Landing at turn point 4 and a mad rush for my connecting flight to Italy
This next segment of the race was tough on my ego. As the pack closed in I had to settle for bumbling around with the group, or taking undue risks and pushing out on my own. The African proverb says to go fast, go alone, but to go far, go together. This wasn’t far from the truth. View the six minute video
Lermoos launch ©zooom.at/Harald Tauderer
After a great flight where I cruised past the Zugspitze in fifth place, we had to again land at a “traffic light stop” turn point. Manfred (GER2) knew where he was going, and after changing my mind about the closer shaded launch, I had a rough idea of his intended destination from checking Google Satellite view. I fell into step with Pal (HUN) who was given dodgy directions by a local, and then we broke off through the fields. Later on Pal opted for the road while I defiantly bashed on through the stinging nettle and up through untracked forest until I heard Tarquin (race media) nearby on the track. In the end we all reached the launch close together… Ferdy (NED) turned up as well.
Just over the Italy border, with final landing in shade distant left
I started off flying with Ferdy and Pal but never really felt “with it” and it seemed like we were bumbling around. I decided I’d push off on my own. Later in the Oetztal I pushed along the valley while the others got high in the mountains and overtook me. With the valley wind pushing me I could keep moving along, but I risked getting too low and landing early while there was easy miles to be made. In the end I ended up in a similar position. Half an hour after I landed Stani (CZE) turned up. He’d arrived at the Zugspitze several hours later than us after a very difficult flight. In his favour though he said he was able to simply bunch up his glider and walk a few minutes up the slope before soaring away, saving him the long bash along the valley. He said the evening flight was a gift.
My final landing for day 5, shortly before Stani landed nearby
His supporter van was stuck on the wrong side of the Timmelsjoch though, a toll road open only during the day. It was the first time I’d seen him since day 2 when his supporter helped me launch. My supporters repaid the favour by making him (and me) a burger for dinner. Mum and Ben had a look for a nearby guesthouse but I was quite happy to sleep in the tent.
Next morning was a gentleman’s start, Stani was camped up the road as his reserve supporter vehicle (a car) had managed to sneak through the toll the previous night. We headed up for the Matatzspitze, where I was soon joined by a merry crew. Pascal (AUT3) the gentleman helped me fix one of my broken brake lines.
Things were looking promising but later some mid level cloud drifted across and shaded things up on our hill. The live tracking showed Benoit, a dozen or so kilometres ahead, following thermals southward. I’d had enough of waiting by now so I took off without waiting for the others, landing on a spur some way down the valley where I had to land, empty my ballast, and climb a little to try and fly back up again.
I managed but again I’d taken more risk. A slow learner, as soon as I caught the others I went off again on a different route and again got low… and so the pattern went on. Finally my luck ran out when I made a poor route choice and got flushed by a valley wind. After trying a short miracle flight to no avail I had to face a 1000m climb on foot.
The extra bit of exercise is one thing but the real pain is losing valuable time. Luckily the others were delayed by overdevelopment, the Italian afternoon storms. They landed and waited high, but still crept ahead while I laboured. Finally reaching a high ridge I flew but had to land in a hurry in a sink cycle. Conditions kept me guessing but finally afforded me a short thermic flight where I could make some ground to the south.
The day was almost done and I had to rush to get the last breath of wind up the face after following a track on foot around a hill that I’d been unable to cross in the air. My launch was a foot too close to a sign and my wingtip line snagged. Of course there was a much better starting place only a minutes walk away!
Airborne at last the cloud I hoped might lift me over the Brenta offered nothing but a sprinkle of fat raindrops. Across the valley was a forested ridge with two clearings. I spurned the first one to gamble away another 500 metres of height, and took the second one a short time after the helicopter took some shots. By the time I’d packed up a friendly bunch of Italian emergency services personnel had found their way to my landing spot, where I’d just been talking to a crazy Italian fellow for way to long considering there was no comprehension between us to speak of.
Brenta massif slopes around sunset ©zooom.at/Sebastian Marko
I final huff and puff up through the forest and I was very glad that my supporters managed to find their way up a quiet road to meet me at the top. They’d had a relaxing day at the local library (although being locked out of the carpark was possibly not so relaxing..!) Again I found myself in a familiar place, the next day I would fly the same Brenta cliffs as in the 2015 edition – not such a bad thing, as I missed the lost video footage dearly!
0:00:05.260,0:00:07.880
this is what xalps is,0:00:08.140,0:00:11.980
bashing through fields of stinging nettle
and long grass0:00:15.040,0:00:20.140
because they decided to put the turn
points in the bottom of the valley0:00:20.620,0:00:26.100
on a good flying day. So, Benoit and his supporter most likely, up that way0:00:26.120,0:00:30.180
looks like someone’s come through here before..
my legs are burning0:00:36.660,0:00:39.140
well, it’s great to be in the air again0:00:39.840,0:00:44.860
after flying well I was frustrated at having to bash across the valley while it was good0:00:45.380,0:00:48.160
and having all the others catch up.0:00:48.160,0:00:51.480
I was also a little tired after not the best night’s sleep0:00:51.900,0:00:54.980
in the bumpy air here with Pal and Ferdy,0:00:55.260,0:00:58.440
I didn’t quite feel like I was “with it”0:00:58.440,0:01:02.440
to try and get back in my
groove I tried pushing out on my own0:01:03.000,0:01:05.120
to get away from the pack0:01:08.520,0:01:10.720
I just barrelled over the back,0:01:10.800,0:01:13.440
through a bit of rotor in the lee there0:01:13.440,0:01:16.260
because I thought this thing
would be working really well0:01:16.260,0:01:18.800
and actually it’s starting to. It’s starting to work0:01:20.040,0:01:21.720
it’s just gone into shade0:01:27.540,0:01:31.540
I’ve been a bit naughty, I’ve let myself get low in the valley0:01:32.820,0:01:35.060
it’s really quite turbulent here0:01:35.060,0:01:37.520
I don’t think it should be that turbulent0:01:39.020,0:01:41.720
the trouble was I wanted to hurry along0:01:41.720,0:01:45.020
but if I got too low I’d risk getting flushed in the valley0:01:47.780,0:01:50.340
oh, I might have screwed this up big time0:01:50.340,0:01:51.700
At least it’s 5:50pm0:01:55.000,0:01:59.720
back in the game, I was scudding along and got a thermal out of this gully0:02:00.060,0:02:01.020
fantastic0:02:01.360,0:02:03.120
5 metres [per second] at times0:02:08.020,0:02:11.080
yeah I think I lost a bit of time in that valley bashing0:02:15.240,0:02:16.480
big country0:02:19.320,0:02:22.600
I slipped around the side again0:02:23.340,0:02:25.420
because I wanted some lee0:02:26.180,0:02:28.100
and it’s working pretty well0:02:30.240,0:02:32.500
wow – it has side effects0:02:37.880,0:02:41.340
I got quite a few collapses here in the Oetztal0:02:41.340,0:02:43.840
I think mainly through just not really caring0:02:44.400,0:02:46.960
anyway 3000 metres, let’s go, let’s go0:02:48.920,0:02:52.200
so I wasn’t that slow coming down here but, slower0:02:54.100,0:02:57.260
it just felt like we were bumbling around after Lermoos0:03:00.720,0:03:04.480
it just got frustrating,
just bumbling around going nowhere0:03:05.580,0:03:08.940
and then I was never really patient enough to get up0:03:11.520,0:03:15.440
I just saw a dusty, seriously, right next to that cross0:03:16.980,0:03:19.380
the other guys, there’s five of them0:03:20.880,0:03:24.960
and a chopper.. just headed off… I can’t see where they went0:03:32.740,0:03:34.180
shit, this is good air0:03:34.460,0:03:37.500
I’m hopeless. Not really in it this afternoon0:03:38.660,0:03:41.700
to Italy! So the guys have gone for a long glide0:03:46.440,0:03:47.240
it is 7:15pm0:03:51.160,0:03:57.400
so the Dolomites are straight ahead. I did have some idea about going around that way0:03:57.400,0:03:59.840
but it’s a bit of a long way around0:04:00.780,0:04:03.880
maybe the best is to stay on here0:04:15.620,0:04:19.400
well I just have no idea where I’m going0:04:20.120,0:04:24.040
this is the heading I’m going to take
to Mt Baldo, Lake Garda0:04:28.760,0:04:31.160
beautiful spot. Maybe I should camp0:04:32.560,0:04:37.280
I was little indecisive here thinking of
landing to wait for sun but it was too late0:04:37.580,0:04:41.520
I lost a bit of height, popped a
blister and set off again0:04:41.980,0:04:47.180
in the end Benoit got ahead but the rest
of us ended up at pretty much0:04:47.180,0:04:50.360
the same place that night, scattered around the hillside0:04:52.660,0:04:56.920
it was cool to catch up with the guys
but I couldn’t help going out on my own0:04:56.920,0:04:58.640
this time it didn’t work0:04:59.840,0:05:02.160
about 1100 metres to climb up to here0:05:02.360,0:05:04.780
big mistake trying to go through that pass0:05:05.780,0:05:09.460
and luckily the others have
had to stop and start as well0:05:09.460,0:05:12.820
but they’re still 40km ahead of me0:05:12.820,0:05:16.080
my next flight was probably only a minute long, down that way0:05:16.220,0:05:19.020
I had to climb up to the ridge
again0:05:19.740,0:05:22.400
my sixth and final flight of the day0:05:22.840,0:05:26.720
I was hoping to some magic from the
cloud above but I got a sprinkle of rain instead0:05:27.140,0:05:30.720
You mean all that I did yesterday counted for nothing?0:05:30.960,0:05:34.100
No, Nick, all you were doing yesterday
was sitting on the side of the hill0:05:34.240,0:05:37.020
all these stories of you climbing all the time /
yeah / just stories0:05:37.020,0:05:40.060
I have like 10 minutes rest yesterday and Mum at the end of the day says,0:05:40.300,0:05:43.100
you were just sitting on the hill
most of the day, weren’t you?0:05:45.260,0:05:48.380
live tracking says
live tracking must be right0:05:49.660,0:05:52.060
because I was bashing through the wilds of the bush0:05:52.060,0:05:54.060
where there’s no phone reception probably
Flying paragliders in the mountains 