Photo shoot on the Saleve

X-Alps preparation continues, as I borrowed the services of a work colleague, James Whetton, who is a rather good photographer to take some portrait photos.  To thank him for his services I took him up for a tandem flight.  Here is the result, and some pretty pictures of evening flying above Geneva.

Running with my Dad

My father, who in a moment of insanity has agreed to be my supporter in the X-Alps (if I do actually get in) was over for the weekend so we went for a run together up the Saleve (1200m hill next to Geneva).  We took the path up the Grand gorge from Coin then did a loop on the top following part of the ‘grand tour’ before descending via the path through the cave.  It took us 50mins to the summit (versus the 2hr 20min on the sign!) and in total was a very enjoyable 2hrs running.  My Dad did complain a bit which made me feel good about my own training.  That may sound strange given he is in his 60’s but as he is about to take part in a 200km jungle ultra-marathon in Brazil in October and is close to the peak of his own training, I was quite chuffed!

Racing trains

I’ve just come back from a week long family holiday in Leukerbad and Gruyeres. Plenty of hiking in the mountains and evening runs to keep me in training.  No flying though – for once the paraglider stayed at home.  On one of the days my wife and I walked with our two children from Gruyere village to the village of Moleson. Not that far in the grand scheme of things but still a 2 hr hike with 400m height gain, which my youngest daughter, Lucy who is only 5yrs old, took in her stride! Afterwards the plan was to go up to Moleson summit.  Ali and the girls went to get tickets for the funicular mountain railway, whilst I set off at speed on foot.  Fortunately for them there was a train just about to depart.  Fortunately for me, they missed it!  The run up was easier than I expected and soon the top was in site.  The train was in the station and just about to depart but the family were nowhere to be seen! I was there with a comfortable 10mins to spare waiting for the next train to arrive!  Most of my running experience (Course de Duc, Geneva half marathon) has all been on the flat but I think I have been bitten by the ‘running up mountains’ bug.  The more I think about it the more excited I am about the X-Alps.  I just hope they let me in!

X-Alps Wannabe

Applications for the 2011 X-Alps are open.  After following this race avidly for the last few years and looked on longingly, I’ve finally decided it is time to have a go.

Lots of things to think about and work on before I actually put in my application but I have plenty of time as the application deadline is the end of September.  On the fitness side, I’m already running and cycling a lot so this blog may begin to turn into more of a training blog rather than just a blog about flying. 

To fly or to swim?

Yesterday was my birthday, but the weather was good and so of course I went flying!

'Good' is not epic, in other words it was flyable but nothing to get excited about.  Annecy suited my mood and I was to meet up with Quentin and Damien to fly from Plan Fait above Tailoires.  Ali and the girls came too, unusual these days, and after lunch together in the cafe by the landing field we went our separate ways, I took the Navette to take off whilst the girls went to Tailoires beach to swim.

The day was slow and stable.  I took off without any grand plans but thought a jaunt down to Margeriaz and back might be fun.  After one of the longest and lowest climbs out (45mins) I finally made it to base above the Dents de Lanfon.  However, I was one of less than a handful of gliders that had made it up - we were either luckier or more patient than the 30-40 wings still milling about down at take off height.

I decided to glide across the lake and fly down the Roc des Boeuf.  Back low I had to grovel again, and it took me an age to get back high at the south end.  It seemed that whilst there were climbs high up, there was precious little working low down, not a great XC day.  Checking in with the others (who had flown to La Tournette) on the radio it seems that they too were getting mildly frustarted with the conditions.  That was it, I figured I did not need to be up here battling with this so I set off back to Tailoires, I was heading into wind and with precious little lift around it was going to be a tight glide.  As I crossed over the beach I tried to spot my wife and kids but with no luck, maybe I wasn't as low as I thought!

Once I was back above the landing field I radioed back to Quentine and Damien that I had decided to land to go for a swim.  It was testament to the day that both of them decided that the day was indeed better to suited to swimming and made the same call.  We all met up at the beach a little while later to cool off in the water.  I spent the rest of the afternoon having fun with the family before finishing the day witha beautiful meal overlooking the lake.  What a pefect birthday!

Above the clouds

I was flying with Annecy based Belgian pilot with Damien De Baenst yesterday from Montgirod.  We had a plan.  It was optimistic. It was a 200km FAI triangle.

At launch it was clear the conditions were not as good as we’d expected, base was low and climbs were slow.  I was first to base at around 2600m, which doesn’t sound that low, but in the big mountains this felt pretty low!  Damien soon joined me and we were not even sure we’d make it out of the valley given the col we had to cross to the north.  We worked our way cautiously through, climbing in a weak climb behind the col before crossing the valley behind.

Things really didn’t look good from there on, the base was only around 2400m and significantly below the summits.  Our route north would be made doubly difficult by the lack of height because as well as the short range from each climb we’d now have to fly around all the mountains rather than over the tops!  As we approached the next ridge Damien was climbing up from lower down as I flew over him to join a stronger climb over the spine, it quickly turned into a surprisingly good 3m/s climb (it was still very early).  What’s more it did not stop or create a cloud.  As an XC pilot I am always trying to understand the aerology, modeling it my head and modifying the model when I experience something I don’t expect.  This didn’t fit in with anything that seemed to make sense, I looked around for clues but I could not see why we were continuing to climb, now well above base.  It must have been some kind of convergence, but I still don’t understand why there was no cloud.  Finally we ‘topped out’ (at least the climb slowed and finally stopped) at about 3000m.  The route suddenly now looked amazing, flying over the first peak and over the top of some small cumulus far below the scene was breathtaking.  Still, in front lay a much larger cumulus, perhaps 3km E to W and 1 km N to S and several hundred meters in altitude, with base around 2400m.  I was a bit nervous approaching this mighty cumulus but realised I did have the height to clear the top of it, just.  Damien was level with me now but about 1km to my right, he skimmed through the E side of the cloud whilst I went right over the top nearer the W side.  We were giggling like school children over the radio – this was breathtaking stuff!

Unfortunately the fun was soon over as I approached the next cloud at base before topping up underneath and crossing to Mt Bisane.  The flight went downhill from there as now we were out of the big mountains the conditions became much weaker.  We both became stuck in multiple places.  We ended up modifying our plans and shortening the course to nearer to 100km than the 200km planned.  We pushed round but base was much lower in the pre-Alps and finally flying back into the big mountains was not possible. The base came down even further at the end of the day to only about 2000m with quite a bit of wind around, making any attempt to get back to Aime both unsafe and unlikely to be successful.  So finally we both landed out near Albertville. A long and hard day flying for only approx 100km of distance, but the moments flying over the clouds made everything worthwhile. What an experience!

Two good days in May

After the great flyiong at the end of April the flying in May has been dismal this year.  So, to remind me (and you) how great flying can be in May here is an article I wrote on flying in May after two epic days in May 2008 (the article was published in the British Paragliding Magazine 'Skywings')


The emails started arriving on Tuesday. Friday was going to be good, very good. After a disappointing April everyone was anxious for a good XC day and this one was looking great – high base, light wind and a great air mass. Plans had to be made, work rearranged and, by Thursday night Tom and I were holed up in a cheap hotel 10 minutes drive from the now famous St Marcel launch.

St Marcel is a very small site, just a clearing in the trees really, with just enough space to lay out and launch one glider from the rather precarious steep tree covered slope. Neither is it high – at only 890m it is only about 500m from the valley floor. It sits at the northern end of the main easterly ridge of the Chartreuse and as such works early and provides 30km of ridge that can be flown very early in the day. On this particular day the whole world was here – we were early to launch (9.45am) in order to set up and get a place in the queue, but by no means were we the first. Another slightly higher take-off is very sensitive but once in the air I could see that this too was packed – probably in total about 50 gliders were ready to go.

Tom and I launched around 10.45, the day wasn’t looking as epic as we’d expected but the ridge was starting to work and after flying a few kms to the north (to ensure we could ‘link’ the flight at the end of the day) we headed south towards St Hilaire. The start of the day was slow – there was a thin veil of high cloud and this meant the first 30kms were hard work. By the time we passed St Hilaire we hadn’t even been more than 100m above take off height. Still the kilometers were ticking away, albeit too slowly, and by the time we were at Fort St Eynard things seemed to be working a little better. Pushing out to a southern turnpoint just outside of Grenoble Airspace was a little touch and go as we scraped back in very low below the fort and had to scratch back up the southern face (Tom, rather uncharacteristically, even gave a ‘phew’ over the radio).

Heading north now was easier going and as we neared Dent de Crolles we climbed in our first ‘real’ thermal of the day – 40kms into the flight. Onto Dent de Crolles and conditions were looking better, much better. It was now past 12:30 and the clouds were looking amazing and very high, as we pulled level with the ridge there was no point in climbing to base here – we needed to push back up to the northern end of the ridge, still some 20kms or so away. Flying in straight line we climbed almost all the way – at one point getting up to 2600m (still some way short of the clouds). By the northern end we needed height for the first time in order to make the huge valley crossing into the Bauges. Tom pushed on to the north end of the Granier, but as there was no cloud there I climbed at the southern end to 2800m and set off across.

Refreshed after some food and drink on the glide we arrived more or less together on the Savoyarde. This was my first time making this crossing and I’m told that normally the best you can hope for is a weak climb and then a flop over the back to the mountain behind in order to get high. Not today. A 3m/s climb propelled me up to 2400m where the short transition took us to a stronger 5m/s climb behind. Now conditions were looking absolutely stunning and for the first time, more than half way into the flight, we took this climb up to cloudbase at 3000m. The southern face of Colombier was topped with a classic cumulus – we were giggling like school children over the radio – this was breath-taking stuff.

The route through the Bauges was straight forward – just linking the dots. After Roc de Boeuf Tom pulled ahead and was already climbing out at the Dents De Lanfon as I was gliding in from Lake Annecy – arriving just above the Plain Fait launch. Soon Tom was on transition to Parmelan, however thick high cloud coming in from the north had put the whole of Parmelan in shade. I was nearing 2000m over the Dents de Lanfon as Tom radioed back to say there was strong sink on the glide over and very little working on the other side – it looked pretty grim and I decided discretion was the better part of valour and decided to turn here at the Dents de Lanfon. I hoped Tom would get out of the sink hole he’d flown into but I wasn’t that convinced – still I never write him off.

The run back through the Bauges was straight forward – I had feared that the high cloud would cause difficulties here but it wasn’t the case. Tom made it out of his sink hole (of course) and was chasing my tail but in the end we took different routes back. Nearing the southern end of the Bauges I was back at 3000m and thermalling lazily – I had a long glide to go but I was in, easily, and just enjoying relaxing in the late afternoon climb. When I did leave on final glide I arrived with nearly 1000m to spare – I used the height to ensure the flight was properly linked by pushing south towards the take off – I still had enough height to land up on the plateau where my car was parked and was planning to do so but found out by radio just in time that someone had already brought my car down for me. Perfect – a bottom landing by the car.

The next day, May 3rd, was also planned to be good but with more high cloud. 10am found me trudging up the snow covered slopes above Les Saisies to the Bisanne launch at 1900m. Although the forecast was good the start of the day did not look great. The previous day a local pilot had taken off here at 10.10am to start his XC but today at 11am there was still nothing.

At 11.30 I was getting impatient – a few gliders were in the air, having launched from the lower take-off and they were maintaining, just. I alpine launched in nil wind, not easy in deep snow and a cocoon harness, and was rewarded with a bit of weak lift (0.2m/s but it pays to be patient early!). Soon Tom was in the air as well and the wind sock was showing the thermal breeze had finally switched on. Although the day was mostly devoid of forecast high cloud, one thick patch was obscuring the sun and probably accountable for the late and slow start.

We were the first two gliders to cross to the southern end of the Aravis which found us grovelling and slowly loosing height. We were both getting impatient and it showed as we were outclimbed by a couple of other gliders who had followed us over from Bisanne – it seemed an age before we eventually climbed out, but when it came it was a great climb.

Onto Sulens, in retrospect probably not necessary, but it gave us a good climb and an easy transition onto the back of La Tournette. Tom had again got a climb in front of me and reported back a 5m/s climb out. “How am I going to catch you if you keep taking climbs like that?” I asked over the radio. We fly a lot together, as we are similar in speed but never wait for each other (as the skiers say, there are no friends on powder days). Still, I smiled to myself as I flew straight into a 6m/s climb as Tom was gliding round the front of La Tournette. An easy transition to the Dents De Lanfon and Tom and I found ourselves leaving together for Parmelan. Incredible conditions on Parmelan (the opposite to Tom’s experience the day before) meant I surfed the cliff all the way round to the Tete de Parmelan – the planned turnpoint. As I was flying round the cliff Tom paused to climb in the middle and was urgently reminding me of the cables at the Northern end. Hopeful that the lift would continue all the way round I cleared the top, still flying in a straight line, just a 100m or so before the cable. As I looked down on the refuge not far below I was startled by a large shadow on the ground coming at me with speed – looking ahead I saw the sailplane, just below and in front of me. I was only 50m or so above the top and he passed about 10m below me with a friendly wave.

Taking the turnpoint I pushed back round not realising that Tom had climbed in order to push further North to extend his flight. I stuck with my plan and headed south through the Bauges. The next 30kms is now almost a milk run for us and it passed as expected. With very few cumulus clouds in the sky the heating from the sun, and therefore the climbs, were consistent and reliable. Most seemed to slow around 2600m and few went above 2800m, those that did gave cumulus at around 3000m but needless to say climbing to base did not make sense as we could fly faster staying in the 2000-2500m zone. After Tom’s extended turnpoint at Parmelan I was a thermal and glide in front and took a decent amount of height above Dent D’Arclusaz to make the monster crossing to the north end of the Chaine de Belledonne. Now I was in unknown terrain for me and wishing the two of us were still together – it would be easier to do this as a pair. The climbs were really slow on the other side and I took my time, changing down several gears – it seemed to take an age before I was properly established on the Belledonne. Tom was not so lucky – having left with a bit less height he had to work even harder to get back up.

Having made the Belledone my southern turnpoint I decided to take an easterly route back through the high ground and crossed onto the snow covered Lauziere ridge. I was now heading north. The Lauziere was stunning – at over 2800m the terrain was never far away, but the climbs were reliable and strong. I marvelled at the awesome sight – looking east there were only snow covered peaks extending as far as the eye could see. A minor avalanche tumbled down a gulley below me. I felt honoured to be in such majestic surroundings. Even so, I was on my own in remote and epic terrain I did not know and I was not even sure of the best route back. I felt a little trepidation but a strong climb took me high enough to see Pointe de la Grand Journee, the mountain in front of Les Saisies, and suddenly my path home was revealed to me – two high cols and a deep valley separated me from the valley system I needed to be in.

Staying high I managed to cross the first col, between the Lauziere and Le Grand Arc with plenty of height and dived across the valley to climb on the lower slopes of Pointe de Comborsier, as I pushed back into the high ground around Le Grand Mont I felt that trepidation again, everything below me was snow covered and again even though I was high the terrain was awfully close. I headed for a cliff which faced the early evening sun and as everything around it was white it had to be sure bet, but it was still my only chance to cross through the Col de la Bathie before the day died. Sure enough a 4m/s climb propelled me back to 2800 and finally the glide felt easy. Deep in the Beaufortin and now safely home I crossed the village of Beaufort to push East in order to get the third and final turnpoint. I pushed out under some dying cumulus and was rewarded with a buoyant final glide in restitution back to take off to link the flight. Again my car was on top and I could have landed there but a landing in snow with ski lift cables all around didn’t seem all that attractive especially as Tom and his car were already waiting in the landing field – having not connected with the Belledonne he had come back via the main Albertville valley.

In two days Tom and I had each flown more than 300kms and each completed two closed circuits (out and return’s on the first day and FAI triangles on the second). Having spent more than 14 hours in the air in the two days we were exhausted, but happy. Steak and chips in Les Saisies was well earnt.