Disentis

Today (Tue, 6.8.) a visit to Disentis. From 4.-10.8 a Pre-PWC is being held here. I parked my car at the station at Castrisch and then rode by train to Disentis. Of course the idea has been to land near the car.... From the train station in Disentis I could ride by local bus to the cable car station. I was surprised to see, that a single ticket to Gendusas costs 31chf (no discounts for half-price ticket holders). In Arosa (in summer!) you can ride all the cablecars/ gonolas etc for 18chf as many times as you like...

Gendusas: comp TO

Pano on upper TO looking South towards Piz Medel

I hiked to the upper TO, something which went surprisingly well (considering the problem with my Achilles tendon of my left foot and the heavy back pack ;-)

Last year, when I had been here with Marlies and PeterN, I had big problems launching, but this year everything has been easy: wind straight on the nose and just strong enough to permit a good fwd launch.

comp pilots on their way to the starting cylinder

Pano (at 3100m) looking North: Oberalpstock

nice cumulus clouds, permitting good climbs

'Ruinaulta' (Rheinschlucht bei Versam)

Flims

looking towards Castrisch and Ilanz

Above my LZ at Castrisch, the valley wind has been rather strong (> 30kmh at about 200m/ gnd), but below 50m it decreased quite a bit and permitted a safe landing (after 2.5hrs) not too far from my car. All-in-all a very nice day for flying with good thermals, high cloud base and not too much wind at higher altitudes.

Hüsliberg

2 days on 'Hüsliberg':

Sat (3.8.) for a while it looked like a sledder top to bottom, but over the LZ at about 200m I found a thermal I have been able to 'milk' for 15'...

Mon (5.8.) together with Andy, but much better than Sat. I launched rather late (as usual), but right in front of launch I could climb almost to cloud base :-)

Ob. Bogmen

Apart from the collapse (or frontal stall?) just a nice, relaxing flight (...it opened before I even got a chance to look up...).

Fiesch

Yesterday's diiner: Fondue with extra garlic ;-)

Tue (30.7.) On the train from Niederwald to Fiesch I met Rob Smith - he had recommended Eddie Colfox as my guide in Wales/ England this summer. On his homepage (www.flyfiesch.com) you can find virtually anything you need to know when flying here in Fiesch/ Oberwalls (Goms).

over Eggishorn: Aletschglacier

As usual it took me quite a while to get high above launch (max > 3500m) in rather nice thermals :-)

crossing to Bellwald: looking back (West) to launch / Aletschglacier

above Bellwald (looking East), thermalling together with 2 sailplanes

I enjoyed the views for about 1.5hrs, before landing at Niederwald (near my hotel).

Niederwald

approaching LZ: on base

Wed (31.7.) Another great day, albeit the fcst indicated likely overdevelopment starting as early as 1330... 

crossing to Bellwald: Fiescher glacier (left)

Pano looking East: Grimselpass (cloudbase at 3900m)

Conditions have just been great! Contrary to yesterday I reached cloudbase (approx 3700m) over Eggishorn in less than 30' :-) Heading east has been quite easy with rather gentle thermals. Near Sidelhorn I reached my max altitude: 3850m; unfortunately cloudbase has been at 3900, because the time (1215lt) would have permitted legally climbing above 4000m (Mil OFF:1215-1315)...

Grimselpass

Arriving rather high over Grimselpass, for a moment I had been tempted to opt for the crossing into Urseren Valley...

just before turning around (Rhoneglacier, Furkapass, Gletsch)

...but after having crossed the pass I entered heavy sink, so I decided to turn around and head back; something which with hindsight turned out of having been  the right decison.

Pano looking West

The clouds still looked great, but the air became bouyant almost everywhere, so I decide to land at Ulrichen, just abeam the train station. While packing up a single thunder could be heared... I managed to reach the train back to my car at Niederwald with just a few minutes to spare :-)

less than an hour after I had  landed...

Although distance/ time-wise these have not been exceptional flights, due to the great wx the trip to the Wallis has been more than worthwhile.

Zermatt: Rothorn

Mon: as the fcst for Fiesch showed quite some wind for today, I decided to travel to Zermatt and try to fly there. I have not been to Zermatt for at least 45+ years - and then for skiing.

I had called different tandem companies in Zermatt and they all have been very helpful providing good information.

MGB-train: Niederwald-Brig-Visp

Normally it is possible to travel from Niederwald (where I stayed for the night) to Zermatt all the way by train. But after the torrential rainfalls about 5 weeks ago, the line between Visp and Täsch is still interrupted and one has to travel by bus; there you have to change back into the train. This is quite a challenge, as a full train will need 6+ buses as replacement. But I arrived in Zermatt with only a few minutes delay against the train time table.

Funicular railway Zermatt-Sunegga

Matterhorn (seen from Sunegga)

Here I took the funicular railway, then a cable car and finally the aerial cableway to the top of the Rothorn (3100m). By chance I travelled togethet with a tandem pilot in the funicular railway, which gave me some more important information; he also told me to contact 'Air Zermatt' and tell them if I want to fly to Täsch (for flights to the landing in Zermatt, this is not necessary).

Pano on Rothorn, looking SE-S

Pano on Rothorn, looking S-SW

NW-launch

I departed after all the tandems had launched; by that time the NW-wind has been steadily getting stronger, with a few gust thrown in, But I managed to launch in a lull :-)

Täsch

Täsch: L; my index finger is pointig towards the train station 

The westerly (here northerly = valley) wind could be clearly felt and as it has been my first flight here I didn't like much the aerology, so I landed in Täsch after about 25'... Back to Niederwald by bus and train.

Galgenen

'Typical' Galgenen flight for me: great views, but not really a good flight, although I managed to find twice a nice thermal...

quite a large number of pilots (incl flight sschool)...

above LZ: looking W-NW: lake of Zurich

Leeloo-Treff Scuol: Leeloo2 / Leeloo 2-Liner

Last Sat (13.7.) I travelled to Scuol, picking up Andrea along the way. We missed the 'car train' through the Vereina-tunnel in Klosters-Selfranga by one (!) minute. (Andrea's train had arrived in Sargans with a delay of 7'). Instead of waiting 30' for the next train, we drove across the Flüela-Pass...

Sun (14.7.) we met at 0900 al Bellaval for coffee and introductions - although I knew everyone except 2: Madleine & Hansruedi. The rest: Michael & Gudrun; Andrea; Urs; PeterWi; Marlies & PeterNo.

I was taking my Leeloo2 along. Unusually I launched early - too early as it turned out. I have found immediately a nice thermal which took me to about 400m over launch, then it was already 'game over'. I landed after 30'. Already in the morning I had said that I'd make only 1 flight whatever the circumstances, as my left foot (Achilles tendon) was still posing problems and I didn't want to overstress it. But all the rest had 1 or even 2 nice flights with climbs to > 3000m.

Leeloo2 over Scuol

Mon (15.7). Michael had brought along 'my' Leeloo 2-Liner. He told me that he had made some modifications on the brake geometry and that the wing would be flying more like a 'normal' Leeloo. According to Burnair's fcst, thermal activity would be startting rather late (like yesterday), so I let the other pilots do a first flight and only jouned them for the 'secound' round'.

Unfortunately by now the wind had turned clearly West (contrary to fcst), so we couldn't use the normal take-off at Motta Naluns and we had to walk towards Ftan to a launch called 'Prui'. Thanks to PeterWi, Andrea and Michael for carrying my equipment! - my left foot gladly accepted the relieve. At Prui conditions for launch have been perfect. 

Prui: Andrea and PeterWi (they had waited until I had been airborne).

Already when launching I felt the difference to the normal Leeloo: the wing produces much more lift. I found a weak thermal in front of launch, so I could feel the wing while thermalling. I think that the changes Michael has made, have given this wing even more performance while making the handling more 'Leeloo-like', but with a much higher performance, be it in climbs as well as accelerated: 50% bar gave about + 15kmh.

Tarasp (Castle at 3 o'clock); landing to the left of the lake

my ldg (by Urs)

...landing with a little of tailwind...

Castle Tarasp

I was really tempted to keep this glider, but again I have to be honest and say that it is 'too big' (= too much performance) for me. So Michael took it back to Tiers. They'll ask a few selected pilots if they are interested in buying it; if nobody wants to, then it will come back to me and I'll and use it for winter-flying in Arosa - where the additional performance could come in handy ;-)

Hüsliberg

Burnair's thermal fcst for the day (8.7.) called for 'potential hammer conditions', but the cloud cover has been much more persistent than forecast and conditions became good only after 1630. This had meant either parawaiting since 1400 or making a more or less extended sledder. Andy opted for the second, I for the first...

Pano on launch after all but three had 'disappeared' :-)

But Andy together with many others returned for a second flight. By now conditions had finally improved quite a lot and all could make a good flight.

I could make the first flight with my new Leeloo2 :-)

And the waiting has really been worthwhile: nice conditions with thermals up to 4m/s and great views!

The Leeloo2 behaved as expected: very nice on launch, no problems in-flight: just as you would expect from a Leeloo and as we have become used to meanwhile.

looking West: Lake Zurich

thermalling with Andy

Landing after 1h40m - though conditions would have permitted probably flying into the sunset.

...replacement ;-)

Yesterday the replacement for my Leeloo 'lost' in the pacific Ocean while in Crucita (EC) and the Leeloo 2-liner I had returned to Michael, has arrived :-))

Today I had the chance to unpack the wing and do a little groundhandling.

Even though the wx looks good for flying tomorrow (Fri) as well as probably on Monday/ Tuesday in Fiesch as well, I'll be leaving the wing in the bag as I'm still having problems with the partly torn Achilles tendon of my  left foot (it happend 2 months ago when we hiked to Monte Belpo...) But I hope it will be good enough for some flights by next weekend  (12.-14.7.), when 'Leeloos' will be meeting in Scuol (wx permitting).