(Obertilliach/ Ultental) Ultental

Obertilliach the next morning (Monday): very cloudy/ misty, but the sun was pushing through. I saw 2 gliders (even thermalling a bit); but also, that there was still quite a strong northerly wind higher up, so I didn't fly here. If I would have waited long enough, the sun certainly would have cleared the clouds away, but what about the wind???

LZ Obertilliach

So I drove along the 'Pustertal' via Bolzano to 'Ultental'. Many years ago my friend Rolfito told me that this would be a nice flying site. There is a gondola from 'Kuppelwies' (1140m) to  'Schwemmalm' (2140m). But the guy at the station told me that no glider pilots had been going up the whole day and that on top the wind was gusting up to 30kmh... So again: no flight.

Today (Tuesday): blue skies, almost no clouds in the morning, so another try. At the gondola station I was told that today looked much better :-)
From the top station I had to hike up for about 20' in order to find a good place to lay out my glider. But perfect conditions for launch: nice, grassy slope, wind straight on the nose for an easy reverse launch.

looking back to launch

Pano looking SE: left side: towards Meran; LZ by the lake

LZ, parking and gondola station: all close together.

Even though the conditions had been smooth with some thermals, I didn't try to make a long(er) flight, as I could see by looking at the lake that the valley wind was already setting in. And as I have absolutely no experience how fast its strenght would be increasing, I decided to head for the LZ.
After landing the frist kite surfers began preparing their gear, so probably my desicion has not been too wrong ;-)

But all in all it has been a very successful week: a flight in Gastein, 2 days SIV training with Xandi at Gerlitzen (7 flights), 2 flights at Lijac and finally one here in Ultental - only 2 non-flying days.

"Organya's Family" - an acro video by Michael Kreins (BE)

Link here!

Lijac -2

Unfortunately just a short flight today - but always better than nothing ;-)

Tomorrow here does not look promising, so I started heading home, stopping in Obertilliach (AT), hoping for flyable conditions...

(Tolmin / Kobala) Lijac

Yesterday has been unflyable, so Marco and I made a trip to the gelateria in Gradisca...
In the evening I had talked with Marco about today's flying: he recommended I should go to Ljiak.
But on my way to Ljiak I passed Tolmin and saw a few pilots soaring (at 1000), so I changed my mind and got a ride up to Kobala. On the shuttle I met some pilots who often fly in Arosa from the Weisshorn (Susanne, Werner, ...) On launch the wind was switching from East to West and back, also the sky was cloud covered. Furthermore many more pilots arrived, waiting for the conditions to improve...

Tolmin/ Kobala: pano looking west towards Kobarid/ Stol; Krn on the rh side

So in the end I decided to stick to the 'original' plan, caught a ride back down and drove to Ljiak. I got a shuttle to launch and was ready for take-off by 1400.

Lijak: launch

excellent visibility: Vemice in the distance

It took me close to 45 minutes to get up high above launch, but then I covered a little bit more than 50km in 2hrs15mins landing at Pizzeria Anja after exactly 3hrs  :-))
As the next bus back was leaving only in over 1 hour, I ordered a taxi which took me back to Smihel (the landing for Lijac).

Turning point in the East

Gerlitzen - Dual Tanden SIV mit Xandi (Meschuh) -2

2nd day here at Gerlitzen; making 2 flights together with Xandi: fullstalls and wingovers.
According to Xandi I handled it much better than yesterday. Except helping me to completely stall the glider he didn't assist at all (at least he told me that)...

Xandi

Then I wanted to make a solo flight on my 777. Unluckily the release handle of the life vest got tangled in my harness and after take-off, the vest inflated :-(((  So no manouevres, just a flight straight to the LZ. Which was really a pity, as with the nice thermals realesing off  'Kanzelhöhe' I could have added a couple of hundred meters 'working height'.

'Kanzelhöhe'-launch (right side of hotel on the left)

Nicole was also here for these 2 days, training acro under Xandi's supervision.

Nicole: dynamic stall

In the evening I received this picture taken by my friend Oli on todays flight to BEG, taken at 1330.
If you watch closely, you can see me preparing my 777  ;-)   I launched at 1355

Gerlitzen from 37'000 (?) ft

Gerlitzen - Dual Tanden SIV mit Xandi (Meschuh) -1

Perfect flying day here at 'Gerlitzen'. All in all I made 4 flights today with Xandi: wingovers, spirals, stalls. Nicole is also here training aerobatics: Helico etc.
Again (as in September 2017) it's a big pleasure to fly and train together with Xandi! He has such a huge experience in flying acro as well as in teaching. The only limitations in training are all due all to my damaged left shoulder and the thus reduced range of motion of the arm :-(    But with Xandi's help, I can 'work around' this.

...unfortunately I'm not able (yet) to take any pictures during manouvers ;-)

Fulseck (Dorfgastein, AT)

...on my way to Villach/ Ossiachersee/ Gerlitzen for another 'Dual Tandem SIV' with Xandi...
I stopped in Dorfgastein in order to interrupt the long drive from Fehraltorf to Annenheim (on the Ossiachersee). I flew here for the last time in 1998 (Nova Xyon/ together with Hartmut, Beat ++).
Unfortunately the sky was still very cloudy (according the wx fcst it was supposed to have less clouds in the afternoon), so thermal activity hase been rather modest; just one good thermal, the rest very weak. But still I was able to 'milk' it for almost an hour :-)

Fulseck, looking NW

LZ (Dorfgastein) - very close to gonola and P, but a bit tricky due to powerlines..

(Arosa) Flims: Test Swing Nyos RS

The last 2 days I 've spent in Arosa, wanting to fly from the Weisshorn; the cable car just started operation for the summer season on Friday.
Friday: I drove to the top of he Weisshorn, but in the end decided against flying: it just didn't 'feel right': low cloudbase, windcoming from NW...
Saturday: originally I had planned to fly with my friend PeterW. in Arosa. But as I was checking the wx conditions before taking the cable car I saw that I had received an email telling me, that finally (with a delay of 1 week!) the Swing Nyos RS (size XL) had arrived in Flims, ready to be tested. 

Swing Nyos RS (size XL)

As I'm planning to leave for Austria/ Slowenia in just 2 days, I had to make a quick desicion: do I fly with Peter or risk, that the Nyos will be sent back as for at least the next 2 weeks I'll be unable to fly it. I decided for the latter and drove to Flims...

Flimserstein

I flew the glider for about an hour. Contrary to the test flight of the 777 Rook2 in Meduno (Sept'16) it has not been 'love at first flight' ;-)
The glider certaninly flies and handles well, performance seems to be very good, the RAST-system makes the glider very stable, but still...
One point which didn't make me feel very comfortable: the brake handles were too tight; it was very hard to get in/ out (ie for taking pictures). Of course I know this is just a minor point which easily can be changed, but on todays flight it really affected my handling of the glider...
Another point I'd have to get used to: due to the caracteristics of the RAST-system it is important to fly with virtually no brake input; BUT with my damaged left shoulder this is not so easy for me.
So after landing I organized with Walo, that if he still has the glider at his shop in Trin when I freturn from AT/ SLO, then I'll do another test flight, if not: then be it...

Martinsloch

wrong decision(s)

More than a month without being airborne   :-(
I have spent 3 weeks together with Ruth in Ireland, without my paraglider, but of course still looking for possibe flying sites ;-)   (some pix can be found here.)

Today I decided to go (once more) to Fanas.

Fanas -Eggli

But as it turned out this has not been the best decision:
1) strategically: the valley wind set in rather early and 'blew away' the thermals, so to select another flying site would have probably been wiser;
2) tactically: due to this situation, I most probably should have been turning right after launch I (instead of left as everyone normally does) and gone looking for thermals in the 'bowl' SW of 'Eggli'... (as I did with Andy in May.)
So with only 2 (!) full circles I was back on 'terra firma' in Schiers :-((

Fanas -again

What a difference to yesterday! Today the fcst/ regtherm has been too pessimistic, meaning that the actual conditions have been much better than anticipated: better climbs, less cloud cover during the early afternoon, less wind...

crossing towards Stels, Chrüz

Madrisa

It has been pretty easy going towards Klosters with strong but not (too) bumpy climbs.

Klosters, looking back towards Fanas

Davos

Until Davos-Wolfgang -as usually- I had no problems. But here I had to make up my mind about which side of the valley to follow. As I originally had wanted to cross the Strelapass and then fly towards Schanfigg/ Arosa, I choose to head towards Parsenn (right side of pix). But no luck: just some pretty strong tailwind and broken thermals :-(

Davos-Platz

So I decided to land in Davos-Platz, near the railway station, where I could catch a (direct) train back to Schiers, where I had parked my car.
All in all a very nice flight with (for me) a rather high average speed (27kmh).
This has been the last flight for this month, as on Saturday I'll be leaving for Ireland together with Ruth; return is planned for 3dr June.

Fanas

Fanas with Andy: we have been expecting lots of clouds today, BUT not that early (shortly after 1100). For quite a while everything was shadowed in and so we had to wait...
Finally, as the hill below launch caught some sun again and thermals develloped we could launch: Andy was first and I followed immediately behind. He decided to turn right (where you'd normally go only later in the afternoon), but it proved to be the correct desicion, as there the shadows had dissappeared earlier.

Andy

me (by Andy (GoPro))

looking down to 'Hörnli' and the other launch(es)

Andy tried to fly west (towards 'Walensee') as to the east (Klosters) everything was in the shade, but once out in the Rhine valley, the influence of the east wind ('Bise') was still too strong so he had to land near 'Landquart'. I on the other hand cruised around only locally and landed after a little more than 1 hour near my car in 'Schiers' :-))

Sassauna

Tomorrow I'll try again here, although the forecast is very similar to today; we'll see...

Piemonte: Cavallaria-2

What a difference to yesterday! Whereas yesterday everything was 'hard work' and tiresome (even Pierandrea Patrucco said that only the first 2 hours had been 'fun', the rest just sh...t - so he landed at his home after 'only' 4 hours). Today on the other hand was a flying day right out of the 'picture book'!

Yesterday we launch from 'Cima Cavallaria' (1430m) around 1100; today from 'Manifestazione' (1390m) after 1300. This meant, that probably the wind on Cima Cavallaria would have been too strong...

'Manifestazione'

Also contrary to yesterday, where it took me 2hrs before I could climb in a thermal for a few hundert meters, today already the first thermal brought me to more than 500m above launch :-))

heading west towards 'Santa Elisabetta'

I atempted to fly West, hoping to make it to 'Santa Elisabetta'-launch, which I eventually did :-))

coming back...

So after a little more than 2 hours I was back at the LZ in 'Lessolo/ Calea'.
I consider this so far to be the best/ coolest/ nicest/ most interesting flight in 2018.

Piemonte: Cavallaria-1

Another fine day here in northwestern Italy (Piemont). Virtually no clouds, much better visibility than yesterday. At 0915 I was at Lessolo, the LZ for Cavallaria, where Pierandrea Patrucco (the local 'high-flyer' with 6-800hrs on PG annually!) had organized for me a seat in the 'navetta'. The ride to the upper launch takes close to 50mins.
Piearandrea Patrucco: find his flights here

'Cavallaria' (upper launch, 1430msl) - looking SW

finally - spring is here!

enough space for everyone

'Maestro' Patrucco launching

Conditions on launch were perfect: just enough headwind to permit an easy reverse launch.
Patrucco launched (almost) first and was quickly out of sight; I think none of the other XC-hounds, whose plan was to follow him had been able to do so.
I on the other hand (almost as usual) lauched last...

'Cavallaria' -upper launch (left of my boot); Andrate - on the other side of the valley (above boot))

even the 'Matterhorn' could be seen

looking west towards 'Santa Elisabetta' (another launch here)

Unfortunately today I didn't seem able to 'center' the thermals properly; rarely I could make 3 or 4 consecutive turns before I lost the lift :-((   It took me almost 2 hours before I could center 1 (one!) thermal for a climb of several hundert meters.

So I 'jo-joed' around for about 2.5hrs, never getting above 1800m...

LZ in Lessolo