I walked to the landing zone at 10:15 and got on the shuttle about a half an hour later. It was a fairly full bus and everyone got off at the main launch but I asked to go to the lower one. My same two new Swedish friends from yesterday, Andres and Carl were already there hanging out. There were a few paragliders in the air but they were just maintaining their height. I told the Swedish guys that I’d be the wind dummy today as I figured I’d go for a short flight and ride the shuttle back up. I had three rides prepaid for and didn’t expect to use all three today but hoped to at least get through two. I thought I’d practice my forward launching, fly around a bit, do some wingovers and land. So in anticipation of a short flight, I decided not to use any instruments, to not put on my jacket nor the legs to my pants and also to skip the usually critical pre-flight pee and just takeoff. I joked with the guys that “Watch, I’ll end up flying for hours since I wasn’t prepared for it”...oh the foreshadowing. I launched and sure enough the thermals were just starting to kick in. I figured I might as well cruise around for a bit, maybe even up to an hour and then head to land. I couldn’t understand why hardly anyone else was in the air. There were 3 or 4 other pilots flying with at least 20 sitting on the two launches. I wasn’t going to complain too much as it was nice to have some free space to play around.
Looking across the hazy countryside:
The switchback roads up to launch and the valley below:
Way above launch (the tiny square by the road near the bottom):
Flying without my vario (the instrument that not only tells me my altitude but can also audibly alert me to how fast I’m going up or down) turned out to be challenging but also a good learning lesson. When you are flying close to terrain, obviously you can see if you’re going up or down but as you get higher, you have to rely more on the sensations (on your butt) as to whether you’re getting lifted up or not. One challenge is that you feel acceleration, but if you’re in good, constant lift, it gets tougher to know where the core of the thermal is. I flew around the mountain of the two launches for at least an hour as more and more pilots launched and some were able to climb up and get away down the ridge. I attempted 3 or 4 times to cross the first gap but each time got flushed down. It was challenging as there was a pretty strong east wind which caused the thermals to be stretched out and somewhat broken. Patience... Eventually I did make the crossing. The cloud base was higher than yesterday and there weren’t nearly as many clouds either. This made the flying more enjoyable and opened up the possibilities to go farther.
I ended up making it along the ridge about 7-8 kilometers to the east and was in line with the top of Monte Grappa which has some kind of big round war memorial on it. I was getting a bit chilly at times due to my lack of clothing but it was hard to turn down the opportunity to explore some new terrain. Eventually I headed back to the launch area and headed out to land...and 3 hours had passed! It was a great flight and quite peaceful not having the constant beeping of my vario and even a break from the music that I usually have playing.
Heading towards Monte Grappa:
The monument on the peak:
Mandatory foot shot:
Cruising along the ridge:
A bullseye looking round about:
Groovin' at Grappa:
I met Andres and Carl in the landing zone and after a beer at a nearby patio to the shuttle pickup area, I lucked out and got one of the last seats (actually it was standing room in the back) for the ride while they were left behind. Again I asked to be taken back down to the lower launch and I was the only one there (whereas the upper launch had at least 20 pilots vying for 2 launch spots). I did another forward launch (more practice) and this time I did opt to wear my jacket and have my flight deck with my instruments hooked in front of me. I headed back towards the top of Monte Grappa but didn’t quite make it as far as I did the last flight.
Flight #2:
The sun was beginning to dip in the sky so different faces of the mountain were receiving the sun’s warmth so one had to alter one’s strategy. I cruised back towards the main hill above launch as I guessed that there should be thermals kicking off the west face of it which borders a narrow canyon...and sure enough they were. I got this one kicker that took me and another pilot up 2-300 meters in a short amount of time. A hang glider joined us briefly and then I decided to head further west to the ridge that Andres and I had flown on my second flight that has houses and a few antennas on the top. Lift was working there too and I boated around for over half an hour, soaking up the view and exploring a little further north than I had before. I didn’t venture too far as if I had sunk down there, it would have been a 10-15 kilometer return to the campsite, which I wasn’t up to with early evening approaching. In the end the second flight was two and a quarter hours long so I had flown five hours and fifteen minutes today! Easily the longest of my Wandergliding adventure and in fact the most of any paragliding day I’ve had...sweet!
The ridges looking north:
Try and spot Betty (she's near the trees and the big building):
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