launch it is! (At least as well made as their westerly launch on the other side of the Sierra de Loja; the local club must have put up quite some money and time in order to get such a great result.).

Loja levante (looking east towards Granada/ Sierra Nevada)

But the wind was just too strong...
So I drove back to Almunecar via Granada and Padul, arriving there just at sunset.

But the whole day the weather has been very strange: the winds coming from every possible direction: South at Malaga/ Abdalajis; East at Loja; West/ Northwest at Padul. And instead of raining it cleared up the longer the day wore on...