Italy -6: Gröden (Seceda), Speikboden

As already yesterday there have been more than 200 pilots flying in Canazei/ Col Rodella, I decided to avoid this site and drove to Val Garden (St.Ulrich/ Ortisei) and rode the cablecar up to Seceda.

Seceda (seen from St.Ulrich/ Ortisei

looking West towards St.Ulrich/ Ortisei

Seceda: launch, looking South towards Langkofel (Canazei)

Langkofel

But I didn't fly this day, as I just didn't feel like it :-((

So for the last day of flying on this trip I drove to Sand in Taufers and its world class XC-site: Speikboden.
Here I made just a short flight, as the autumn thermals have been small, pretty strong and sharp edged. But this is certainly a site worth coming back!

launch

Ahrntal

Pano looking South: the whole range of the 'Dolomiti'

Sand in Taufers

Pano looking North: Ahrntal

Italy -5: Sillian/ Canazei: testing AirDesign Rise-2 (XL)

Finally I had a chance to get my hands on an AirDesign Rise-2 in XL. As always it's very hard to find XL-gliders with a max weight of 145kg.
People always tell me to
a) fly a small tandem: > too slow, as I'm then in the very lower weight range;
b) fly a glider over-weight: > too fast on TO and Ldg; too much sink in weak conditions/ flatland.
The AD Rise-2 XL goes up to 145kgs and is even certified EN/ LTF B; other XL gliders have normally just a load test (up to 8g).
Alternatives would have been Triple 7 Rook or SOL Ellus five, both with loadtest only, smaller sizes are EN/ LTF B.

The first flight I could make in Sillian - I know it's in Austria and not in Italy ;-)
More of an extend sled ride, but I could clearly see, that the glider is easy to launch and turns well in weak thermals.

Ground handling in Toblach

Sillian (Petersberg)

Then I moved to Canazei, where this weekend was a testival. But with the exception of AirDesign, no other manufacturer present, had anything available in my weight range.
As the day was predicted to be good, 'millions' of pilots flocked to Col Rodella for flying; I don't think I've ever seen so many pilots in a single place. 

Col Rodella

AIrDesign Rise-2; note the so called (red) 'C-ball'

Col Rodella (middle); Langkofel (right)

Piz Boé (left), Marmolada (center)

Rosengarten/ Catinaccio; Langkofel (far right)

Marmolada

My flight can be found here here. I didn't fly to the Marmolada today, but attempted a flight towards SW (Predazzo). This was by far the longest (3h36min) and farthest (54km) this year :-))

I'm very happy with the Rise-2: it launched well, behaved very benign.
BUT: at the moment I will not buy it, as with my left hand (due to the damaged shoulder) I cannot reach the A-, or B-lines (for big ears or B-stall)...
I have talked to the manufacturer (Martin from AD) and there are a few options to remedy this problem.
First of all I'll undergo treatment of my left shoulder in November, which should improve its range of movement; then there is the possibility of modifying my harness in such a way that the attachment points for the risers are lowered; another option is to attach shorter risers.
Maybe with a combination of all three, I'll manage to reach the A-and B-lines...

Italy -4 -flying

Finally the weather allowed 3 (!) days flying in a row:
SUN: Gemona with Nicole and Arduino;
MON: Buzet (HR) with Nicole;
TUE: Lijac (SI) with Nicole.
On all 3 days cloud base has been pretty low, so I just flew locally - but at least I flew :-))

While in Gemona Nicole was flying tandem, in Buzet and Lijac she was testflying the Ozone ENZO-2  (much to the 'disappointment' of the Italian Importer of Niviuk, the wing she had been flying at the Europeans in Serbia). But apparently at the moment ENZO-2 sets the standard, to which all other comp gliders are to be compared; so no big surprise, she wanted to try this wing...

Gemona di Friuli

(Buzet)

Buzet: Nicole / ENZO-2

Buzet: Nicole / Ozone ENZO-2

Buzet (HR)

(Lijac)

Lijac (SI)

Lijac (SI) LZ in center of Picture

Italy -3 -Food

Besides 'gelati', there is of course other excellent food to be found in Italy...

 

Some of the best pizza (at least in my oppinion) can be found at the Pizzeria 'alla Croce' in Semonzo del Grappa.
In Gemona my friend Arduino invited my to the 'Osteria Ivana e Secondo' in Manazzons.

Not only the food (diversi antipasti e tatar) but also the vine, 'Roncus', Val di Miez, 2008, (a 'rosso' from the region) was excellent!

With Nicole a few days later I dined at Ristorante 'al Ponte'  in Gradisca d'Isonzo, also well worth a visit!

Italy -2 prayer

Found on the side of the church in Semonzo, where the road heads up to Mte.Grappa and the TOs.

Italy -1

As for the last few years I headed to Italy, primarily in order to meet my friend Masa with his group of Japanese Pilots. This year we met in Bassano, where on the first day (TUE, 2.9.) we had a really good flying day. For the first time I could launch almost on top of Mte Grappa; the launch is called 'Panarotta'.

Panarotta looking NE/ E towards Mte Dolada

Ristorante/ Albergo 'Vecchio Forno' in Alpago

Unfortunately the next 2 days it was mostly overcast, which permitted no flights or only sledrides, be it in Bassano or Alpago/ Dolada.

But of course the weather couldn't prevent the almost daily trip to the gelateria in Semonzo ;-)

Ebenalp, Arosa

Unfortunately the lousy weather continues and offers only a few opportunities for flying: a day here, a day there. Everbody (not only the PG pilots) are longing for a period with stable high pressure...

Ebenalp

Arosa: Piz Kesch on lh side/ Palü, Bernina on rh side

conclusion / acknowledgments

Conclusion

It has been a great trip, maybe a bit over-ambitously planned ("weniger wäre mehr"). Except one rainy day (when we visited Crater Lake NP) we always had excellent travel weather. Flying weather unfortunately has not been all to good: many days with 'bad' winds (mostly wrong direction or too strong), which made flying impossible or allowed just short flights. But still we managed to visit 25 different sites and fly 22 of them. But the 'big' XC flights we (of course) had hoped for, haven't been possible...

Acknowledgments

My formost thanks go to Ruth for 'letting' me do this trip. I know that it was not easy for her, therefore I really appreciate it all the more.
Thanks also to Judy for 'letting' Stacy do this trip with me.
My thanks also go to Andy and Stacy, who have been great travel companions. Without them and their assisstance, this trip would not have been possible and/ or only half the fun. I especially appreciated their helping me with small things, which due to my accident in 3/2012, have become difficult to do for me: from carrying my pack/ bagagge to closing zippers on my overall. Thanks also to Jim who offered his assistance on many occasions.
Not to forget: all the great and helpful people/ pilots we've met during these 4 weeks: Lennie, Jeff and Zac in Chelan; Chuck & Mara in Sun Valley; Pine and Pete in Glenwood; Tom in Wolcott - just to name a few.

our actual route/ all sites visited

Here you can find the actual route we have travelled and all the sites we have visited.

some numbers

We travelled with Debbie in 26 days close to 8000km (5000miles); I have no idea how much gas we used. Gas prices ranged between 3.53 and 3.999 USD/ gal.

In total we visited 25 sites in 7 states:

pink = none of us flew there

olive = at least 1 of us flew

And a summary of our flights:

You might wonder why Andy and Stacy have made so much more flights than I have: there has been a number of sites, where I have not been able to launch from due to its uneven/ rocky surfaces in combination with little or no wind (ie Grizzly, Phillips, Lookout Mtn, Gd Targhee etc), on other sites the winds have just been too strong (ie Saddle) or I was too slow in setting up before the winds switched (ie Bellyache, Roan). On some sites (ie Jackson) Andy and Stacy made 2 flights.
Andy didn't join Stacy and me when we visited Goat Peak, Roan and Bellyache Ridge.

Speaking of numbers: last but not least: I have lost 1kg during this trip 

'last supper' or: Stacy at the sushi restaurant

Fri: on the way to DEN airport, we had to stop to get something to eat, as the flight was departing only at 2045 and dinner would probably not be served before 2145. So we stopped at 'Yum Asia and Sushi' restaurant for our last meal on this trip together - well knowing, that Stacy would be hard pressed to find something to his liking there...

...but no worries, he found some nice desserts ;-)

Of course, for Andy and me it was the right place...

We returned Debbie, apparently without problems and checked in.
Then it was time to say good-bye after almost 4 weeks of travelling together.
As Stacy's flight was only the next day, he had to return by public transport to his motel 16miles away - I wonder how his trip was. He had refused to let us rent for him a car for his day in Denver and getting from and to the airport.

Denver: Golden (Mt.Lookout), Boulder

Fri: the last day of our trip. And again no luck with the winds: out of the west, so no flying here on Lookout Mtn (Golden, CO).

LZ at Golden ('this' side of the highway)

We also had a look at the LZ in Boulder, but we have been unable to find the launch there.
So no we're just packing up and getting ready to return Debbie at the airport and checkin for our return flight  (via LHR) to ZRH at 2045.

Skinny Ridge; Wolcott

Thur: finally a promising day! Even with a little north wind in the forecast we decided to 'risk' the drive up to Skinny Ridge. This time some decent cycles came in which permitted a clean launch.

Andy

Vic launched first, then Andy and finally me. Andy flew passed Glenwood Springs (about 32 km), Vic made it to Aspen. I didn't like the winds (N/ 22kmh) and its associated lee thermals very much, so I landed below launch.

Taggi

After having picked up Andy, we drove on I-70 through Glenwood Canyon (Colorado river) towards Denver. 

Glenwood Canyon (Colorado river)

As it looked rather promising, we made a stop at Wolcott. Tom, a local tandem pilot, gave us a ride to launch: Debbie wouldn't have made it: to rough, too steep, too off-road. And anyway, one needs a key to the gate... Unfortunately the conditions have been just a touch too weak.

Stacy landing in Wolcott (launch is just to the left of the white couds)

Then we continued to Lakewood (Denver, CO) for a last night of our trip.

Bellyache Ridge (CO)

Yesterday afternoon, it overdevelloped as forecast and we had a short tunderstorm with soft hail.

No flying in the evening off Lookout Mtn, but a nice sunset...

Stacy invited us to a 'real' American BBQ restaurant - thanks!

Sunset in Glenwood Springs

Wed: even if it didn't look very promising, we (Stacy and I) left early for Bellyache Ridge near Vail. Andy was going to fly Red Mtn here in Glenwood Springs.
Without any (!) paperwork we got a ride up to launch, but the winds were already out of the west. After a while all tandem pilots packed up.

looking east towards Vail

LZ (seen from launch)

So only Jim, Stacy and I were left. After about 30min, there were a few short cycles, which permitted Jim and Stacy to launch, When I was finally ready to go, only increasing tailwind...
TS in the afternoon.

Holiday home on Bellyache ridge

Tomorrow is supposed to look better - at last on paper...