Tuesday, July 6
It was quite windy in Annecy again so I decided to do some administrative type stuff. I talked to the ladies at the campsite office and they suggested that I head to Albertville to get some of the items I needed. My digital camera died so I needed a new one of those, one of my headphones had no sound and then there’s dealing with Betty’s starting issues. I found a big store and got the headphones, some injector cleaning fluid and starter spray for Betty. I waited forever for a sales person in the electronics department in a store called Geant (giant). Total other end of the spectrum from Future Shop in Canada where they pounce on you. I guess customer service just isn’t a big priority in this country which enables them to pull off the “Closed for lunch from 12-2pm at almost every place” stunt. I guess they need a long time for lunch since the waiters and waitresses are slow as molasses too! Turns out that they didn’t have any more of the Fuji camera I wanted (my broken one is a Fuji and I already have two specific batteries for it so I figure I might as well get another one). I ventured over to another big store but this one looked more like a discount one called Conforma. They had a few Fujis and the prices were lower so I ended up picking up a better one than I had just broken for 99 Euros...not bad. All this time I had left Betty running in the parking lot (almost 2 hours!)...sorry Mother Nature but I didn’t have much of an option. Now that i have the starter spray though, I have my get out of jail card!
I cruised back to the campsite near Annecy and after making one wrong turn, Miss SatNav sent me on an alternate route that took me over a small mountain pass versus the valley highway I’d arrived on. It’s always nice to see some new scenery and I scoped out a potential free camping spot should I stick around this area. There were a number of cyclists on the road...no wonder the French run the Tour de France and usually do quite well at it. On the descent from the hill I had a cyclist on my tail and actually had to run Betty faster down the curvy road than I’d like. Poor fellow must have been loving the noxious blue fumes emanating from my van....
Back at the campsite, I ventured down to the lakeside beach for an hour to catch up on my flight logbook, soak up a bit of late afternoon sunshine and quaff a few beers. Then after supper I watched the Netherlands beat Uruguay in the World Cup. I was cheering for the underdog Uruguay as my cousin’s girlfriend Sonia had them in their pool at work and would be 20 pounds richer if they went all the way. Not surprisingly there was a large contingent of Dutch in the campsite and they were cheering on their country in a large tent with a big screen TV. I unfortunately found out that my web feed was a tad behind the TV broadcast as I heard the huge cheer for the first goal about 4 seconds before seeing it...it was headphones after that!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Short Flight in Saleve
Monday, July 5th
I stayed at the campsite until checkout time at 11:30 as I wanted to use up all of my Internet access (catching up on emails and my blog) and Saleve is an afternoon site so there was no rush. Thankfully she started up (she likes cold starts, not hot ones) and I headed back into France. I parked on the same slope and caught the cable car up top. This time I opted to hike 20 minutes, mostly uphill, to the main launch, and it was worth the walk. Yet another big astro-turf launch. I hung out for about half an hour, catching up on my flight logbook and then took to the sky. As I had expected, the site still wasn’t quite on yet so I lost 500 meters quite quickly. I then boated up and down a few hundred meters in some thermals coming off of the gravel pit below. Eventually I landed in the smaller French LZ and walked back to Betty and drove back to Annecy...I’m not done with that place yet!
Betty near the non-existant Franco-Swiss border:
The big launch at Saleve:
In flight:
The view south:
Betty back at the Annecy campsite:
I stayed at the campsite until checkout time at 11:30 as I wanted to use up all of my Internet access (catching up on emails and my blog) and Saleve is an afternoon site so there was no rush. Thankfully she started up (she likes cold starts, not hot ones) and I headed back into France. I parked on the same slope and caught the cable car up top. This time I opted to hike 20 minutes, mostly uphill, to the main launch, and it was worth the walk. Yet another big astro-turf launch. I hung out for about half an hour, catching up on my flight logbook and then took to the sky. As I had expected, the site still wasn’t quite on yet so I lost 500 meters quite quickly. I then boated up and down a few hundred meters in some thermals coming off of the gravel pit below. Eventually I landed in the smaller French LZ and walked back to Betty and drove back to Annecy...I’m not done with that place yet!
Betty near the non-existant Franco-Swiss border:
The big launch at Saleve:
In flight:
The view south:
Betty back at the Annecy campsite:
Off to Saleve
Sunday, July 4th
There were strong winds coming off the lake early in the day and few of us felt like flying in these conditions. The Brits contemplated on just having a driving day, heading towards Normandy where they planned to paramotor (paragliding with a motor on your back) the D-Day beaches. Instead the call was to head to a site called Saleve which was en route for them and see if we could get a late afternoon flight there. Saleve is located just 20 minutes southeast of Geneva. It’s kind of cool in that you take a cable car up to launch (which is in France) and you can choose to land in France or Switzerland!
We arrived at the school and LZ in France but there was a big dark cloud above which let a little moisture go. This sealed the decision for the Brits and they got out the maps to determine their route to Normandy as I worked on trading a bunch of pics between our laptops. I bid them adieu and thanked them for letting me tag along for a fun week. I will hopefully meet up with a few of them back in St. Hillaire at the Coupe Icare festival and maybe even in Nepal in January. Thanks lads...it’s been a blast.
The weather started to clear as they left and I decided to take the telerephique (cable car) up to launch at Saleve to see if I could have an evening soar. I parked Betty on a slight slope in case she wouldn’t start later (now that I’m missing my English muscle power) and soon after I was at the launch by the cable car building at the top. Unfortunately the last cable car to get down was at 7pm and therefore I only had 20 minutes to make up my mind whether to launch or not. The wind was cross or over the back. In 10 minutes of waiting there was only one good cycle so I did the prudent thing and headed to get the cable car down. I passed 3 other PGers as I neared the building and they were going for it, but for all I knew they might have had a vehicle up there. Just as the cable car began the three minute descent, some good cycles came up and two of them took off and eventually the third one did. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.
Riding up the telerephique (of course it was terrific!):
Looking towards Geneva - as my friend Mike eluded to in his excellent blog "I wonder where the convention is?":
I looked on my SatNav for a campsite and saw one on Lake Deman, just north of Geneva and only about 25 minutes away. I’ve never been to Switzerland so why not. Crossing the border was such a non-event. In fact, I almost missed it (just a few derelict border buildings). I easily found the campsite and had to leave Betty running outside of the gates for fear of her not starting up again. The check-in took forever and quite regimented. I didn’t realize that although the Swiss accept Euros, everything’s listed in Swiss Francs. I also found out that they have a different electrical socket than France but they loaned me an adaptor. It was a nice campsite but a bit steep (33 Euros for just me and Betty). I’ll only be staying one night so I might as well enjoy it...there was a gorgeous view of the lights of Geneva.
View from the campsite towards Geneva:
There were strong winds coming off the lake early in the day and few of us felt like flying in these conditions. The Brits contemplated on just having a driving day, heading towards Normandy where they planned to paramotor (paragliding with a motor on your back) the D-Day beaches. Instead the call was to head to a site called Saleve which was en route for them and see if we could get a late afternoon flight there. Saleve is located just 20 minutes southeast of Geneva. It’s kind of cool in that you take a cable car up to launch (which is in France) and you can choose to land in France or Switzerland!
We arrived at the school and LZ in France but there was a big dark cloud above which let a little moisture go. This sealed the decision for the Brits and they got out the maps to determine their route to Normandy as I worked on trading a bunch of pics between our laptops. I bid them adieu and thanked them for letting me tag along for a fun week. I will hopefully meet up with a few of them back in St. Hillaire at the Coupe Icare festival and maybe even in Nepal in January. Thanks lads...it’s been a blast.
The weather started to clear as they left and I decided to take the telerephique (cable car) up to launch at Saleve to see if I could have an evening soar. I parked Betty on a slight slope in case she wouldn’t start later (now that I’m missing my English muscle power) and soon after I was at the launch by the cable car building at the top. Unfortunately the last cable car to get down was at 7pm and therefore I only had 20 minutes to make up my mind whether to launch or not. The wind was cross or over the back. In 10 minutes of waiting there was only one good cycle so I did the prudent thing and headed to get the cable car down. I passed 3 other PGers as I neared the building and they were going for it, but for all I knew they might have had a vehicle up there. Just as the cable car began the three minute descent, some good cycles came up and two of them took off and eventually the third one did. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.
Riding up the telerephique (of course it was terrific!):
Looking towards Geneva - as my friend Mike eluded to in his excellent blog "I wonder where the convention is?":
I looked on my SatNav for a campsite and saw one on Lake Deman, just north of Geneva and only about 25 minutes away. I’ve never been to Switzerland so why not. Crossing the border was such a non-event. In fact, I almost missed it (just a few derelict border buildings). I easily found the campsite and had to leave Betty running outside of the gates for fear of her not starting up again. The check-in took forever and quite regimented. I didn’t realize that although the Swiss accept Euros, everything’s listed in Swiss Francs. I also found out that they have a different electrical socket than France but they loaned me an adaptor. It was a nice campsite but a bit steep (33 Euros for just me and Betty). I’ll only be staying one night so I might as well enjoy it...there was a gorgeous view of the lights of Geneva.
View from the campsite towards Geneva:
Beautiful Annecy
Saturday, July 3rd
Our first full day in Annecy...it was a little slow for the group to get moving but eventually we drove the LDV up the mountain. If you’re not on one of the shuttles, there is a bit of a walk from where you can park up to the launch. Yet again it was a lovely astro-turfed launch area. There were quite a few pilots, some launching, some preparing to launch and we joined the third group for a while, the spectators. They actually had one guy organizing and watching out for safety considerations which is a good idea. The wind was coming in a bit cross to launch so there were a few “interesting” launches but most people were getting off the hill.
The view from launch:
The launch:
Kes and Tim were the first to take off from our group and they made the best decision. In the end they were both able to cross the lake and Tim’s flight was 4 hours long! The rest of us boated around near launch and there were some strong, punchy thermals but it was tough to stay in them for long. I witnessed one thermal that Alex, another pilot and a bird rocketed up in and all three of them looked a little surprised and concerned by its strength! Soon we were all headed over to the landing zones and Alex planned to do a full stall over the lake. A full stall is a safety skill to have when a cravat occurs to your wing. A cravat is when one (or more) of your lines goes over the top of your paraglider when it’s not under tension and then weight is put on it and it is stuck there, deforming the airfoil shape of your wing...read: not good. The only way to get it off is to do a full stall, where you bury the brakes until your wing can no longer fly due to the steep angle of attack and then you begin to fall towards the earth. The lines are no longer loaded so then the cravat can work its way out. The danger of a full stall is that when you let the brakes up, if you do it improperly the wing can shoot in front of you so far and fast that it ends up below you and you fall into it (known as being “gift wrapped”), which is obviously far from ideal. Alex’s full stall was excellent and he was pleased with it. He and I landed in the field by the lake and the campsite in some strong wind while the others went to the main LZ.
Taking to the skies:
Tim was still not down at this point and the rest of us drove along the lake to another flying area called Planfait. I almost ran Betty into a car in front of me due to the beautiful scenery...good thing the brakes work at least! It didn’t look too great there so we drove back up to the first launch site (Montmin). I wasn’t too bothered to do a top to bottom flight and have two vehicles to retrieve and then organize dinner so the others flew while I drove Betty down to pick up a steak dinner for everyone. We had a great meal and some good laughs...hello Annecy.
Our first full day in Annecy...it was a little slow for the group to get moving but eventually we drove the LDV up the mountain. If you’re not on one of the shuttles, there is a bit of a walk from where you can park up to the launch. Yet again it was a lovely astro-turfed launch area. There were quite a few pilots, some launching, some preparing to launch and we joined the third group for a while, the spectators. They actually had one guy organizing and watching out for safety considerations which is a good idea. The wind was coming in a bit cross to launch so there were a few “interesting” launches but most people were getting off the hill.
The view from launch:
The launch:
Kes and Tim were the first to take off from our group and they made the best decision. In the end they were both able to cross the lake and Tim’s flight was 4 hours long! The rest of us boated around near launch and there were some strong, punchy thermals but it was tough to stay in them for long. I witnessed one thermal that Alex, another pilot and a bird rocketed up in and all three of them looked a little surprised and concerned by its strength! Soon we were all headed over to the landing zones and Alex planned to do a full stall over the lake. A full stall is a safety skill to have when a cravat occurs to your wing. A cravat is when one (or more) of your lines goes over the top of your paraglider when it’s not under tension and then weight is put on it and it is stuck there, deforming the airfoil shape of your wing...read: not good. The only way to get it off is to do a full stall, where you bury the brakes until your wing can no longer fly due to the steep angle of attack and then you begin to fall towards the earth. The lines are no longer loaded so then the cravat can work its way out. The danger of a full stall is that when you let the brakes up, if you do it improperly the wing can shoot in front of you so far and fast that it ends up below you and you fall into it (known as being “gift wrapped”), which is obviously far from ideal. Alex’s full stall was excellent and he was pleased with it. He and I landed in the field by the lake and the campsite in some strong wind while the others went to the main LZ.
Taking to the skies:
Tim was still not down at this point and the rest of us drove along the lake to another flying area called Planfait. I almost ran Betty into a car in front of me due to the beautiful scenery...good thing the brakes work at least! It didn’t look too great there so we drove back up to the first launch site (Montmin). I wasn’t too bothered to do a top to bottom flight and have two vehicles to retrieve and then organize dinner so the others flew while I drove Betty down to pick up a steak dinner for everyone. We had a great meal and some good laughs...hello Annecy.
St. Hillaire Encore
Friday, July 2
Back up to launch at St. Hillaire for another crack at the upper ridge. I flew mostly with Kes in this flight and we climbed over 300 meters over launch and then headed south along the ridge as I had done in the first flight yesterday. I found another good thermal (at least I thought) en route so I stayed in that as he and 3 other paragliders headed downrange. I eventually caught up to him but was a hundred plus meters below him. I was flying just above an opening to the side of a road tunnel that looked pretty cool. On the radio he stated that he couldn’t find any lift around the corner. I had yet to even see around the corner as I had made it a little further than I had yesterday. I decided, against good judgment to check it out. It was comprised of multiple rocky spines with very few trees, a great place for turbulence to brew. That suspicion was confirmed as I had a 30-40% asymmetrical collapse (for you non-paraglider pilots, that simply means that a third of my wing folded up from one side towards the center). I dealt with it quickly so it was no big deal and heard Kes on the radio say “I saw that Dave.”
In flight:
I turned back to get around to the other side but hit massive sink (air going down). I was losing height quickly so I told Kes that I might be heading to the only landing option around, some sort of gravel pit along the runoff of the mountain streams. It was completely dry but it wasn’t an ideal place to land. In addition to being relatively small, the downwind side of it had a slope, then it levelled out for 30 meters or so and then there was a concrete water barrier that looked a bit like a small bridge. On one side there was a gravel road rising gently out of the pit in the opposite direction of the first slope. Hmm...this is going to be tricky. To add to the complexity, it was also quite thermic so there were a lot of bumps in the air. I had to pull one more aggressive turn than I would have liked to, coming quite close to some trees but then I gently landed smack dab in the middle of the flat area...sweet! I was very pleased with the outcome and I think my only mistake was not turning on my helmet cam to video it!
My dodgy landing spot:
It took a while to pack up as the dried mud and rocks kept grabbing at my lines. I hiked a couple of kilometres to get back to the main road just as Kester came on the radio. He appeared in his Toyota within 10 seconds of me reaching the main road...another stellar retrieve. Some of the boys had gone for a dip in the lake by the campsite so we went to join them. The lake area was controlled by the campsite and no longer being guests there (some of us never were) we should have paid to get in and Harry, Alex and Gans had already been kicked out (I guess there was a slow speed chase of Gans in a pedal boat). Kes and I went for a quick dip anyways to cool off and were quickly asked to leave by a pot-bellied security guard. No harm, no foul. Back at the vehicles, Harry and Alex both climbed part way up the bridge cables. It turns out that the cables were pretty toasty and Harry did a nice Jesus Christ number on his hands!
We hit the road and headed towards the next stop, Annecy. I had heard of Annecy from some Victoria paragliding friends and knew that it was a beautiful spot by a lake. We cruised through Albertville, the site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, en route and were also met by some dark clouds, strong wind and occasional downpour. Our hopes of an evening flight didn’t look good. A few of the guys ate a meal and some of us just had a drink in a bar/restaurant in a nearby small town called Doussard. We hoped for better conditions tomorrow.
Back up to launch at St. Hillaire for another crack at the upper ridge. I flew mostly with Kes in this flight and we climbed over 300 meters over launch and then headed south along the ridge as I had done in the first flight yesterday. I found another good thermal (at least I thought) en route so I stayed in that as he and 3 other paragliders headed downrange. I eventually caught up to him but was a hundred plus meters below him. I was flying just above an opening to the side of a road tunnel that looked pretty cool. On the radio he stated that he couldn’t find any lift around the corner. I had yet to even see around the corner as I had made it a little further than I had yesterday. I decided, against good judgment to check it out. It was comprised of multiple rocky spines with very few trees, a great place for turbulence to brew. That suspicion was confirmed as I had a 30-40% asymmetrical collapse (for you non-paraglider pilots, that simply means that a third of my wing folded up from one side towards the center). I dealt with it quickly so it was no big deal and heard Kes on the radio say “I saw that Dave.”
In flight:
I turned back to get around to the other side but hit massive sink (air going down). I was losing height quickly so I told Kes that I might be heading to the only landing option around, some sort of gravel pit along the runoff of the mountain streams. It was completely dry but it wasn’t an ideal place to land. In addition to being relatively small, the downwind side of it had a slope, then it levelled out for 30 meters or so and then there was a concrete water barrier that looked a bit like a small bridge. On one side there was a gravel road rising gently out of the pit in the opposite direction of the first slope. Hmm...this is going to be tricky. To add to the complexity, it was also quite thermic so there were a lot of bumps in the air. I had to pull one more aggressive turn than I would have liked to, coming quite close to some trees but then I gently landed smack dab in the middle of the flat area...sweet! I was very pleased with the outcome and I think my only mistake was not turning on my helmet cam to video it!
My dodgy landing spot:
It took a while to pack up as the dried mud and rocks kept grabbing at my lines. I hiked a couple of kilometres to get back to the main road just as Kester came on the radio. He appeared in his Toyota within 10 seconds of me reaching the main road...another stellar retrieve. Some of the boys had gone for a dip in the lake by the campsite so we went to join them. The lake area was controlled by the campsite and no longer being guests there (some of us never were) we should have paid to get in and Harry, Alex and Gans had already been kicked out (I guess there was a slow speed chase of Gans in a pedal boat). Kes and I went for a quick dip anyways to cool off and were quickly asked to leave by a pot-bellied security guard. No harm, no foul. Back at the vehicles, Harry and Alex both climbed part way up the bridge cables. It turns out that the cables were pretty toasty and Harry did a nice Jesus Christ number on his hands!
We hit the road and headed towards the next stop, Annecy. I had heard of Annecy from some Victoria paragliding friends and knew that it was a beautiful spot by a lake. We cruised through Albertville, the site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, en route and were also met by some dark clouds, strong wind and occasional downpour. Our hopes of an evening flight didn’t look good. A few of the guys ate a meal and some of us just had a drink in a bar/restaurant in a nearby small town called Doussard. We hoped for better conditions tomorrow.
Happy Canada Day!
Thursday, July 1 – Canada Day!!!
We drove to the LZ with the three vehicles and then all piled into the LDV to go up to launch. As I previously mentioned, I had seen this launch in Sean’s movie and other videos on the net so I knew to expect a massive, rectangular, astro-turf launch area...and I was not disappointed. There were already a surprising number of pilots readying for takeoff. We watched a number of launches and eventually got ready ourselves. I was the last one of our group to take-off and for some reason I couldn’t forward launch to save my life! I must have aborted 4 times before eventually doing a reverse instead. Never mind (although I’ll have to do some honing of that skill), once in the air it was fantastic.
The launch at St. Hillaire:
Gans taking off:
Being the 143rd birthday of my homeland Canada, I had rigged up a small Canadian flag with a rope and a weight off of my harness so once safely away from the mountain, I pulled it out and let it fly behind me. I hadn’t told any of the Brits that I was doing this and had only mentioned to Harry the day before that Canada Day was approaching. A few of them thought I’d run into and picked up a windsock on launch! I got on the radio and wished them “Happy Canada Day!” and briefly explained what it meant.
In flight at St. Hillaire:
In the LZ (landing zone) looking back up to launch:
The rock faces of the mountain ridge were lovely to fly near (although not too close!). I worked with Tim off to the left of launch and he was able to get a few hundred meters above the ridge but most of the time I was below him although I did get above the plateau a bit. Eventually I decided to cruise south, past the launch and about 5 kilometers down the ridge. In order to get to the upper mountain face, you either had to go this way or about 5 kilometers north and then bench up on a connecting ridgeline. I ended up sinking out at the end of the ridge and as I headed out to land in a farmer’s field, I radioed the boys of my situation. I picked a fallow field but found the conditions to be quite thermic and ended up overshooting it. I had a choice of a small rectangular wheat field or the two bordering vineyards on either side of it. It was easy to choose against the wooden posts and wire of the vineyards but I tried to land on the edge of the wheat field to minimize damage to the crops. For this decision I had to pay with my wing coming down over a couple of rows of the growing grapes. It wasn’t a heavy fine to pay as it just took longer to extract my wing but there was no damage to it and I couldn’t see any damage to the two crops. I was just about finished packing up when I heard Gans on the radio. I looked towards the main road and lo and behold, what did I see but the top of Betty drive by. I detailed my location to them and they arrived in the field before I’d even finished packing up...nice retrieve guys. I was pleased with my first flight at St. Hillaire...but there’s much more to be done!
We picked up Tim in the LZ and then headed back up the mountain in Betty. There were dark clouds behind us and across the valley so we all knew that it wouldn’t be a long flight, just a top to bottom basically. I launched in the middle of the pack and soared back and forth in front of launch trying to get video of Harry and Tim launching. Eventually I headed out to the LZ and was glad I did as I could hear some thunder way off in the distance and there was starting to be lift in the valley. I performed some spirals to bleed off some height and some weak wing overs. I came in and landed next to Kes and Gans who were filming me which was great as I still had my Canadian flag flying. After a quick beer in a nearby cafe, we decided to hike up to retrieve our cars. The vertical elevation difference is over 700 meters so it was going to be some good exercise. Alex ran ahead while Harry, Kes, Gans and I hiked up a trail and then about half way up we got on the stairs that run beside the funiculaire after watching the two cars pass by. We climbed hundreds and hundreds of steps...talk about a stair master! There was even a 100 foot long tunnel we had to climb through on tall but narrow stone steps and to add to the complexity, there was a cable with a minor current running through it that drooped down and was pretty difficult to avoid contact with...especially for 6’4 Harry. Gans claimed he saw a spark arc off of his sweat damp hair, uh oh Gans, there goes a few more brain cells!
Starting the hike in the woods (yes, I'm the real white guy...surprising since they're all British!):
Watching the funiculaire car go by (the passengers must have thought we were suckers for punishment):
The start of the stairs:
Gans climbing up the massive stairmaster:
Me on an optional bridge (look how far we've come up from the valley):
At the top, at the funiculaire station, there was a final precariously placed 8 foot ladder which took us inside. The place was closed and we then learned that we weren’t really supposed to go that way as Kes had been told off by a worker. Gans climbed up an open windowsill and jumped out whereas I just walked out a closed door. It took us an hour to get to the top and the first stop was to drench our heads under the water tap near take off. Great exercise...now it’s time to go and celebrate Canada Day!
Gans escaping the funiculaire station:
We had a few drinks outside a bar in a small square followed by a nice meal out at a restaurant where the poor wait staff had to cross the road to go from the kitchen to the tables...they sure earned their money. Of course Betty needed a push start to get going again and the Brits were kind to help out...I think they were also starting to fall for Betty’s charm.
We returned to camp (well technically only Alex and Tim were actually staying in the camp) and Kes, Gans and I hung out by our vehicles in the parking lot across the road for an hour or so having a few drinks. As usual, Gans had us in stitches. My favourite line from him was (and I wish I could type it in a good northern England accent but I can’t): “I bought us an orthopaedic bed but then found out I wasn’t an orthopaede!”
We drove to the LZ with the three vehicles and then all piled into the LDV to go up to launch. As I previously mentioned, I had seen this launch in Sean’s movie and other videos on the net so I knew to expect a massive, rectangular, astro-turf launch area...and I was not disappointed. There were already a surprising number of pilots readying for takeoff. We watched a number of launches and eventually got ready ourselves. I was the last one of our group to take-off and for some reason I couldn’t forward launch to save my life! I must have aborted 4 times before eventually doing a reverse instead. Never mind (although I’ll have to do some honing of that skill), once in the air it was fantastic.
The launch at St. Hillaire:
Gans taking off:
Being the 143rd birthday of my homeland Canada, I had rigged up a small Canadian flag with a rope and a weight off of my harness so once safely away from the mountain, I pulled it out and let it fly behind me. I hadn’t told any of the Brits that I was doing this and had only mentioned to Harry the day before that Canada Day was approaching. A few of them thought I’d run into and picked up a windsock on launch! I got on the radio and wished them “Happy Canada Day!” and briefly explained what it meant.
In flight at St. Hillaire:
In the LZ (landing zone) looking back up to launch:
The rock faces of the mountain ridge were lovely to fly near (although not too close!). I worked with Tim off to the left of launch and he was able to get a few hundred meters above the ridge but most of the time I was below him although I did get above the plateau a bit. Eventually I decided to cruise south, past the launch and about 5 kilometers down the ridge. In order to get to the upper mountain face, you either had to go this way or about 5 kilometers north and then bench up on a connecting ridgeline. I ended up sinking out at the end of the ridge and as I headed out to land in a farmer’s field, I radioed the boys of my situation. I picked a fallow field but found the conditions to be quite thermic and ended up overshooting it. I had a choice of a small rectangular wheat field or the two bordering vineyards on either side of it. It was easy to choose against the wooden posts and wire of the vineyards but I tried to land on the edge of the wheat field to minimize damage to the crops. For this decision I had to pay with my wing coming down over a couple of rows of the growing grapes. It wasn’t a heavy fine to pay as it just took longer to extract my wing but there was no damage to it and I couldn’t see any damage to the two crops. I was just about finished packing up when I heard Gans on the radio. I looked towards the main road and lo and behold, what did I see but the top of Betty drive by. I detailed my location to them and they arrived in the field before I’d even finished packing up...nice retrieve guys. I was pleased with my first flight at St. Hillaire...but there’s much more to be done!
We picked up Tim in the LZ and then headed back up the mountain in Betty. There were dark clouds behind us and across the valley so we all knew that it wouldn’t be a long flight, just a top to bottom basically. I launched in the middle of the pack and soared back and forth in front of launch trying to get video of Harry and Tim launching. Eventually I headed out to the LZ and was glad I did as I could hear some thunder way off in the distance and there was starting to be lift in the valley. I performed some spirals to bleed off some height and some weak wing overs. I came in and landed next to Kes and Gans who were filming me which was great as I still had my Canadian flag flying. After a quick beer in a nearby cafe, we decided to hike up to retrieve our cars. The vertical elevation difference is over 700 meters so it was going to be some good exercise. Alex ran ahead while Harry, Kes, Gans and I hiked up a trail and then about half way up we got on the stairs that run beside the funiculaire after watching the two cars pass by. We climbed hundreds and hundreds of steps...talk about a stair master! There was even a 100 foot long tunnel we had to climb through on tall but narrow stone steps and to add to the complexity, there was a cable with a minor current running through it that drooped down and was pretty difficult to avoid contact with...especially for 6’4 Harry. Gans claimed he saw a spark arc off of his sweat damp hair, uh oh Gans, there goes a few more brain cells!
Starting the hike in the woods (yes, I'm the real white guy...surprising since they're all British!):
Watching the funiculaire car go by (the passengers must have thought we were suckers for punishment):
The start of the stairs:
Gans climbing up the massive stairmaster:
Me on an optional bridge (look how far we've come up from the valley):
At the top, at the funiculaire station, there was a final precariously placed 8 foot ladder which took us inside. The place was closed and we then learned that we weren’t really supposed to go that way as Kes had been told off by a worker. Gans climbed up an open windowsill and jumped out whereas I just walked out a closed door. It took us an hour to get to the top and the first stop was to drench our heads under the water tap near take off. Great exercise...now it’s time to go and celebrate Canada Day!
Gans escaping the funiculaire station:
We had a few drinks outside a bar in a small square followed by a nice meal out at a restaurant where the poor wait staff had to cross the road to go from the kitchen to the tables...they sure earned their money. Of course Betty needed a push start to get going again and the Brits were kind to help out...I think they were also starting to fall for Betty’s charm.
We returned to camp (well technically only Alex and Tim were actually staying in the camp) and Kes, Gans and I hung out by our vehicles in the parking lot across the road for an hour or so having a few drinks. As usual, Gans had us in stitches. My favourite line from him was (and I wish I could type it in a good northern England accent but I can’t): “I bought us an orthopaedic bed but then found out I wasn’t an orthopaede!”
Skydiving for some of the Brits
Wednesday, June 30th
Skydiving day...not for me, but Alex and Tim, and Gans was to lose his jumping virginity going on a tandem jump. We lucked out with the medical check-up aspect as there turned out to be a doctor who was a skydiving student on course that day. Alex went up in one plane and just as he landed, Tim and Gans were off in another. It was quite a bust little airport wit all sorts of flying vessels taking off, even a gyrocopter! Harry and I watched them come down and filmed their experience. Gans was giddy like a little school girl. I could so remember that feeling I had when I did my one and only tandem skydive with my friend Colin, a couple of weeks before he got married. As he had claimed before his jump, Gans was already talking about when he would start taking a skydiving course as he was hooked! Alex went for another jump just as Kes showed up with his fixed SUV, but 300 Euros poorer.
Gans not too pleased with how tight the harness has to be cinched in some areas:
Tim getting his final inspection:
Alex returning from his first jump:
Gans landing:
His post jump reaction:
The rest of us, apart from Tim, decided to press on and try and locate a flying site called St. Vincent les Forts just east of the city of Gap. Although we possessed various high tech GPS equipment, for some reason we opted not to use them and somewhat blindly drove up one mountain, found a map board on the side of the road, realized we had gone the wrong way, backtracked down the mountain and back up the proper road. Harry was with me while Gans rode with Kes in the Toyota Hilux. Poor Betty had a bit of trouble getting up the steep dirt road with periodic draining trenches running diagonally across it. The trenches got bigger as we climbed higher so I had to slow right down to make sure that I didn’t pull part of Betty’s underbelly off. We finally reached what looked like a potential paraglider takeoff or at least a top landing field. I stopped the vehicle for a minute as we radioed Kes and he was about a kilometer ahead of us. We decided to continue on, but Betty didn’t. I didn’t get her revs up enough to get moving on the steep slope and stalled her. Uh oh....will she restart? I turned the key....and no, she wouldn’t. Okay, no biggie, just have to roll backwards down a sloped dirt road, with a curve 30 meters back and a precipitous drop on one side, pop the clutch, hope she starts and then brake aggressively. Harry looked at me with a slightly worried face as I was relatively new to this clutch popping technique. We both agreed that he should get out to help guide me from the back but I think it was just as much to minimize the risk of both of us plummeting down the hillside in Betty. I began to roll back, let out the clutch and good ol’ Betty began to purr (as best as she can purr). Harry hopped back in but then I still couldn’t really get her heading up the hill although at least I hadn’t stalled her. Harry had a go and he had more success by higher revving the engine before attempting to put it in gear. I guess I just hadn’t wanted to be so forceful with my lady traveling companion.
We met up with Kes and Gans at the launch spot and what a view! Behind us was a beautiful mountain ridge with a few craggy rock faces. Off to the left was the man-made lake of Lac de Serre Ponçon, to the right the valley headed off to Gap and in front of us was a tree covered, lower mountain. Unfortunately it was quite windy and there were some grey clouds forming above the mountain. We decided to have what little lunch we had with us and enjoy the view. We finally made radio contact with Alex and Tim who we later found out did use their GPS and did go to the actual site we had talked about...whoops. When they asked where we were, I wanted to reply “Look for the darkest cloud in the sky...and we’re directly under it!” And that cloud proceeded to open up, beginning with seriously large rain drops that turned into hail. We hopped back in our vehicles and began to descend the mountain. We met up with the other boys in their slow moving LDV Convoy truck and started off for St. Hillaire, about an hour and a half away (at least the way we travelled with the LDV crawling even slower than Betty on hills and with a top speed of 90 km/hr on the highways...it lives up to its name as we would always get a big convoy of cars behind us!).
The view from the blown out launch:
There was a serious descent into the south end of Grenoble and this took its toll on the LDV with the brakes overheating and blowing off the caps on both from wheels and spraying brake fluid all over. Awesome, now all three vehicles have had issues. We limped on to St. Hillaire and stopped in at the landing zone area. St. Hillaire is the home to an annual festival called Coupe Icare (The Icarus Cup) which is held in September. It first came to my attention through the movie “Neverending Thermal” that a friend of mine from Victoria, Sean White, created (I recommend you at least check out the trailer!). Thousands of people descend on the sleepy hillside town and some fly off the mountain dressed in ridiculous costumes. I plan on attending it this September.
Tim chatted with a guy in a paragliding shop and he recommended that we try a site to the northeast called Malatrait (as St. Hillaire is more of a morning/afternoon site). We drove 45 minutes and eventually found the launch after driving through a beautiful town by a drained out lake (yes, that detracted from the beauty a bit). We hadn’t planned our logistics too well as we had 6 guys and 3 vehicles up on launch. It was around 8pm so it was just going to be a top to bottom flight so Kes, Alex and I offered to drive while Gans, Harry and Tim all had nice gentle flights. The drivers, figuring they deserved something for their sacrifice, had a sunset beer up on the mountain before we returned down to the town. The flyers had already walked to a cafe by the time we descended and we went for a bite to eat. After getting frustrated by a creperie with shitty service (by now, why do I expect anything different in France?!?), we got some pizzas from another joint and then headed off to camp for the night. By this time it was past eleven and the campsite we intended staying at had locked its gates. Not to worry, we free camped across the road in a large parking lot although somehow Alex and Tim got into the campsite...but I was happier where I was, less congested and free! Tomorrow, we fly St. Hillaire...
Harry preparing for a gentle evening soar:
Skydiving day...not for me, but Alex and Tim, and Gans was to lose his jumping virginity going on a tandem jump. We lucked out with the medical check-up aspect as there turned out to be a doctor who was a skydiving student on course that day. Alex went up in one plane and just as he landed, Tim and Gans were off in another. It was quite a bust little airport wit all sorts of flying vessels taking off, even a gyrocopter! Harry and I watched them come down and filmed their experience. Gans was giddy like a little school girl. I could so remember that feeling I had when I did my one and only tandem skydive with my friend Colin, a couple of weeks before he got married. As he had claimed before his jump, Gans was already talking about when he would start taking a skydiving course as he was hooked! Alex went for another jump just as Kes showed up with his fixed SUV, but 300 Euros poorer.
Gans not too pleased with how tight the harness has to be cinched in some areas:
Tim getting his final inspection:
Alex returning from his first jump:
Gans landing:
His post jump reaction:
The rest of us, apart from Tim, decided to press on and try and locate a flying site called St. Vincent les Forts just east of the city of Gap. Although we possessed various high tech GPS equipment, for some reason we opted not to use them and somewhat blindly drove up one mountain, found a map board on the side of the road, realized we had gone the wrong way, backtracked down the mountain and back up the proper road. Harry was with me while Gans rode with Kes in the Toyota Hilux. Poor Betty had a bit of trouble getting up the steep dirt road with periodic draining trenches running diagonally across it. The trenches got bigger as we climbed higher so I had to slow right down to make sure that I didn’t pull part of Betty’s underbelly off. We finally reached what looked like a potential paraglider takeoff or at least a top landing field. I stopped the vehicle for a minute as we radioed Kes and he was about a kilometer ahead of us. We decided to continue on, but Betty didn’t. I didn’t get her revs up enough to get moving on the steep slope and stalled her. Uh oh....will she restart? I turned the key....and no, she wouldn’t. Okay, no biggie, just have to roll backwards down a sloped dirt road, with a curve 30 meters back and a precipitous drop on one side, pop the clutch, hope she starts and then brake aggressively. Harry looked at me with a slightly worried face as I was relatively new to this clutch popping technique. We both agreed that he should get out to help guide me from the back but I think it was just as much to minimize the risk of both of us plummeting down the hillside in Betty. I began to roll back, let out the clutch and good ol’ Betty began to purr (as best as she can purr). Harry hopped back in but then I still couldn’t really get her heading up the hill although at least I hadn’t stalled her. Harry had a go and he had more success by higher revving the engine before attempting to put it in gear. I guess I just hadn’t wanted to be so forceful with my lady traveling companion.
We met up with Kes and Gans at the launch spot and what a view! Behind us was a beautiful mountain ridge with a few craggy rock faces. Off to the left was the man-made lake of Lac de Serre Ponçon, to the right the valley headed off to Gap and in front of us was a tree covered, lower mountain. Unfortunately it was quite windy and there were some grey clouds forming above the mountain. We decided to have what little lunch we had with us and enjoy the view. We finally made radio contact with Alex and Tim who we later found out did use their GPS and did go to the actual site we had talked about...whoops. When they asked where we were, I wanted to reply “Look for the darkest cloud in the sky...and we’re directly under it!” And that cloud proceeded to open up, beginning with seriously large rain drops that turned into hail. We hopped back in our vehicles and began to descend the mountain. We met up with the other boys in their slow moving LDV Convoy truck and started off for St. Hillaire, about an hour and a half away (at least the way we travelled with the LDV crawling even slower than Betty on hills and with a top speed of 90 km/hr on the highways...it lives up to its name as we would always get a big convoy of cars behind us!).
The view from the blown out launch:
There was a serious descent into the south end of Grenoble and this took its toll on the LDV with the brakes overheating and blowing off the caps on both from wheels and spraying brake fluid all over. Awesome, now all three vehicles have had issues. We limped on to St. Hillaire and stopped in at the landing zone area. St. Hillaire is the home to an annual festival called Coupe Icare (The Icarus Cup) which is held in September. It first came to my attention through the movie “Neverending Thermal” that a friend of mine from Victoria, Sean White, created (I recommend you at least check out the trailer!). Thousands of people descend on the sleepy hillside town and some fly off the mountain dressed in ridiculous costumes. I plan on attending it this September.
Tim chatted with a guy in a paragliding shop and he recommended that we try a site to the northeast called Malatrait (as St. Hillaire is more of a morning/afternoon site). We drove 45 minutes and eventually found the launch after driving through a beautiful town by a drained out lake (yes, that detracted from the beauty a bit). We hadn’t planned our logistics too well as we had 6 guys and 3 vehicles up on launch. It was around 8pm so it was just going to be a top to bottom flight so Kes, Alex and I offered to drive while Gans, Harry and Tim all had nice gentle flights. The drivers, figuring they deserved something for their sacrifice, had a sunset beer up on the mountain before we returned down to the town. The flyers had already walked to a cafe by the time we descended and we went for a bite to eat. After getting frustrated by a creperie with shitty service (by now, why do I expect anything different in France?!?), we got some pizzas from another joint and then headed off to camp for the night. By this time it was past eleven and the campsite we intended staying at had locked its gates. Not to worry, we free camped across the road in a large parking lot although somehow Alex and Tim got into the campsite...but I was happier where I was, less congested and free! Tomorrow, we fly St. Hillaire...
Harry preparing for a gentle evening soar:
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