Fiesch (Mon)

Another great day here in Fiesch: this year (so far) my longest flight (time - and distance wise) :-))

landing in Niederwald

Fiesch (Sun)

Another great flying day here in Fiesch; today with PeterW. Conditions similar to yesterday, but a bit windier and thermals a bit rougher at times. The big difference: after having passed Sidelhorn (again at about 3500m) I 'found' only sink and more wind, so I decided to land at Ulrichen. My Skytraxx had shown more than 30kmh wind there at times... Back to Niederwald by train...

not me ;-)

I know that the pictures are always kind of similar, but the views continue to amaze me anew on every flight ;-)

Fiesch (Sat)

Leaving home for Fiesch at 0430; the reason: possible traffic jams on the Gotthard route to Italy: actually I have driven via Brünig and Grimsel Pass. Being so early, traffic has been scare and I arrived at Niederwald after 3h30'.

Sunrise over Lungerensee, shortly before Brünig Pass.

With these excellent conditions and (finally!) several promising days in a row, lots of pilots congregated today. Having left home so early I didn't feel overly eager for a long flight so I have been almost the last one to launch.

Aletsch Glacier

Fiescher Glacier; Finsteraarhorn

Conditions have been excellent: strong thermals (but not 'nasty'); not very windy at the higher altitudes, great visibility. I could reach almost 4000m...

Pano looking East: Dammastock, Rhone Glacier, Grimsel and Furka Pass.

Sidelhorn at 3500m; Grimsel Pass, Gletsch, Rhone Glacier, Furka Pass

I turned around here, even though 3500m would have been high enough to attempt the crossing over to Furka Pass. On the way back to my landing at Niederwald almost no turns had been needed...

Ebenalp

Today I made a short trip to Ebenalp, where -after last Friday's 'desaster' at Disentis- I had a pretty good (forward) launch :-)

Nice thermals and good visibility. After about 1 hour a REGA-helicopter was very cautiously climbing up to the Äscher restaurant - clearly the pilot has been aware of the intense PG traffic overhead. As I was flying directly above I had to leaving the aera. After landing I have been told that a tourist with a medical problem had to be medevaced - luckily no pilot involved...

Pano looking West: Ebenalp (launch)/ Säntis

Pano looking East: Alp Sigel/ Hoher Kasten

No way! - video by Jean-Baptiste Chandelier

 

(Disentis) - not my day :-(

 

A promising fcst (good thermals, little wind, very small chance of OD) had made me travel to Disentis (from Castrisch, where I had parked my car, by train to Disentis). Here, this week 'Disentis Open 2023' was held. I also met Marlies and PeterN, as well as Hampi (who participated in the comp). By cable car and chair lift we got to the launch at Gendusas. A 20min hike (for me) got us to the TO above the competition launch (pix above).

pilots prepairing at the comp launch

After about 5 (!!) failed attempts at launching (short launch, wind slightly cross) I was completely drenched in sweat and exhausted - so I decided to pack up and walk down to the chairlift station :-((

PeterN on the other hand had a clean launch....

Many thanks to Marlies and PeterN for their assistance on launch, helping me get down as well as driving me to the train station!

Ebenalp - LeelooT mit Andrea

 

Last Monday the LeelooT has arrived; today Andrea and I made the first flights at Ebenalp  :-))

looking West towards Ebenalp

We could make 2 flights: the first one just an extended sledder, as the sky still had been a bit too cloudy. For the second flight we headed straight for Alp Sigel, but arriving rather low. So it took us quite a while until we could climb above the ridge. Later we attempted to cross to Hoher Kasten; unfortunately we arrived a bit too low to be able to climb up again and return to Wasserauen for landing. Instead we had to land at Brülisau and then by bus/ train back to Wasserauen.

Most of the time Andrea has been flying (also TO and Ldg); I flew for a while but with the current brake position, I have not been able to completely release the left brake, so we always had some brake input there. As I'm giving the wing to Andrea anyway, there was no need to adapt anything for me; she'll need to lenghten the brakes a bit in order to feel comfortable...

Brake position in flight

Something to think about for for long-time pilots ;-)

 

LeelooT - first flight by Michael & Gudrun

At the end of July, 'my' LeelooT finally made his maiden flight at Levico (in between 2 thunderstorms)...

By now the wing should by on its way to Switzerland - just a question of time before Andrea and I can make a flight ;-)

Arosa - for once: 'Freud'horn; not the usual 'Scheiss'horn ;-)

 

For once, conditions for launching on Weisshorn have been exceptionally good: wind perfect on the nose, not too weak, nor too strong - simply perfect. I can't remember similar nice conditions in summer on this launch (and I have about 650 launches from this mountain).

Arosa: Obersee

Maran / Golf course

Medergen

Pano looking South towards Engadin/ Bernina

Strong climbs (up to 8m/s) have taken me to just over 3000m; Even though the winds at 3000m had been forecasted to be over 20kmh, the actual speed have been well below. I landed after just a bit over an hour; winds on landing (at Isla) have been around 15-20kmh.

Hüsliberg (Schänis) (rev)

Today's options: Jura (Weissenstein) or Hüsliberg. Andy and I decided to 'stay close' and went to Schänis., arriving just in time for the 1pm shuttle. Last time I've flown here: 27.7.1997 ;-) At that time the performance of the gliders often didn't permit nice flights and launching from the higher launches (like Steinegg) has been forbidden (Wildschutz) - so this launch kind of vanished from my 'radar'. Thanks Andy for the suggestion!

Unfortunately no in-flight pix from my X3 - I must have made an error, as the camera didn't save any of the in-flight movies :-(

ein erster Versuch ein Video aus den X3-Aufnahmen zu machen....

Pano looking West: oberer Zürichsee

Conditions have been really nice: easy/ strong thermals, not too much wind, great views - everything just perfect :-)) I flew for 2h20'

LZ 'Rufi'

nearby gliderport 'Schänis'

Weissenstein (Jura) - first tries with the Insta360 X3

Short trip to Weissenstein for the first tries with the Insta360 X3. Good/ excellent conditions, strong at times (+8 m/s) and more windy than I had anticipated ;-) I also felt that I have not flown much since my return from Japan 6 weeks ago - at least not in such conditions...

Pano looking East: launch (Weissenstein) on left (pix not by X3)

LZ in Oberdorf (SO) - to the left of the farm building

The Insta360 X3 seems to offer such an amazing variety of options/ possibilities; but I'm not starting to make any videos, just taking some pictures out of the recordings I have made during the flight...