After a bit of a sleep in, breakfast, catching up on my blog and emails, I wandered over to the paragliding office just before noon. There was a chain smoking Aussie guy named Nick who was there with a mate yesterday (and they had walked away yesterday which aided in my decision to have an administrative day). This time the conditions looked a bit better but there wasn’t a shuttle until 1pm. I returned to Betty to do more blogging and there continued to be no cumulus clouds in the sky (indicators of lift) so I continued to catch up on my journal entries until close to 3pm. I then caught a shuttle up to launch and the conditions looked alright for flying. There were a fair number of spectators and pilots launching when I first arrived but by the time I finished my ham and cheese baguette lunch (which is becoming a bit of a staple by the way...I love the bread in France!), surprisingly almost everyone was gone. I pretty much had the whole launch area to myself.
I took to the air and the thermals were much easier to stay in than the other day. There was one thermal by launch that two paragliders were already in along with a hang glider. They were all turning in the same direction, which is proper etiquette, so I entered from the bottom and turned clockwise as well. I watched as the hang glider pilot fell out of the thermal a couple of times and then was at my height. I was adjusting my turning radius so the same thing didn’t happen to me. Since hang gliders fly faster than paragliders, I then became an obstacle for him. He yelled at me a few times but I didn’t think I was in the wrong so I kept turning, enjoying the view and the lift and listening to the tunes flowing out of my little speakers on my flight deck. He took off up the ridge shortly after and I was glad to see him go. I eventually left the supposed safe confines of the area near launch by following a woman who had “Louise” emblazoned on her wing. It helps a lot to follow someone as you can tell if they are going up or down and it helps your decision making. We both climbed a hundred or so meters over the last point of the ridge and then it was decision time, cross over a small gap to the north to a couple of rocky faces called “Les Dents” (the teeth) or just hang out here. Well Louise started to go for it so I decided to follow. Turns out that my wing was a bit faster than hers so I passed her and arrive at the grassy slope below the rocks before her. We worked together to locate lift but then she continued on as I hopped on a thermal. Soon I was above the teeth and soaking in the view. Magnificent! I could see Mt. Blanc off to the east and other mountains and ridges to the north. I headed to the second tooth and notice 3-4 hikers right at the top of it, boy, they sure earned their look at the landscape.
Getting higher up:
My first views of Mt. Blanc (a bit tough to see in these pics...but trust me, it looked spectacular!):
Hikers on the Teeth (really hard to see them):
After boating around for a while I decided not to cross the lake as the sun was no longer heating the faces of the ridges on the other side so I didn’t think a circum-lake-tion was possible. I opted to try and head back to where I’d come and try and make it to the proper landing zone. I passed by launch, only a hundred or so meters above it and then cruised out over the lake. I attempted a couple of wingovers but my heart wasn’t into it...which actually can be dangerous. I got part way through one and then stopped weight shifting and pulling the brake as I should and that almost caused a nice collapse! I had plenty of height over the LZ and had a nice landing. While packing up, chain smoking Nick yelled a hello as he had just landed and had had a nice flight. I walked the kilometer or two back to the campsite and settled in for some dinner and the other semi-final of the World Cup, Germany vs. Spain. Another good day in France!
High above Lake Annecy:
The view back of the Dents:
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