Ager

With the lousy wx fcst for the next days (week?) I've decided at short notice to 'head south'...
So I flew to Barcelona (BCN) (Thursday), rented a car and drove to Ager.
Remark: as I have said to Ruth after having made my desicion: the wx in Switzerland will be thus much better than forecasted and in Spain worse ;-)  (> see also XContest for todays flights.)

on the way to ager (near Igualada)

puppies (near Balaguer)

When I got to Ager (around 1800) I saw some gliders, but it was too late to make it up the hill.
This morning then(Friday) started out pretty nice: according to the fcst there should have been (too?) much East-wind and no rain, but actually during the morning we got just little east wind and a little rain. Anyway, a group of French pilots took me up to Coll d'Ares, the main launch, explainig me the different TO- and landing- options along the way (- thanks Roland!). As conditions permitted a launch, I took the oppotunity for a first flight here in Ager. There was even some light thermal activity but the flight had to be cut short due to some spells of rain.  

Coll d'Ares

Link to webcam on launch.

almost tame fox

Later in the afternoon it was clearing up nicely, but remained too windy... So I visited all the launches and landings.

Overview of the area ( I hope I've  gotten all the names right)

Weissenstein

Todays (excellent) thermal forecast for the Jura region:

(Hotel Weissenstein) ...already the flag indicates, that there is wind...

As Föhn was forecast in the Alps, 'everybody' flocked to the Jura and especially to 'Weissenstein', which is easily reachable by a gondola.

Finsteraarhorn, Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau...

BUT: unfortunately the wind was much stronger than forcasted and also out of a much more northeasterly direction :-((
Comment by Chrigel Maurer about the conditions (the SwissLeague was holding a task here):
Die Bedingungen sind schlechter als prognostiziert:
- mehr Wind (10-15kn aus NE)
- Thermik ist nicht angenehm und zu schwach für den Wind
 
Most pilots launched anyway (also my friend Andy), but an estimated 5% elected to go down using the gondola (me amongst them). Andy reported later that it had not been 'really clean' ;-)    But certainly some great flights were made today.

also some 'not so nice' launches could be seen...

Alp Scheidegg / XCBanner

Originally Andy and I had planned to go to Fanas, but as a pressure difference of 6hpa was forcast we changed our mind and went to Alp Scheidegg instead. (Up to 4hpa is considered to be ok for Fanas, with more the risk of the 'Föhn' breaking through is to big - at least for me). Remark (25.4.): not a single flight from Fanas has been uploaded to XContest...

Andy launching

Launch

But also here the influence of the (SW-) wind could be clearly felt; flying was ok, but not a big pleasure and the landing at 'Hüebli' again a bit tricky ;-)

LZ 'Hüebli'

...XCBanner...

XCBanner is available here: different languages, very lightweight, costs about 15EUR and is mailed from Poland. I have received mine in less than 2 weeks....

Alp Scheidegg

The weather today turned out to be much better than what had been forcasted even just a few days ago, so I went to the site closest to where I live: 'Alp Scheidegg' (abaut 50min by car).
Andy joined me at the LZ, where we parked our cars and then, after waiting only a few minutes, we could hitch a ride to launch - Thanks!!
Conditions turned out to be rather perfect for launching, but in the air it was somewhat 'strange': windy at times, bumpy in places... 

looking down to launch

over the LZ, looking towards launch

LZ 'Hüebli'

The LZ lived up to its reputation as being 'challenging' ;-) Andy even elected to top land and hitch down.

Fanas

Yesterday (SUN, 9.4.) while having lunch together with Ruth on the terrasse of  Skihaus Pirigen near Langwies I saw at least 25 wings flying high overhead; close to 20 pilots flew more than 200k; the furthest: Chrigel Maurer, 245km FAI-Triangle, launching from 'Vilan' (flight here).
So today, even knowing that conditions would be much less favorable due to the approaching coldfront, I found my way to Fanas as well...

just a few pilots on launch ;-)

looking east towards 'Chrüz'

 I started the crossing towards 'Chrüz' (for my liking) rather low, but the west wind helped and I arrived not too low. After a little scratching I was able to cross the peak and the wind pushed me eastwards towards Klosters. Climbs have been strong (up to 8m/s), but sink as well (up to 7 m/s). After Klosters it was finally easygoing to my planned turnpoint at 'Fergenhütte SAC': 3.5m/s climbing half accellerated :-))

near Chrüz

Here I turned back to Klosters and attempted to cross towards 'Gotschna', hoping to be able to continue towards 'Davos', but due to the wind I arrived rather low and spent the remainder of the flight just cruising arround.

avalanche barriers above Klosters

But considering the conditions it was an enjoyable flight for me. Back to my car in Schiers by train.

Arosa

A fine flying day here in Arosa, though the conditions on launch have not been the easiest ;-)

For quite a while ( > 15min) I had to scratch low over Arosa before climbing out again.

Weisshorn

Weisshorn Gipfel

Bernina

Marlies landing in Maran/ Golf course

PeterN landing in Maran

Thanks Peter for your assistance!

Arosa

As the wx fcst was promising excellent conditions, I decided to go to Arosa. But I left my car in Chur as I was hoping to be able to fly away from Arosa...

Just as I was arriving on the Weisshorn, Markus was getting ready to launch his new Advance Epsilon 8. Unfortunately my E8, which I have been triying to sell, was too large for him :-((
(But just 2 days ago the wing could finally be sold.) 

I found some nice thermals near the 'Tschuggen', which got me to >3100m, so I could fly back to launch and take some pictures.

Back to 'Tschuggen' to gain again some hight and then I flew towards 'Langwies (Seta)' where, as usual, some strong thermals could be found. Here already the first pilots, which had launched in 'Fanas', could be seen heading towards Chur. So I decided to follow (or at least try)...

At 'Montalin' (above Chur) I had to decide where to head:
- west, thereby crossing towards Calanda and then direction Flims/ Disentis,
- north towards Landquart/ Fanas
or
- turning around to 'Langwies' and eventually back to Arosa.

crossing towards Calanda

I decided to go for the first option, but I lost too much altidude during the crossing and arrived rather low on the other side. Furthermore I misjudged the valley wind completely: it was blowing much harder than I had expected (thus no thermals on the other side), so that was to be the end of this flight..

Chur, looking towards launch (Weisshorn)

I landed on the 'Rossboden' (wind upon landing > 25kmh), just a few minutes of walking to the bus station, which took me back to my car.
Not really the flight I had hoped to make, but what else could I expect when I misjudged the situation...

Fanas

On the last day of this excellent flying week I visited 'Fanas'.
Unfortuntely a strong westwind bringing the next front was forecast; and above 2500m its influence could be clearly felt :-((  
That was also the reason, why only a few pilots came to fly this site today; but still a nice flight here in the 'Prättigau' valley.

Fanas -Eggli: HG / PG launch (not as free of snow as some said it would be...)

near 'Chrüz', looking back to launch (almost center of pix)

'Chrüz', looking towards 'Klosters' (right side)

Klosters, Gotschna

temporary LZ in Klosters (upper part of this large field)

Arosa at its best

For the last days I stayed in Arosa enjoying the excellent flying conditions. All 3 days permitted good flights with a max altitude of 3380m as well as excellent visibility :-))
This is the time of the year (from end of Febuary until the gondola up to the Weisshorn closes at the end of the winter season) when Arosa normally offers the the best conditions: (mostly) easy take-offs in almost every direction, abundant thermals, high ceilings, easy landing... Even XC is possible.

Of course I was not alone: many fellow pilots came to fly here as well.
A special highlight for me: my friend Oli had 2 days off and came to visit and fly with me.

Erich

Marlies

Looking South on WED: Palü, Bernina, Rosegg

Looking South on THUR: Palü, Bernina, Rosegg

 I was flying the 777 Rook2 and I'm still extremely happy with this gliders TO caracteristics, performance and agility: It's a pure joy to fly it!

Pano from 'Seta (above 'Langwies') looking towards Arosa

Meanwhile, the remains of the 'Posthotel', which had been destroyed by a fire around XMas have almost been cleared away; but I wonder how long it will take until a new project is approved and finally built. (The 'Carmenna Hotel', which had been destroyed by a fire many years ago (7?) is still not rebuilt...)

Morocco -4

Meanwhile, my visit to Moroc draws slowly to an end. It has, as usual, offered many experiences and flights in different regions. After Aguergour we changed to the coast south of Agadir, where we flew at 'Aglou', 'Legzira' and 'Nigel's place'.

Aglou

Legzira

In 'Sidi Ifni' we didn't fly as the status of the site is unclear...

Unfortunately due the very damp and rather cool weather I fell ill (fever/ influenza) and was out for some days (or not very motivated at all) and didn't recover completey until the end of the trip.
For 1 night we changed to 'Tafraoute/ Idikel' an inland site: nice, warm (!) weather and little wind, so we made our best flights there (Hmax 2940m).

Idikel

The next day flying was possible at 'Col du Kerdous' (but I renounced, as launch was a bit too far from the road for me).
Back to our 'base' Aftas Trip at Mirleft, we tried to fly again at 'Aglou', but wind -direction and -speed have not been optimal, so only some groundhandling for me. Only late in the afternoon, I was able to make a (short) flight at 'Legzira-Felsentor'. Here conditions have been perfect for soaring. so perfect actually that too many people have been flying in the rather small space available...

Legzira

Legzira-Felsentor

On the last day 'Chergui', a wind coming from the Sahara started to blow, which prevented any further flying, so we headed back to Marrakesh. Unfortunatley Khalla's Landcruiser broke down shortly before reaching the city, so we had to wait for a replacement car, while his had to be towed for repairs.