Fiesch

looking East towards 'Grimsel'- and 'Furkapass'

Even though the wx fcst has not been too promising, I took the 0600 train from Fehraltorf and travelled via Zurich-Bern-Brig to Fiesch (arriving 0958); finally ready to launch just after 1100...where else can you find something like this?
Already on launch the winds didn't feel 'quite right' and it could be clearky seen, that something was brewing. At the beginning the first thermal after launch took me up to 3500m and it was strong but smooth. But the longer the flight, the more the thermals became rougher and after 1.5hrs I decided to land. Later in the afternoon some CB's devellopped and it started to rain...

LZ at 'Ritzingen'

Arosa - Klosters (ca 52km)

Arosa (left), Schwellisee, Älplisee (right)

Davos

looking towards 'Flüelapass'

Jöri-Fless-Pass (?)

Final glide towards 'Klosters' (background)

Once more a nice flight from Arosa, but I had to wait for 2 hours before I found the conditions acceptable enough for launch. Cloudbase today at 3600m, but again when I needed the altitude to cross the 'Flüelapass', I couldn't climb high enough...
So with a very looooong glide I was able to reach the LZ at 'Klosters'. just 10mins from the railway station.

Arosa - Bergün

Finally a good flying day - even though the forecast didn't look too promising (base at 3000m); but actually at 3500m. I tried twice to get high enough above 'Bergün' in order to cross the 'Albulapass', but I never was able to climb to an altitude which permitted the crossing with a big enough saftey margin
:-((
I landed at 'Bergün', just 3mins from the railway station.

Chicco setting up on the 'Weisshorn'

looking South into the 'Albula-valley

'Bergün lies on the 'Albula'-line of the RhB (Rhätische Bahn); the part from 'Thusis' to 'Tirano' has become a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.

Ge 6/6 'Krokodil'

>> RhB UNESCO (DE)
>> Wikipedia: Albulabahn (DE)
>> Wikipedia: Berninabahn (EN)

Day 18 -flight back

Luckily, the flights back didn't near last as long as the flights over (20hrs vs 28hrs from home to hotel).

crossing French coast near Dieppe

Sunset over France

I'd like to thank here all who have contributed to make this such a successful trip, first of all Stacy, who always found a place to fly if condtions permitted and helped me in many ways; then the whole team who organized the RedRocksNationals; Kari and and...

Day 17 -Jean Dry Bed

What else?
Also the last day of my trip didn't pass without a flat tire...

Stacy had arranged with Ron Pecks to fly Jean Dry Bed.
Ron brought along his tow-rig and I could make 3 successful tows, then the winds became too strong/ gusty and it was too hot anyway.

high above Ron's tow rig

Stacy, Junko, Shuji

Before check-in, I had my trie repaired -free of charge!
Had my hair and beard done and went for a last

Sushi lunch.

Day 16 -Hurricane, Graff's Peak

Originally, Stacy had planned to fly Graff's Peak in the morning and then continue to Hurricane (this would also have been the more 'logical' way), but due to predicted winds we went to Hurricane first. Just as we arrived on launch, another flat tire...

Stacy launched first and found a nice thermal so he could come back and topland.
I launched next and could soar for about 30 minutes, but the thermals became more inconsistent and in the end I landed not far from my car. I guess that it just was too hot for good thermals to devellop.


So then we drove North to Graff's Peak (my second new site on this trip).
We might have arrived a little late for really good xc-flying, but still all had a good flight; Junko made it to Parowan - congrats!



looking South towards Kolob Cyn

Day 15 -Brian Head, Cedar Mtn

While driving to Ceadr City after our flight from Mt.Edna, we made a slight detour and took a scenic route, which led us by Brian head, another possible flying site.

looking East from Brian Head



The winds were too inconsistent for a safe launch, so we continued to Cedar City and up Cedar Mountain.

looking NE: Cedar Breaks National Monument

This was my 3rd visit to this site and finally the conditions permitted a good flight

Flight 2100 -if my count is correct

Utah -Day 14 -Mt.Edna

After a lousy night (after having received the notice of my best friends accident and death in his beloved mountains), Stacy, Shuji and Junko (from Japan) and I headed up Mt.Edna.



Cloudbase was just above the antennas and the wind from SW. After quite a long time considering if I should fly at all, I finally took off and flew out Cottonwood Cyn and landed at the interstate.

Shortly after,

Shuji and Junku landed there as well.

While we were still packing up Terry arrived. He lives right next to the LZ in Marysvale and had seen us place a windsock there and then head up the mountains. Later he saw us fly out, but not towards the LZ. So he figured there might possibly something wrong, took his car and followed us to where we landed.
Hey Terry, that was awfully thoughtful and kind of you, and probably my quickest retrieve ever!
We had been back to our cars faster than Stacy could drive from Edna.

Riet

Go with love upon your journey,
Go with wonder in your heart,
May the light be there to guide you
trough the terrace of the dark.
You have always been a good friend
but I won't know when you have arrived -
and I wish that I could see you one more time!

(excerpt from 'the Journey' by Chris de Bourgh)

Riet

Riet, Esther und Ruth in Medergen, Juli 2004


Heute (SO, 1100LT) wurde ich in Richfield, UT nach dem Fliegen von der Nachricht vom tragischen Unfall Riet's überrascht.
Genaueres weiss ich nicht, ausser dass er am Samstag im Bergell auf einer Bergtour abgestürzt sei.
Ich sitze hier im Hotelzimmer und versuche das Ganze irgendwie zu (er)fassen.
Mein herzliches Beileid für diesen unermesslichen Verlust an Esther, Nina, Luzia, Flurin, Vera, Claudia, Jan, Ben und und...
Man sollte verbieten, dass die Kinder vor den Eltern sterben!

Als ich nach der 1.Sek in Arosa im Gymi in Chur in der 1.Klasse hospitierte, war Riet vom ersten Moment an einer meiner besten Freunde und ich wurde von ihm und seiner Familie stets mehr als freundlich und grosszügig empfangen und bewirtet!
Wir verbrachten die ganze Gymi-Zeit bis zur Matura in der gleichen Klasse (oft nebeneinander in der gleichen Bank - von jemandem musste ich ja schliesslich abschreiben...); verbrachten mehrere Sommer in der Boval-Hütte bei Hans Philipp als Träger und unternahmen schöne Bergtouren; reisten zusammen mit Heinz Raschein nach Schweden ins 'Survival camp' von Martin Epp; verbrachten tolle Stunden/ Tage im 'Hüttli' (sei es Pizol, Vilan oder Fanas) mit Gilbert, Jürg und Els; trafen uns immer wieder mal im Tenue 'grün', wenn gleich meine Karriere dort deutlich weniger spektakulär verlief.
Riet hat etwa gleichzeitig mit mir mit GS-fliegen begonnen, hörte dann aber auf, weil er das Risiko mit Familie und eigenem Geschäft für zu gross erachtete -welch eine Ironie des Schiksals!

Ich werde morgen (MO) versuchen, meinen Flug ex LAS umzubuchen, so dass ich am Freitag in der Schweiz sein kann - ich hoffe sehr, dass es möglich sein wird.

Utah - Day 13 -Cove

Unfortunately yat another day which OD'd in the afternoon...
There was a small window for some thermals, but I blew it as my right brake line got tangled with the C-risers and I had to fly away from the mountain (and the possible thermals) to untangle it... Reason: I had not thouroughly completed my pre-flight check, so I probably 'deserved' it.

Small flower on launch

Utah - Day 12 -finally...

...the long awaited
 

16oz prime rib

;-)

Utah - Day 12 -Capitol Reef NP in the afternoon

Just 1.5hrs from Richfield lies "Capitol Reef National Park".
As it looked not like we could fly 'Cove' in the evening, I drove over to this NP.
Though it's probably the least spectacular of Utah's NPs, it's still worth a visit.
And I'd been lucky, as there were some sunny spells.

Utah -Day 12 -(altn) LZ at Maryvale

I have to bring this up here: a while back Stacy had been told that it would be ok to land at

1810 Bullion Cyn.Road.

But already as we got to the intended LZ, the farmer arrived on his ATV and showed his displeasure of us being here. He also made us park further down the road. His remark: "we are trying to grow some grass here" was nothing but a joke in view that this field was nothing but dust and dry weeds!
When we actually landed there he showed up again and Stacy had to go and talk to him in order "to calm him down".
I simply cannot (and will not) understand how some one can be so egoistic. First he gives permisson and then he gets angry when someone lands there. A part from this: who many times a yaer paragliders show up and actually do land in his field: once, twice, ...?

So please do avoid landing in

this area

in the future.

Utah -Day 12 -Mt. Edna (in the morning)

At 0700 more than 20 pilots showed up at HQ, ready for a ride up Mt. Edna, Utah's highest drive-up launch. At the LZ in Maryvale everybody loaded his gear onto the roof of 3 cars and then squeezed in...
It was still overcast when we arrived on top of Edna at the radio station, but the visibility was excellent, as well as the conditions for launch.


looking SE - S - SW; pajute reservoir in the center


some delicate, small flowres growing at 3600m.

Utah -Day 11 -Day-6 of the RRN: Prize giving

As mentieoned in my last entry, the comp had been cut short by one day due to wx and the prizegiving ceremony moved to Friday evening.
We met at René's Restaurant,were all the pilots and volunteers were treaded to a steak-/ chicken dinner. Besides the DJ we were entertained by

"Miss Richfield 2011-2012".

Among the winners of the different categories (open, serial, sport, master (55+), women I knew only

No1: Nicole and No3: Kari. Arnie made 3rd place in the serial class.

I'd like to take the opportunity here to say a very big "thank you" to the organizers of this meet, among them Stacy, Ken (meet director), Jeff (retrieve director), Zac, Jochen, Judy, Janet, Shary and all those not mentioned here, because I either forgot their names or because they just had been working unseen/ unnoticed in the background!

Utah -Day 10 -Day-5 of the RRN: task #2 (Monroe Peak)

Flower at 3400m

After 3 days without a task due to the wx, Task #2 was set today: race to goal: 68.5km.


Task #2


Looking SW-W-NW

At first, when launch opened, it looked kind of weak in front of launch, so I delayed my TO by about 30mins. By then the thermals in front and right of launch had nicely develloped and pilots were getting high. So I figured it might by time to give it a try...


Circling over launch, looking South


The gaggle waiting for start (looking North towards Cove)

It was rather easy getting high, though top of climb was about 1000m lower than on Sunday.
By sheer luck I was only about 200m from the edge of the start cylinder by the time the race started. I took a line above the foothills and arrived on Cove not much after the first pilots (which had taken a line further in), but much lower. So it took a while for me to get high again. I moved rather slowly northwards.


Sevier Valley, looking North

Looking backwards, I didn't much like what I saw, so I decided to land near a village with a nice road, in order to avoid any hiking.


Glenwood, where I landed

Unfortunately (or luckily), the clouds didn't OD (overdevellop), so I could have tried to continue for some more kms. But better safe than sorry...
I was picked up rather quickly and driven back to HQ. Thx Jeff! By looking at the SPOT-tracks of Nicole and Arnie, they seem to have made goal - congrats!

Utah -Day 9 -Day-4 of the RRN:RA, xxRA at times

Still no luck with the wx: RA, xxRA at times.
For a short while it looked as there might be a task, but then on Monroe the clouds just got darker...


...while we were still hoping...(Ken)

And the road down from the mountain also got worse by the minute!

Utah -Day 8 -Day-3 of the RRN:-update

CB N of Richfield, after the rain had passed


Chicken dinner at Monroe City
Many thanks for having us for dinner!