el Hierro (VDE) / Tenerife (TFS)

Mon: in retrospect by far the nicest day here on el Hierro. Flying twice from Dos Hermanas (highest launch with 1365m): very large, fine gravel, Holfuy wind station...

Dos Hermanas, looking NNE

As usual, a layer of clouds started forming below/ at launch, but normally it's not very thick....

...so flying through it (with a compass or a flight instrument showing your heading!) poses no problem.

LZ 'los Sargos' -looking back to launch (about middle of pix)
> that's actually what it is supposed to look like on a 'normal' (good) flying day ;-)

'Estacion'

I flew twice, landing at 'Estacion' on the second flight.

For dinner we visited 'Bodeguita del Fa', a restaurant we knew from last year's stay here.

Tue: the day started very wet with high humidity and reduced visibility. Some people have been speaking of 'Calima', but we were not convinced as the wind direction throughout the day remained North...

Mirador de la Pena - looking South towards Frontera

In the late afternoon we headed up to 'Salida 600', hoping for an extended sledder.

'Saida 600' (pix taken the day before)

Contrary to my expectations it turned out to be a very nice flight in smooth conditions. Here the Leeloo showed one of its strong points: climbing well in (very) weak conditions :-))

very hazy during the flight

landing at Los Sargos as the sun was about to set...

Wed: unfortunately too windy for the whole day; even at the lowest launch ('Salida 600') it felt too strong/ gusty for us. There might have been a chance to fly at 'Tacoron', but the chance to do so seemed to small to us to go for a 38km drive (each way).

But 3 acro pilots with their small wings enjoyed flying at 'Sabinosa'.

Sabinosa, looking NE

To 'compensate' for the day we had an excellent (!) dinner at 'Con Fusion' in las Puntas.

Thur: last flying day on VDE: I made 2 flights: 1) around 1230 from Dos Hermanas, where we hit the perfect launch window when the wind has been at its lowest for the whole day.

2) I went for another flight later in the afternoon, this time from 'El Golfo -600' with nice climbs. Unfortunately upcoming rain forced me to outland in the 'pampa' and I had to walk 3.5km before Gaby could pick me up (- short version). Again dinner at Bodeguita del Fa'.

Sunset over Frontera (seen from 'Salida 800')

Fri: too windy for a late morning flight. We returned to los Christianos (TFS) by ferry at 1400; but at least I could do a short sledder from Taucho.

 

>> Many thanks to Alvaro from the local club on VDE for his assistance, hints and tips!!

Sat: last day on this trip together with Gaby and Hartmut. We headed up to Taucho, but when we began to prepare a light drizzle started. After it had stopped, a sledder to the beach would have been possible, but neither Hartmut nor I felt 'tempted'

Tenerife (TFS) -2

4 more days on TFS - flying on 3 of them: twice at Taucho, once at Arafo.

Thur: Taucho

gliding out to la Caleta/ Playa Enramada

Fri: (Taucho) flying would have been possible, but we didn't like the wind direction. Furthermore cloud base was only at 1000m. So I did some exploring: checking out the site at los Gigantes: 'Tamaimo' and its possible LZs.

Tamaimo (Los Gigantes)

Sat: Taucho: during the night it had rained heavily and parking and launch have been extremely muddy; but nice flying conditions.

Parking at Leroy Merlin

Sun: a very nice looking day with virtually no clouds in the morning. We decided to drive up to NP Teide, hoping to fly from Izana. It seemed that very biker on TFS was heading up to the NP ;-) As today has been our check-out, we left (unfortunately) rather late...

Pico del Teide

Izana -South

Conditions (windwise) would have been perfect for launching towards Güimar, but the cloud layer, which had formed in the mean time, had become too thick to permit a safe flight. To have a reasonable chance for flying from Izana (be it North or South) one has to leave at 0730 or 0800, as around 1000 the cloud layer starts building up. Very rare are the days at this time of the year without clouds later in the day...

Izana -North (launch on very left)

From a visit in 2002, I remembered another launch much lower, so that's where we went : Arafo

Arafo - looking towards Las Caletillas/ Candelaria

After a guided group had taken off, we had the launch for ourselves :-) Perfect conditions: light winds with nice (sometimes also strong) thermals and a cloud base at around 2000m.

Launch

las Caletillas

We both landed al Las Caletillas. There are several options: at the beach, near the highway or a bit further at Candelaria.

Later we boarded the ferry from Los Cristianos to Valverde (VDE - el Hierro), arriving at 2200 and finally reaching our accommodation at Frontera around 2245. We'll be staying for 5 days, returning to TFS on Friday.

Tenerife (TFS) -1

 As mentioned earlier; Ive spent the last two weeks on SPC and ACE without flying.

Here on TFS the 'paragliding part' of my trip to the Canary Islands started. On the first 2 days (Mon, Tue) I have only been able to make 2 (short) flights from Taucho, as on both days a shower zone to the south (los Christianos) made judging the wx situation for me difficult. Afterwards it turned out, that the showers 'remained' there and the a landing due to the wx would not have been necessary. But how would I know if there are some drops of rain at launch and in the air?  ( > 'better safe than sorry'...)

Otherwise conditions have been rather nice and smooth :-))

Showers... (looking South towards Los Christianos)

Taucho launch

Wed: a completely different situation with a fcst of light (?) winds and thermal tops around 2000m. The visibilty has been exceptional: la Gomera could be seen very clearly and even el Hierro could be glimpsed in the distance - something I've never been able to do in all my visits since I came here for the first time in 1997. 

La Gomera - El Hierro would be at 11o'clock

looking towards Pico del  Teide (3715m)

I made 2 flights, as on the first flight I didn't really 'make it', landing near our apartment (Sunset Villas). I would have said, that I launched too early...

...but on the other hand, PierAndrea Patrucco, which had launched at the same time (!) flew with his tandem a 62km flat triangle in 3:45... The second flight then turned out to be very nice with a max altitude of almost 1900m by Ifonche :-) Condition at times have been pretty strong... This time I landed near Playa Enramada...

Playa Enramada / La Caleta

And just to proof that the name of our apartement is appropriate:

La Gomera (behind the palm tree on the right)

Canary Islands - info about flying la Palma

After having spent the last two weeks on la Palma (SPC) and Lanzarote (ACE) with my wife. (> Pix can be found HERE) I arrived on Tenerife last Sunday (5.2.); at the same time Ruth has been flying back home. Earlier in the afternoon my friends Gaby and Hartmut had arrived from DUS and we'll be spending the next two weeks together here on Tenerife (TFS) and also on el Hierro (VDE).

I did not fly during these two weeks, but I'd like to give an update about the situation (regarding paragliding) on la Palma.

Basically, the island is (more or less) 'back to normal' after the volcano eruption.

Unfortunately the main flight area (Puerto Naos) remains closed :-( (Feb'23)

The whole village had been evacuated and is fenced off (including the LZ!). Not due to direct lava damage or so, but due to (too) high levels of carbon dioxide! 

Further more a no-fly zone has been declared (see pix) and this includes the launch above Pto. Naos (which could be otherwise reached as usual).

The launch at el Gallo has been completely destroyed.

pix provided by Palmaclub - thanks!

But all the rest (launches and LZs) are open for flying! Campanarios can be reached as usual, but one has to land at either Charco Verde or le Remo; both of which are NOT suited for beginners!

With regard to the no-fly zone: this means that launching at Campanarios is possible, but flying north of launch and over the lava fields/ new volcano is NOT permitted.

More detailed info can be found here or contact the Palmaclub.

Arosa in January - (strong) winds in Chur

The wx this months permitted only 2 flights to Chur (4. / 6. January) and -until I'll leave with Ruth for the Canary Islands on 22.1. - it's not looking like that there will be many more opportunities :-((

4.1. uneventful sledder...

6.1. lots of pilots on the Weisshorn; 4 of them flying to Chur...

Shortly before launching we had checked the wind in Chur and it showed little NE- (= valley) wind (around 10kmh). But when approaching Maladers, a check on my Skytraxx told me that the wind had increased to NE/ 25-37! On half-speed bar my ground speed has been as low as 5kmh at times... Luckily I've been rather high so reaching my planned landing field in Masans posed no problem and I've always had several alternative options. But some other pilots, which had arrived lower, barely reached a decent LZ...

So what had happened?

Urs (one of the pilots who had flown to Chur with me) posed this question to the Swiss Meteorological Service (Meteo Swiss), as we had not encountered this phenomenon before.

Good day

During a paragliding flight from the Arosa Weisshorn to Chur, we were surprised by a weather phenomenon that put us in a dangerous situation and which I absolutely cannot understand. I would be very grateful if you could comment on this.

On 06 January 2023 in the afternoon, generally weak winds were forecast. This was also the case on the summit of the Weisshorn and over the entire Schanfigg. Over Chur, at about 1415 hrs, we were suddenly caught by a strong gusty wind from the north-east (valley wind), which, according to our navigation equipment, was a good 40 km/h. This meant that we were practically at a standstill against the wind and with a lot of luck we were able to land unharmed at various emergency landing sites. The strong wind continued for about 20 minutes after the landing, after which it was practically windless, as it had been before.

Questions: How could such a sudden strong wind occur in this low wind situation without a shower or change in the weather? How could I recognise such a danger at an early stage in the future?

Thank you very much for your valuable assessment

Kind regards

and that's the answer he received:

Good afternoon

 

On this day there was widespread high fog over the Central Plateau with an upper limit of around 1300 m to 1600 m. In the foothills of the Alps and the Inner Alps it was sunny. In the Pre-Alps and Inner Alps it was sunny.

The different levels of insolation ensured that a pressure gradient was able to build up in the Rhine valley. The pressure gradient was of course further favoured by the lack of snow cover.

At the indicated time, gusts of 21 knots were measured in Chur. The pressure gradient then decreased again in the course of the afternoon. Varying solar radiation can also cause such small-scale wind phenomena again and again in the winter half-year.

 

With kind regards

MeteoSwiss

> I'm very happy, that the Skytraxx is able to show almost in real-time such wind information. Thus I've been 'warned' early enough about this possible danger and could plan accordingly.

> also many thanks to Urs for getting this information!

Wing suit flying - great compilation

 

Happy Holidays!!

 

Arosa - more: 12./13.; 17./18.12.

Some more trips to Arosa:

12./ 13. slowly the slopes are getting 'better' - meaning that I'm not sinking anymore up to my knees into the deep snow :-) Flying has been possible only on the first day, as the 'bad' weather arrived much faster than forecast; extended sledder to Chur.

Webcam 12.12.22

17./ 18. Still, the 'FIS' is not yet groomed, but at least hard packed in places by the skiers.

Sat: launching was ok - on the 3rd attempt :-(

Many thanks to PeterN/ Züsi and Hampa for their assistance and patience, as well as to Réné for the lift to the train station!

...tailwind...

17.12.22

Sun: as the wx station in Chur was reporting southerly winds (Föhn tendency) with 15-27kmh, I decided not to repeat yesterdays flight. A surprisingly large number of pilots have made their way to the Weisshorn; launching has been a bit tricky in the unsteady SW/ W -wind. 

In order to extend my flight by a few minutes, I landed on the large meadow in 'Isla'.

Arosa - 2 days with Oli

 

...too much snow for me...

I've spent the last 2 days in Arosa together with my friend Oli. Perfect winter weather, but that does not mean perfect flying weather ;-)  - especially not on the Weisshorn.

Tuesday: 2 problems: 1) to much (deep) snow on the not yet groomed slopes; 2) too much wind from a less than ideal direction (NW).

After about 2 hours on the mountain we decided to call it a day. When going down we met Bruno, who apparently after a failed launch in the deep snow managed to get off for a sledder.

Wednesday: 2 problems: 1) (still) to much snow; 2) not enough wind...

I've made 3 attempts to launch in almost nil wind from E-SE, but didn't make it. Afterwards I was completely drenched in sweat...

                                        

...so I didn't try again.

Oli managed to launch in this light easterly wind for a sledder to Mittelstation.

He came back up again to launch. Meanwhile the wind had shifted to light W and he finally could launch on the FIS. All this 'hassle' paid off for him, as he could find some thermals above the golf course and in the end he landed after more than an hour (as he was getting too cold) - congrats!!

As from coming Saturday, Weisshorn should be opened also for skiers, so by then the slopes are supposed to be groomed and launching -even in less than ideal conditions- should be possible also for me again ;-)

Arosa

Just a short trip to Arosa for an autumn sledder from Weisshorn (2640m) to Chur (640m) - about 11km as the crow flies.

I had to wait quite a while until the pilot 'in front' of me got away - it's rare to see someone who is 'running' even slower than me ;-)

But due to this waiting time the wind finally changed from nil/ minimal tailwind to a just a 1 or 2 kilometers headwind.

Chur: I've landed in many places since 1993, but never on this meadow here...

new try ;-) Video USA 2022 (Video compiled by Andy -many thanks!!)

 Compiled from Andy's videos and Taggi's pictures and some videos.