Day 11 began in the famous Chamonix valley. First up a hike and glide to Mt Joly, west of Mont Blanc, then the heat wave continued as I pieced together a high route to St Hilaire, tagging it at the end of the day after a couple of hikes to get over high passes and a whole day flying completely alone in the mountains.
Day 10 started with a hike to a snowy pass and a beautiful glide down to the slopes of Niesen, one of Switzerland’s most famous paragliding sites. Another hot and sunny day and barely anyone around, for the most part I had the skies to myself as I flew towards France. I wasn’t able to get a climb after crossing the Rhone valley so I had to hike up for an evening flight into Chamonix.
Day 9 started by waving thanks to my dairy farmer hosts, for a quick hike and glide to the slopes of Titlis, and a long climb to reach the turn point (and extra supplies from Mum). Then to avoid airspace I took a long glide down to the bottom of the valley to start again! A hot cloudless day, too stable for thermals, with some spectacular imposing scenery on the way to Eiger. Six flights in total followed by a night in the hay in a mountain barn.
Day 8 started in the Rhine near Chur. A cloudy start delayed things and with low cloud base flying was a challenge. Ideally we would top land Titlis (over 3000m altitude) and fly off before airspace opened the next morning, but low cloud looked to make that impossible – especially after crossing through the mountains to the north. Landing at 7pm I raced up Surenen pass for a last minute glide down.
Day 7 began with heavy rain until I got going at 8am. A beautiful hike and glide up the Inn valley in cloudy conditions just before the next rain – then a long walk to the Flüela Pass, where the sky began to brighten up – and I enjoyed a flight down to the Davos turn point 6 in the sunshine. Up to an evening take off in a hurry but things deteriorated – just a couple of more glides to find a camp above the Rhine, near Chur.
