Très-Le-Mont

The wind blew from the South West the whole of yesterday, bringing clouds and unflyable conditions, but it abated during the night, and was very weak this morning. We all await the Northerly triggered by the mid day thermal activity to go and fly from Très-le-Mont.
The wind-vane anounces the expected Westerly, but there is still a high veil of clouds, so we don't expect much.

Alex tries to go left, towards Roches Pourries, but goes down very fast.

A good thing we didn't have high expectations, there is almost no lift, and we're on the ground pretty shortly.

Nevertheless, a short flight is better than no flight...

Technical data: Flight duration 0:20, Take-off altitude: 1350m, Maximum altitude reached: 1360m, Total climb during flight: 200m, Max rate of climb: +1.6m/s, Max descent rate: -2.8m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

Verbier 2

Jan soon arrives to pick us up, and we're driving to La Croix to do a bit of soaring, as the Southerly is fairly strong. When we get there, a local pilot asks us to look after his glider while he goes to fetch his friend that had to land at the bottom of the slope during a lull in the wind.
We setup and soon most of the group has taken to the air, but nobody seems to stay up for very long. The wind is not strong enough to soar in dynamic in front of the take off. I let Jan take off and then follow him. We execute a few "S" turns and I decide to head to the left to look for some thermal lift along the rocky slope. I find some, but it's very small, and not powerful at all, so it's soon time to prepare for landing.

That was a short flight, but fun nevertheless.

Technical data: Flight duration 0:15, Take-off altitude: 2114m, Maximum altitude reached: 2114m, Total climb during flight: 140m, Max rate of climb: +1.6m/s, Max descent rate: -3.0m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

Verbier 1

I have been trying for quite a while to catch-up with Jan and Khobi while they're on their European tour, but for one reason or another, didn't get it right for the last two years. This year at last, circumstances aligned and I am on my way to Verbier at last. I've never been there, and I'm surprised at how close it is to my place. Somebody tells me that Avoriaz is 27km as the crow flies (a bit further as the paragliders fly, but that's another story...)
After a few phone calls, a delicious meal at Le Millenium (I highly recommend their ostrich steak with chanterelles) and a few more phone calls, we manage to meet in front of the tourism office. Jan puts my glider with the others, on the roof of the truck he's driving, and I meet the crowd that's joined him for this year's edition of the "Smile while you scream" tour.
We drive up to one of the ski lift stations, where a few windsocks and streamers show this spot is used by paragliders regularly.
The wind seems to come from the right quite a few times, and I wait for a long time to take off. Very quickly, I find a thermal and circle in front of the take off for quite a while. There is a gulley to the left, but I want to be high enough to cross it as I suspect the outcrop on my right generates quite a bit of turbulence with the valley wind that must be quite strong at this time of the day.

Afte a few more minutes here, I decide to cross, and my hunch is confirmed, the area is fairly turbulent. I watch the other pilots to pinpoint the landing area. I'm still quite high, but I wouldn't want to be caught looking for the landing spot at the last minute. When I'm sure I know where to land, I then go back closer to the slope, trying to find some lift. I don't want to go back to the turbulent area, so my options are quite limited. After exploring the Northern side of the valley, I decide to cross, as the landing spot is closer to the Southern side, and there are a few slopes that look as if they might provide a bit of lift.

There is indeed quite a bit of lift, and I spend some more time soaring over the slope. he first few pilots have landed. I see Khobi still very high up on the Northern side of the valley, but most of the other pilots have landed or are on their way to the landing spot, so I line up to lose altitude upwind from the landing spot. The vista is amazing, with high summits all around us, although quite a few are in the clouds. A few minutes later, I'm landing safely in high grass, a few meters away from the folding zone, followed shortly by the rest of the crowd.

Technical data: Flight duration 0:30, Take-off altitude: 2103m, Maximum altitude reached: 2133m, Total climb during flight: 510m, Max rate of climb: +3.8m/s, Max descent rate: -5m/s, Landing altitude: 1000m.

Evening flight

In the wooded area, the two companions have been busily sawing down the tree on which the wing rests. I grab the saw to give it another go, but the pine-tree is now resting against another pine-tree. It's getting late, and we decide to leave the solution to this problem for tomorrow. Since my wing is in the truck, I'll let Michael and Alex drive it down, and will fly down instead.

It's very late, the wind has dropped totally, the sun is about to set. I take a couple of running steps down the slope, and I'm off in the calm evening air. This is a short smooth flight. No thermals or any other disturbance, and I can concentrate on taking a few pictures, piloting by shifting my weight. A beautiful evening flight to close a momentous day.

I land doing a few three-sixtioes and have just enough time to fold my wing: as I close my bag, I see the truck on the road from the village. Good timing, I'm going to be late for my date tonight, but I have an excuse...


Technical data: Flight duration 0:12, Take-off altitude: 1350m, Maximum altitude reached: 1350m, Total climb during flight: 60m, Max rate of climb: +1.0m/s, Max descent rate: -4.2m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

Très-Le-Mont

Flying at home.

The weather beacon is broadcasting Westerly winds, so we head for Tres-le-Mont. There are already a few pilots at the first take-off site, so we head for the second one, away from the crowd and limelight... The wind is fairly strong, gusting at close to 30km/h, but the conditions seem sound. The smoke plumes in the valley rise vertically, so we know we're under the influence of thermals coming up the slope. Alex takes off first, followed closely by Michael. When Maurice takes to the air, he bumps the small pine-trees on the right of the take off, but manages to straighten his flight. I loose sight of him as he flies to the left. I'm on the side of the field, when I hear some suspect noises on the left. As I start running through the small clump of trees, I hear Michael and Alex announcing that Maurice has landed in the trees. Maurice is shouting that he's all right. I'm soon on the scene, the pine-trees are tall, and I see Maurice's harness hanging between fifteen and twenty meters off the ground. He's climbing down the trunk. As he gets closer to the ground, the branches are getting more and more sparse and dry, and about fivemeters from the ground, Maurice looses his purchase and slides down the trunk, landing on his feet very heavily. He gets up, visibly shaken, and announces that his ankle has cracked loudly. We support him to climb back up the slope. His wing and harness will be taken care of later.

After Maurice has been taken away safely, I resume my preflight routine. The gusts seem to have abated a little, so my take off is pretty easy.

I do a few passes in front of the take off, but don't manage to rise more than a few meters above take off altitude. After a while, I head for the valley, hugging the slope as soon as I pass the wood-cuttings. I get some lift, but nothing that warrants turning in. At the end of the ridge, I get a few decent pulses and decide to stay there. Another pilot joins me, and we chain figures of eight in front of the ridge. A few more get us to the altitude where we can trade the figures of eight for full circles, but it's dynamic lift, mostly, and we're not able to ascent very high above the ridge. I was hoping I'd be ablet to go home, but today won't be the day.
I scratch around for more activity, searching above Orcier, but there is nothing, so I head for the terrain, to execute a few wings and three-sixties, as I haven't practiced those in quite a while. I manage to get a descent rate of 6m/s on the vario for a short time. At the last minute, I realise the wind on the ground is the opposite way to what it is on top, and land a bit long, in the freshly harvested wheat field adjacent to our landing field.

As I fold my wing, Alex phones me to ask me to fetch him and Michael, busy trying to get Maurice's wing down from the top of the pine-trees, so I'm off for another drive up the slope.

Technical data: Flight duration 0:50, Take-off altitude: 1330m, Maximum altitude reached: 1380m, Total climb during flight: 950m, Max rate of climb: +2.4m/s, Max descent rate: -4.4m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

More Le Couteau

For the second flight, the wind has shifted a little bit, but its strength is more regular.




Technical data: Flight duration 0:40, Take-off altitude: 1330m, Maximum altitude reached: 1450m, Total climb during flight: 1050m, Max rate of climb: +2.8m/s, Max descent rate: -3.8m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

Le Couteau

Today the weather is too nice to be wasted in an office, so I head for Orcier. The air was crisp and very cool this morning, and the sun is shining, despite a high veil of clouds, so I expect good thermal activity. Alex joins me at the club terrain, where there are already several other pilots. Some are landing, they've flown already, others have just arrived.
We all pile up in the truck, following what is becoming a routine, and head for Le Couteau. Alex is first in the air, and I follow him closely. We first try and gain some altitude to the right of the take off, but there isn't enough activity. After a few passes, we're slightly lower than take off altitude, and it doesn't look like we're going to gain much. He decides to go to La Chapelle but I stay behind for a couple more passes. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch his progress, and see that he loses a little bit of altitude, so after a few minutes, I decide to go to the ridge above Orcier. A short while later, my bet seems to pay off: I find a thermal almost half way to the ridge. It's not big, but I gain a bit of altitude. Another pilot comes in the thermal, and he's off to the side. After a while, the activity stops, and I follow my intended course to the ridge. There the thermals are very sporadic. On the far right, I see Alex very low along La Chapelle. He hasn't managed to gain any altitude and has decided to come back to the ridge. He's headed for the valley, that gives access to the road, so he might make it to the front, if the Venturi's not too strong. After a while, I see him go to the landing terrain, he made it.

I fly around for a while longer, taking this exercise as a practice, snap a few shots, and then head for the landing spot too. The conditions are a bit too unstable, we'll have another attempt later...

Technical data: Flight duration 0:25, Take-off altitude: 1330m, Maximum altitude reached: 1375m, Total climb during flight: 512m, Max rate of climb: +3.0m/s, Max descent rate: -3.8m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

More flying in Orcier

Hey hey hey! It's Friday!!!

Technical data: Flight duration 0:50, Take-off altitude: 1350m, Maximum altitude reached: 1360m, Total climb during flight: 850m, Max rate of climb: +3.8m/s, Max descent rate: -3.8m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.