Meduno

The last 2 days I've spent in Meduno (Monte Valinis). My friend Marco is staying here doing tandems before going to Kobarid on Saturday to drive/ retrieve for the competition to beheld there next week; Nicole will also be going there to help setting tasks.

Marco preparing his passenger (this time his son Paolo) for flight

Marco (Paolo) toplanding

'Castello di Toppo'  (near the LZ)

As you can see from the pix, it have been a fine flying days - a very typical 'Meduno-days': steady conditions, quite a lot of people, a bit windy on launch during the afternoon, not very high cloudbase and not easy to get away ;-)

On Thursday I could make 2 flights and then had dinner together with Marco; on Friday (where the wx has been much better than originally predicted) just 1 flight as afterwards I've been driving to Bassano del Grappa - hoping that the wx again will be better than forecasted ;-)

----------------------------------------  Insiders' tip  -------------------------------------------

If the wind at the normal launch (HG ramp) is too strong or if you just want to get away from the crowd, there is a 'secret' TO spot just a few minutes of hiking from the parking; there is also a wind spy...

...and some more nice flowers...

Bernadia, Lijac

...on the way to Torlano...

As the 1030-shuttle at Gemona was already fully booked Nicole sugested I'd go to Bernadia: some pilots would meet at the LZ in Torlano at 1030 and hike up to launch and that there might be a chance for a ride as well,,, So it turned out: Alessandro Pera took the packs of all the hikers, some food, me and my gear and drove to launch: MANY THANKS for the ride!! And it's only a few minutes to launch from where the cars are parked :-))

looking from LZ to launch (left side)

Pano on launch - looking South

Launches on Bernadia are not very easy: small and steep, but the mountain provides nice thermals.

LZ Torlano

Landing is rather tricky, as the LZ is surrounded by vineyards; in addittion it can be rather 'lifty' in the final approach. Luckily there is an additional grass field beyond the LZ (not shown on pix), so there is no need to 'force' the glider into this LZ.

My flight lasted almost 2 hours.

Afterwards I drove (again) to Lijac and I made it just in time for the 1600-shuttle.

Contrary to yesterday I had a nice flight of about 1.5hrs.

I flew a bit towards Ajdovscina, but turned around about halfway as I preferred to land near my car. The wind was about 15-20kmh from the WSW-WNW, so part of the ridge was on the lee. Looking West I saw a glider rather low trying to make it in front of the ridge. It was difficult to judge his actual hight about the trees and whether he would make it. I said to myself: 'I wouldn't want to be in his position'. And just a few moments later...

...he ended up in the trees...

LZ (center of pix) looking to launch

With this 1.5hr-flight a great flying day ended; on the way back to my hotel the 'compulsory' stop at the gelateria 'Fiore di Latte' in Gradisca ;-)

Lijac -bad timing!

Arriving at the LZ conditions looked pretty good. But as I waited for the shuttle to depart and then finally was ready to launch, it started to cloud over rapidly. For me it didn't look as conditions would get better again, so I launched.

As above the ridge the lift was not very special and out in the plain pilots had been climbing well I decided to try my luck also away from the ridge - wrong desicion :-((

In addition, after having landed and packed up it started to clear again. But unfortunately the next shuttle was already full and I didn't want to wait for an (eventual next) shuttle maybe 1.5hrs later.

But the trip to Slovenia has been worthwhile anyway as I could fill up my car...

the price is nice here in Slovenia ;-)

...and of course a visit to the best gelateria around here: 'Fiore di Latte' in Gradisca d'Isonzo...

Gemona (Cuarnan)

Nice local flight in Gemona, taking off on Cuarnan; whereas Nicole and her group went for a xc-flight to the south-east.

Cuarnan: Pano looking West (Tagliamento in the center of pix)

It's incredible how much all of her 'competition gear' weighs. My pack comes to about 23kgs, but compared to hers, mine feels like a 'helium bag' ;-)

Gin Leopard

again pano looking west: Gemona/ Tagliamento

Cloudbase -as per fcst- has been rather low (at 1500m); in the afternoon rising to around 2000m. Thermals have not been too nicely organized, so I just flew locally..

Pano looking North: Cuarnan and the ridge leading into Slovenia (right side)

LZ at Gemona

 

Tonight dinner together with Nicole and Alby....

Rocca Canavese / Muanda

Saturday at 0500 I departed for Piemont (Italy). The early departure had 2 reasons: 1) I wanted to arrive shortly after 1000 and 2) to avoid the weekend traffic on the highway through the Gotthard tunnel: already shortly after 0600 while driving up the northern ramp to the tunnel I got the feeling, that there would be traffic jams later in the day with so many (especially German) cars heading south... But I managed to pass before the traffic became to intense. No one asked at the Italian border either bothered to see the (negative) test result of my PCR test... 

I had arranged with PierAndrea (Patrucco) to meet at the highway exit in Ivrea and then decide which flying area to use. Cavallaria certainly looked flyable, but as I have been there before I opted for the alternative: Rocca Canavese. PierAndrea, who knows everybody around here, managed to organize a ride to launch, so we didn't have to worry about retrieving a car.

Rocca Canavese launch: Madonna della Neve (seen from LZ)

Rocca C. is a 'trickier' site than Cavallaria: having much less difference in altitude (about 500m vs up to 900m at Cavallaria), which does not give much room/ time to look for lift. On the other hand, once above launch it would be easy to go higher...

wide, south-facing launch

 

PierAndrea told me to try to center even the weakest thermals, but for me today these just have been too weak...

 

Although I could extend my flight to almost 20 minutes I never managed to make it above launch :-((  PierAndrea -as expected- didn't bomb out and flew for 3+ hours. (his flight here)

without a dialy cappucchino and 'gelato' it has not been a visit to Italy

Sunday: again meeting with PierAndrea. For today he suggested we go to Muanda (nera Biella). He had arranged for seats on the 12 o'clock shuttle.

Again Cavallaria (like yesterday) looked nice and flyable...

passing Cavallaria on the way to Muanda

Here it looked less 'nice': less sunshine/ more clouds...

We met at the huge LZ; but with stronger winds the landing lies a bit in the lee and it's also uphill..

Muanda LZ; launch is indicated...

large launch (there is an other TO further up facing a bit more West; LZ

Santuario di Oropa

 

I flew for close to 40 minutes in the sometimes weak thermals; PierAndrea's flight lasted 2h15'.

approaching LZ

After having packed my gear I left and dove the 500+km to Gradisca d'Isonzo. The Navigator initially calculated roughly 5+hrs, but traffic has been really easy (also around Milan!) so I made it non-stop in just 4 :-))

Tomorrow I'll be meeting Nicole and we'll probably go to Gemona.

Rotenflue

 

Whitsunday (Pentecost): (once more) rather better wx than in the fcst - so Ruth and I drove to Rickenbach (SZ) for a flight from Rotenflue: but many pilots and also flightschool had the same idea. Luckily launch is really large, so this dind't pose any real probem.

Launch(es) - there is even a HG ramp (upper rt corner)

Nice thermals got me to just above 2200m, from where the views have been really amazing.

Pano lookig NW: Vierwaldstättersee; Lauerzersee/ Rigi; launch/ Mythen

Pano looking south: Mythen; Vierwaldstättersee; Lauerzersee/ Rigi

Pano looking North: Schwyz. Mythen, launch

Landing after about 1h20': I really misjuged my approach! By looking at other pilots going in for landing it looked to me that the final approach seemed rather lifty, so I planned my approach accordingly. But I had misread the conditions: less lift, more wind which made me come in low and short; I landed in the high grass well short of the official LZ and the glider got 'draped' over a fruit tree :-((

With the help of a ladder (from the gondola station) and some pilots we have been able to get the glider untangeled. Many thanks to ???, Tabea and Ricardo for their assistance!!

Scheidegg

Already on 14.May I made a flight here, but as I didn't feel at all 'fit to fly', I landed already after only 15 minutes :-((

Today, the fcst predicted a short window in the afternoon, where the wind should be dropping and the sun shining. But at noon it was still raining a bit. At 1430 I looked again at the webcam on Scheidegg and saw some pilots flying. Andy graciously offered to drive me up to launch so we met at Hübli one hour later.

Pano looking NW towards Bachtel

Pano looking NE back to Scheidegg

Really nice thermals and not too much wind permitted flying for an hour before I landed at Hüebli (and my car) - thanks Andy!

Fanas (slight 'Föhn' tendency)

 Just a short flight in Fanas before the 'Föhn' became too strong...

On launch I have been recognized by Moni; at that time she's been a 'guide' for 'Fly with Andy' and we have met 2010 (in Quixada/ Patu) and 2011 (at San Fermo) - incredible! I think she's runnig her own business now: Flugrausch...

With hindsight it would have been possible to fly a little longer/ farther as the forecast has been a bit too pestimistic and the strenght of the 'Föhn' increased less rapidly.

But anyway: a good launch, a safe landing; the rest in between is a bonus and if the flight lasts more than an hour then everything is just great ;.)

Weissenstein

Sunrise on 'Weissenstein' (Webcam)

Daytrip with Andy and Oli to Weissenstein: very instable atmosphere with great climbs and big sinks.

Pano looking West

A bit too much west wind for my liking. This flight also shows how little experience I have in flying here: which of these (parallel) valleys do you follow: the first one, the second one, when to switch from one to the other..

Probably I was too 'fixed' on reaching my imaginary target ('Chasseral'), so I tried to push too much westward (against the wind). Thus I missed to right moment when I should have turned back and taken advantage of the wind (for going East). So I had to land; but I found a sports field very close to the train station at 'Sonceboz'. But a nice average speed for going against the wind (23.7kmh)... Back home by train in less than 2.5hrs. 

And that's what really sets Switzerland apart from all other countries. Everywhere you can flind great flying site and magnificient landscapes. But only here it's possible to reach many launches by kind of public transport (thus you can leave the car at home), then fly for as long as possible/ as convenient, land and normally within an hour you'll have a train or bus to take you back home :-))

Pano looking West: 'Bielersee' (left), 'Chasseral', the white 'dot' (middle of pix)

Sonceboz

...never before I'd heard of this village...

Andy made the same mistake and  was on the ground just a few minutes before me; Oli headed East and landed just short of 'Olten'.