Yesterday the weather in Greifenburg wasn’t terribly great, really low clouds, occasional rain and just generally not good paragliding weather. It didn’t prevent some people from flying but they were all just sled runs. I decided to have an “administrative day” which started off with walking into town, going to the post office and grocery store and getting my haircut. I walked back to the campsite and contemplated hiking up to the lower, student launch for some exercise and a short flight but then Ines told me that you have to go all the way back into town before you can start going up the switchbacks...hmm, I could do it, or I should do the responsible thing and tackle some desperately needed laundry. I hand wash most of my clothes (yes, on a regular basis) but it’s pretty difficult to properly wash a sleeping bag , comforter cover and towels in a sink. The campsite only had two washing machines and one dryer so the ordeal took me about 3 hours to complete but I’m sleeping on fresh linen again! So sadly, hanging out in probably the paragliding capital of Austria, I did domestics all day...it wasn’t my choice though, Mother Nature made me!
The morning of the 19th didn’t look much better so I decided it was time to get out of Dodge. I spoke to Ines about some of the options in the Dolomites and she thought that some of the places I wanted to hit were too active at this time of the year, they were better to visit in October. Perusing a map, she suddenly said, “Mount Grappa, you should go there, it’s beautiful!” How could I not take that kind of recommendation? I hopped in Betty, tried to start her and the battery sounded a bit low to properly crank her over. I looked at my window and saw Ines giggling as she had seen me in the same predicament just two days prior in the campsite near Sillian. I begrudgingly popped the hood, pulled out my can of magic spray and shot some into the air intake and got Betty to fire up. Ines laughed even more as I waved and pulled away...at least Betty does provided some entertainment.
I backtracked my way through Lienz and back by the Dolomites where on the roads I had driven to arrive in Austria but then trusted Miss SatNav to take me to Bassano del Grappa, a city near my destination. The air was hazy so I didn’t get the best view of some of the mountains but it was still a nice drive, although I did notice that I was entering more and more urban areas. I realized that the GPS was taking me a slightly different way than I had expected from consulting my map and thought I’d have to head into Bassano and head slightly north (back towards Austria) to get to my destination. However, I suddenly saw one...two...three... no eight paragliders in the sky. Must check this out... I drove closer along the main road to where I saw a wing setting up for his landing and then saw not just a sign for a paragliding landing zone, but a campsite too! I found the LZ and approached a couple of guys packing up their wings and asked whether they spoke English. The one guy didn’t and the other said just a little bit but he actually wasn’t bad at all. Paolo lived nearby and is a member of the local club as is his friend Mauricio. Paolo offered to take me up to the launch as they had to retrieve his vehicle with Mauricio’s...sweet score. It was close to 5pm so I didn’t expect much more than a sled ride but that is often the best way to have your first flight in a new place, so you can suss out the launch and landing.
Paolo was such a nice guy that he insisted he take the uncomfortable spot in the back of Mauricio’s small SUV. We chatted a bit on the ride up the mountain that was a lovely paved road but had 16 switchbacks to get up to launch. The parking lot was a 100 meters past the actual launch and as I walked, with my wing on my back, the other two accompanied me to make sure I got off alright and/or give me a briefing...very nice of them! Paolo then said “We would fly too, but we have to drive our vehicles down.” Well dude, c’mon, I can bring you back up in Betty so we can all fly. It took a little bit of convincing and Paolo must have asked me four or five times that I will for sure bring them back up and I ensured him I would.
Paolo in the back of the car:
The launch had green Astroturf nailed in on a steep slope, so steep that it was very easy for your wing to slide down as you set up to launch. I was the first one off, forward launching but the other two were right after me as there weren’t many cycles coming up and you didn’t want to get stuck there once the wind turned catabatic (when the wind starts to flow down the mountain which usually happens near the end of the day). We did just have a slightly extended sleddie but it was a fun little flight and I thanked the guys profusely for making it happen. I felt a little bad, but it was only after we had packed up our wings and we were walking across the field to Betty that I told Paolo about her starting issues. I figured I had water to cool the fuel pump, option 2: two guys to help me push start her, and option 3: the magic starter spray. He did giggle and relayed the info to Mauricio in Italian. They might have wondered what they got themselves into... But Betty did start and we slowly chugged our way up the mountain. Great guys, and a nice way to end a day of driving.
Mauricio on launch:
Set up on launch:
Me with the two other new friends in the background:
Mauricio in flight:
The view of valley below:
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