It wasn’t looking terribly promising up on launch when we first arrived, and just as bad an hour later. I expected just a sled ride (where you just go from top to bottom with no lift) and hoped that I would at least make it to Kobarid which is about 10km away so you actually do need some lift as I get about a 7:1 ratio with my paraglider (which means with no lift, for every meter I go down, I should go 7 meters forward...that’s with no wind too). Well, as is with this sport, and life in general, what you expect is not always what you get. I ended up flying for over 2 hours!
Initially there were a number of wings to the west of launch, over the grassy ridge that has some kind of tower on the top of it. I decided to follow this Japanese woman that I knew from previous days was a decent pilot. I eventually hooked a good thermal and was close to the cloud base which was only a couple hundred meters above the ridge. Ten minutes later I was sharing another thermal with 8 other winged friends...three of the human kind and the other five eagles! I was kicking myself for not putting my HD helmet camera on my helmet as I had assumed it would just be a short boring flight.
I decided to head further west than I have since I’ve been flying here. Technically I flew about 5 kilometers into Italy. You can continue further to Gemona but I did have the kahunas to do it today although I saw some other pilots do it. The skies were mostly overcast so there was no promise of big thermals. One had to trust that you could ridge soar for about 10 kilometers along some terrain that only appeared to have forests below, and no landing options. Hats off to those pilots who did it. When I decided to turn back, I watched a blue wing who was 2-300 meters lower than me, below the ridge, just putter along and eventually he popped above the ridge 5 kilometers down the ridge...wow. All in all though, I was very pleased with the flight.
The ridge heading towards Gemona, Italy:
Near some clouds:
Happy in flight:
Looking towards Krn, the tallest mountain in the neighborhood and the one I flew over yesterday:
A few paragliders returning from Gemona:
Trees look like broccoli once you get high enough up:
Grooving to Santana:
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