Chile - Paragliding Iquique, and Santiago November 2006

CHILE 2006

11/17 Friday Bob Hannah got us to the airport for our 1335 Delta flight. We bought water after getting through TSA security and then had lunch at La Pisa Café. We changed planes in Atlanta and then had a long night flight to Santiago. It was clear enough to watch the terrain of Chile change from desert to farmlands in flat valleys between steep ridges as we flew north to south.

11/18 Saturday There were long lines for the "reciprocity visa" ($100 each) and in the customs/immigration line, a couple of porters who looked more like uniformed officials grabbed our bags and “helped” us to the check-in gate for our flight to Iquique. So we ended up giving them $5. There was a long layover in the Santiago and the airport was not particularly interesting. Our flight to IQQ was over the ocean and we had seats on the left so could not see the coast. Anyway it was cloudy and the only view we had was when we were turning onto the final approach. It was just as brown and devoid of plantlife as we had been told. Luis picked us up and we went to Palo Buque after a quick stop at a restaurant near Los Verdes(with salt crystals instead of gravel for ground cover) to use the baños. The wind was light and getting lighter at PB so, after an hour we went to Alto Hospicio, a launch above the city of Iquique, and got our gear sorted out. We had a short flight down to the bailout LZ at Huyaquique beach just south of a military recreation area. We flew over the southern part of Cerro Dragon, the huge sand dune that hangs above the city, and over the paragliding resort wannabe of Altazor. After checking into Hotel Terrado Club and taking a much-needed shower, we went to dinner at Restaurant Neptuno with everyone from the first week and some other locals. The grilled acha (some kind of fish) was good and C.J.’s seviche assortment was very good (but Todd’s seviche peruviana was even better). We each had a pisco sour, of course. We got back to the hotel for bed around midnight.

11/19 Sunday There was a typical big hotel breakfast buffet with some unfamiliar kinds of pastries, various cold cereals, fruit, a platter of sliced cheese and ham, and eggs cooked to order –scrambled (revuelito?) with cheese and ham, kiwi and strawberry juice. We made lunch sandwiches on rolls with the cheese and ham. We met the rest of the group again at 0915 at the vans and drove up to Alto Hospicio for a morning flight. It was already lightly soarable when we arrived (about a 20 min ride). I flew for 40 min, toplanded to get sunglasses as the fog burned off, launched again with a brummel hook unfastened so landed again. On my third flight I managed to scratch around for only 10 min before a flush cycle sent me across the dune to the beach. C.J. stayed in the air, got high and was able to fly out to Playa Brava and land near the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 1300 and rested until it was time to meet again at 1530. It was closer to 1600 when we headed out to Palo Buque. The wind was too light there and a bit too W or NW so we headed back to AH. It was easy soaring but no one was getting very high (“very high” in this case meant 100 m over launch). I toplanded after 40 min thinking it would be easier to pack up on the hard sand launch than down on the loose sand beach. It wasn’t. I rode down with Todd then went back to the Santa Isabel grocery store to checkout what we might have for dinner since we had a full kitchen in our room. I picked up some mustard, cocoa mix and a roll of cookies. When C.J. got back we went back to the store and got frozen lasagna, rolls, salt, soup, cucumber and a sack of avocados. Todd came by to get our passports so he could have copies made for the airport (required if you are planning to pass through/near the airport airspace). The plan for tomorrow is to fly from Patillos to Palo Buque if possible.

11/20 Monday Early breakfast then load at 0830. We’re down to one van with 8 people (Todd Weigand and Luis Rosenkjer, our guides, David Salmon from SLO, Ihor Trufyn from B.C., Summer B from Ashland, and Bob from NC), and our wings on top (Oops, my platypus nozzle must have gotten squeezed because water was running down the side of the van. Not much in my pack was wet but I had to buy another bottle of water from the gas station convenience store). At the Chilean version of the FAA (but run by the military) at the airport, we found out that there was some military exercise going on and that the ridge between Patillos and almost to Palo Buque was closed. We drove about 80 km past Patillos to Playa Chipana, another launch N of Tocopilla. Launch was on a steep, sandy (looked like a glacier) area. The 4WD van was able to get our wings and us most of the way to the launch in two trips. Then we had to struggle up the steep and loose sand to wherever we wanted to lay our wings out. Luis launched first and landed just below launch when it appeared to be too weak. He launched again later followed by David Salmon and they were able to soar and climb above launch. I took off shortly after 1200, made a few passes over the sand and then had to land when I began to sink. I didn’t launch again until after C.J. launched. This time I made just two passes before crossing the small canyon to the N and getting on the rock-studded slope (probably an alluvial fan). (See my tracklog left) I flew low across the slope gaining altitude slowly and I worked some rough thermal lift . Eventually, I was high enough to head N as I continued to work ratty ridge and thermal. I was way below the top of the ridge (2000’+) for most of the flight and had to turn the corners much lower than I wanted to. At one point Todd and I turned a corner (he was much higher). There was a long glide in sink before getting back to the portion of the bowl that faced into the wind and I was down to 500’ which looked like about 100’ over the ground. I was looking at possible LZs in the rocky terrain. However, lift was available even that low and the rest of the flight (1 hr 35 min, 31.5 km) was easier with clouds forming at or above the ridge. When I spotted Ihor on the ground before another big spur, I flew out, took some photos and landed nearby (S of the spur south of Rio Seco). C.J. meanwhile had sunk out after being exhausted by carrying her (my) wing up to launch. Bob, Summer and C.J. were already at Ihor’s LZ and C.J. got some photos of my approach and landing.

After packing up, we headed on to Patillos (the airspace limit for that day) to pick up Todd, Luis and David. On the way back we stopped at Palo Buque where we did some kiting and ridge soaring on a minor ridge running E-W benching up and crossing over to the main ridge (N-S). I kited and carried my wing up about halfway, made a few passes until I was just over the top of the low ridge, then crossed to the main ridge heading S skimming along the sandy slope and gaining altitude all the way. It was weird to be flying with no instruments and no flightsuit – I wasn’t sure where the sink was or how high I was, and it was pretty chilly. It was dark (after 2100) when we got back to the hotel and we were beat! We ate the old bread, soup, the rest of the lasagna, an avocado and cuke, took a shower and went to bed.

11/21 Tuesday Up at 0700 for an early breakfast so we could get to the grocery store to buy water before we left at 0915. Unfortunately, the store (Santa Isabel) did not open until 0900 so I had to run back there later. At Alto Hospicio we waited until around 1100 before launching with the plan being to fly S to Palo Buque, then try to return and fly to Playa Brava. When I launched, I went immediately S to the face where David and Luis were already soaring. I worked the far bowl for a long time but could not seem to get high. Then C.J. and Todd caught up and Bob passed us going low directly for the first corner. So we all went for it. We rounded the first spur in sink and had to work in close on the next face to slowly get up to 1500’ when I could go for the next corner. C.J. ended up on the ground along with Bob. Todd, who was high, headed back to the launch to get the van. Each corner was difficult to varying degrees but the last one above the golf course (sand fairways with lime marking the bounds, and a different color sand for the “greens”) near Punta Gruesa was the worst with 1000+ fpm min sink and turbulence. Fortunately in the middle of the previous bowl I had hit a “screamer” and climbed to 2300’. Once around the corner, and down to less than 1000’, the glide to Palo Buque was not too difficult. I landed after tagging the PB ridge and making it out as far towards the highway as possible. Ever-impatient David had flagged down a taxi and had it drive in to pick me up so we didn’t have to wait for Todd to arrive (He was on the way.). C.J. and I had lunch in our room (breakfast sandwiches, same as almost everyday) then I spent some time talking with the hotel staff at the front desk through the one English-speaking guy (Alejandro) about tours and rental cars. I read through the Lonely Planet info on northern Chile with a little more understanding and urgency. At 1530 we headed out to Palo Buque again. I kited up a ways and launched but on my second pass I got dropped onto my seat. I launched again and worked up the S face and was at 1600’ or so when the glider seemed to go backwards followed by a violent collapse (maybe a full stall) that didn’t come out until I was near the slope. Shaken, I flew out to the highway then came back and began to climb the SW face again when I noticed that my reserve container was open. I carefully flew back to the LZ and got down as quickly as possible. Two scares in one afternoon was enough for me so I stayed on the ground after putting the chute container back together. We returned to the hotel around 2115, bought some food at the store and had dinner in our room.

11/22 Wednesday We loaded up at 0845 for Chipana. On the way down C.J. and I talked with Ihor, who had been here touring around with his wife for the previous two weeks, about renting cars and traveling around on our own. Once again the van ferried our gear and bodies (in separate trips) to as high on the dune as possible. But this time Bob carried C.J.’s pack up (way up, higher than necessary, almost to where an earlier-arriving group from France had established themselves). Conditions were similar and I launched 20 min later. It seemed easier to get to 1200’ and stay up. No one had any idea why the French weren’t launching – they were still there when we flew over their heads before flying N. C.J. did much better flying as far as I did on my previous flight. I continued on and squeaked around the corner and flew into the big sink behind it. I was down to less than 600’ msl when I decided to land just N of Rio Seco (34.9 km) – needed a bathroom break. The wind was strong and I parked over a big field for several minutes. I was concerned because I was downwind of a bunch of rock mounds and didn’t know if the air was going to get trashy. It turned out not to be too bad and I used my D-lines to deflate the wing. When it tried to reinflate, I had to haul in on one brake line before the lines got damaged on the sharp rocks at the edge of the field. David, Todd and Luis continued on to Palo Buque after clearing the flight with the airport. (Todd landed at Patillos launch to call, then later landed high at Palo Buque, relaunched and made it back to the city.) We were glad to have a couple of hours to relax, shower and cook fishburgers for dinner. Later we went to the lobby and I surfed around trying to find a rental car. It may be that the hotel can get us a similar rate ($51, better than Budget which was $66/day).

11/23 Thursday We loaded the van at 0930 and drove to Patillos, then took the mine road to the launch (signed “Zona de Parapentes”). The whole area reminded me of Doherty Slide with the road angling up the face of a bluff and the lack of vegetation. Launch was a pullout on the side of the road with a small parking area across the road. The launch had a somewhat rounded slope so pulling the wing up would not be too difficult if you didn’t wait until the winds got strong. I took off about 1130 (after C.J. and Ihor) and made several passes gaining altitude quickly until I was above the top of the bluff and looking down on a rugged plateau. C.J. and Ihor were above me but the climb out was so easy that I passed through 750 m and radioed that I was ready to cross to the next point. Todd advised waiting another 20 min for the lift to develop. Several minutes later I hit a boomer and climbed to 883 m (2740 ft) [Airspace restriction was 1000 m] and headed across the gap to the next point. I worked there for a long time and even tried to come back against the wind when the rest of the group were getting up back in front of the first point. Eventually I just went on glide and caught some lift low on the next face. About this time David passed me and led the rest of the way. We were getting higher than on the previous days farther south (1800-2000’) and bumping along from point to point. About 15 km out we came to a point that had a big gap north of it. We spent quite a bit of time trying to get really high but I finally had to leave with just 1800’. I was waaay back in there through the sink-y rotor and crossing a gap which appeared to be a bombing/missile range with target building painted (?) on the ground. I was clocking close to 60 kph when I finally reached a point (very low) where the wind was hitting the face pretty much straight on. A few passes got me a more comfortable distance above the valley floor and a long walk out through deep sand to the highway. Back up to 1600-1800’ I followed Ihor, who also had had a low save, and Todd to the next point/spur which was directly E of the airport. I thought that the next bowl/gap would be even deeper than the preceding one and would put me far from the road again (it turned out that I was mistaken and the really big gap was the preceding one) so when Ihor and Todd headed across, I turned into the wind and penetrated slowly out towards the highway using speedbar until I was near the ground. I collapsed the wing using the D-lines and quickly pulled in on one brake line. (2hr 00min, 22 km). Luis met me with the van as I reached the highway and we went for lunch at Cote Verdes, one of a collection of restaurants and snack bars, about 25 km from Iquique and 7 km from Palo Buque, near where the rest of the crew had landed. Since C.J. and I had already eaten our sandwiches we had a light lunch of empanadas (jaiva/queso (crab/cheese) and loco/queso (abalone/cheese) and a crab salad (jaiva-mayo). We dropped David, Summer and Todd off at Palo Buque about 1615 and returned to the hotel. Alejandro, the English-speaking manager trainee (?) and Antonio a bellhop, were very helpful in arranging a rental car and extending our stay at the hotel until the 30^th. Later I used the hotel computer to request reservations for 11/30 and 12/1 at Hotel Vegas in Santiago. At 1900 we rode over to the large Lider grocery store with Luis and wandered around looking at the alcohol, salads, fish and frozen foods. We each bought an ice cream cone (Amarena (cherry?) and Pisco sour). Then we walked next door to the Mall Las Americas and toured (quickly) the first floor. Just as in the US, there were a lot of Christmas decorations and felt subtly wrong in the tropical climate. Back at Lider I bought a bottle of Chilean wine and a 5 L jug of water and headed “home”.

11/24 Friday After breakfast we loaded up for Chipana at 0900. I launched at 12:15 and got up quickly, well, compared to the previous two flights here. Luis advised me not to go on alone so after everyone had launched, I came back over launch and caught a strong, smooth 1000 fpm thermal to higher than I had been near launch before. 30 min or so later Todd, in the van, announced whitecaps and C.J. decided to land before the 3^rd point. Even though I was higher than on previous flights, Luis, David and Ihor were higher still. Crossing the big gap at the mine road, I was down to 600’ but managed to scratch back up. Somewhere around the next ridge I found another strong thermal and reached the highest point of the day, around 2750’. At another point a small cloud formed right in front of me and all I had to do was fly under it to get to 2400’. Before reaching the point south of Rio Seco, my radio battery died and I did not hear Todd report whitecaps and strong winds at Rio Seco. I had planned to land anyway and followed the others out to the edge of the ocean and landed on the east side of the road. (1 hr 30 min, 31.5 km). On the way back we stopped at Las Verdes again but this time at La Picá de Pescador where the food was even better and just as inexpensive. C.J. and I shared the menu of the day: 2 empanadas and a big plate of fried apañados (a type of fish –very good) and ensalada chilenas. We were all stuffed and, since the wind appeared too strong at Palo Buque, we returned to the hotel. C.J. and I washed some clothes (which we had been doing every day), dealt with trip finances with Todd (we had to pay for an additional day), did some computer stuff and took a shower. We planned to meet at 1945 to go out for ice cream in lieu of doing an anniversary dinner. Luis and Todd took us down to the center of Iquique, Arturo Prat Plaza, where a brass band was playing probably in celebration of the 127^th anniversary of the city. We had ice cream cones at a sidewalk café on the wooden sidewalks of Baquedano, the pedestrian-only street. Later we went to the Ronny Tequila Bar, a “schoperia” or bar, to get out of the cold. Summer and Luis engaged in a fierce competition on the foosball table. We got back to the hotel around 2300.

11/25 Saturday After breakfast we headed back to Chipana for our last try at a long cross country flight. Todd had reminded us the previous day to fly safe since we had a perfect record so far. I launched at 1225 and everyone went high while I groveled to the first corner and around it. Then I finally caught some good lift and got up with the rest of the party and stayed relatively high for the rest of the flight. We passed Rio Seco at about 90 min. and climbed on the small ridge just beyond. At some point I reached 3100’ – high point of the whole trip. At Rio Seco I switched my GPS to go to Patillos as goal and hung on for another 24 km for a total of 65 km (40.4 mi) (2 hr 30 min). The last ridge between the power lines (that go right up the spur to the ridge crest) and the Patillos launch was very turbulent. Clearly by then the wind speed had picked up because we (C.J., Ihor, me) landed going backwards slightly. Dave had gotten into the compression zone just above or a bit behind the edge of the ridge and had to land and walk out down the road under the power lines. There was quite a bit of concern for his safety while he was out of radio communication. Todd flew out and landed, hopped in the van and soon relaunched upwind of Dave to see if he could spot him. We were all back at the hotel by 1730 and planned to go for dinner at 1930. After a shower and rest (We needed it!) we went back to the city center to Bavaria, a German restaurant, part of a chain. As we decided what to order, a parade formed up outside heading for Arturo Prat Plaza just a few blocks away. The food was excellent and the quantity, huge. David paid for everyone’s dinner. I went to Lider afterward to get water, a sack of avocados and soft drinks – we both have serious thirst. Tomorrow is our last morning with Todd and Luis.

11/26 Sunday After breakfast we went up to Alto Hospicio at 0930, cleaned the sand out our wings and straightened the lines from our hurried packing up yesterday in the wind. I launched around 1035 and soared around for a while before heading down the ridge to the north. Crossing the power lines where a road switchbacks up to Alto Hospicio was scary (especially when Luis, mistaking someone else for me, said, “Watch out for the power lines ahead of you!” when I had already crossed all of them…I thought). I spent a half hour above a gravel pit at the point of the ridge nearest to Playa Brava getting no higher than 2100’ (Luis and Todd had recommended 2300’). It turned out that 2000’ was easily high enough on a light wind day as I ended up 1000’ over the beach when I arrived at the hotel. I took a bunch of pictures while crossing and above the beach. After landing (1 hr 10 min) I packed up on the grass and rolled the wing up for airline travel. C.J. met me at the beach having landed at Huyaquique. We returned to the hotel to pick up our lunch and then back to the beach to sit in the shade of the palm trees on the grass. Afterward we walked up the beach in the wet sand – the dry sand was too hot. There were lots of birds and a few line and net fishermen. We walked as far as the beginning of Cavancha before heading back to the convenience store near the hotel for a “Menta Chip” ice cream bar. C.J. worked on the computer and with Todd and Luis the rest of the afternoon while I downloaded photos from the A80 onto C.J.’s flash drive using the hotel’s public computer. Then I tried uploading to Picasaweb with no luck, but at least I chose the photos I wanted uploaded. Later I sent an email to Bernadette and Wayne. Back in the room at 1730 C.J. did more proofing, and this was after she had already had a working breakfast with David and Luis. Dinner was “mustgos” at 1900 in Luis’ room.

11/27 Monday After breakfast the rental car was delivered and there was the usual contract to sign and checking over the car for damage, all in Spanish. – and gestures and some translation help from one of the bellhops. It was a small Hyundai Accent (?) with 173,000 km on the odometer – not like an Alamo/Avis/Hertz late model with hardly any mileage. I agreed to another $6/day insurance which was probably not necessary but so cheap that it seemed worth it. As far as I could tell, the final cost was something like $35 per day. On the way out of town we got gas which cost 600 pesos per liter (or about $4.80 per gallon). We drove up to Alto Hospicio and then we were in new country continuing east on the highway through AH and then climbing higher onto the Pampas de Tamarugal plateau. Almost to the intersection with the Pan American Highway we stopped to tour the Humberstone mine ghost town. (photo, left) Then we turned south on the PanAmericana, through Pozo Almonte and forked left (SE) for La Tirana, a pilgrimage site with an impressive church. It was not the pilgrimage season but there were a few other people visiting. C.J. bought a local hat from a street stand vendor. Then we continued SE through scattered trees – rare enough that we stopped outside of La Tirana and took pictures – through Matilla to the oasis at Pica where we had lunch in a shaded square while some Muslims were saying their prayers. We stopped in a restaurant for some naranja-mango jugos frutas (the fruit drinks that the oasis is known for) and walked around the town a bit including through a very small village market. Back in the car we tried several routes to find a road that continued east but all we found was the swimming pool and a bunch of dead ends. So we drove out through Matilla to check out the old church. Then we took a different route back to the PanAmericana (Ruta 5) which was signed “En mal estado” and it was a really rough 30 km through dry flat desert with large mud cracks in some places. Back on the PanAmericana heading north we passed through a large plantation of trees before reaching the Y where we had turned off for La Tirana. We got back to IQQ not long after 1800 and stopped at Lider for a big rotisserie chicken and other food for supper including a 700 ml bottle of premixed Pisco sours (12% alcohol). We parked the car in the underground garage beneath the hotel, and had our room re-keyed when our key cards wouldn’t work. Maybe we needed to pay for our rooms or register for the additional days or something. We had a great dinner with pisco sours, wine, chicken and sautéed zucchini.

11/28 Tuesday After breakfast we loaded the rental car with warm clothes, lunches and 5 L of water, got gas and pulled out around 0900. We retraced our previous route almost to Pozo Almonte then turned N on the Pan American Highway to Huara where we turned E. About 14 km later we saw a hill to the left and a sign “Cerro Unitos Geoglifos”. Since there was no geoglyph obvious on the hillside we spent a bit of time headscratching before we decided to drive down the unpaved road. Sure enough, on the W side of the hill, not visible from the road, was the famous “Giant of the Atacama”. After a few photos we returned to the main road and continued east gradually gaining altitude and going from bare sand and rocks to cactus at 3000 m along ridges and above deep canyons. The organ pipe cactus gave way to “fuzzy cactus” and, at about 3600 m to patches of grass and llamas (or anchovies, uh, angoras uh …) and even some running water. We kept encountering stretches of unpaved road which slowed us down ( as did stopping to take pictures and just gawk at unusual scenery, so when we stopped for lunch at 4400 m (staggering a bit up a hill in the thin air) we knew that we would have to turn back without getting to our goal of the Bolivian border just beyond Colchane or the village of Isluga in the national park. [Turnaround point was at km post 150] We could see snow on some mountains to the east before we turned back, and some vaguely volcano-ish peaks. Going back was faster because we did not make so many stops and we arrived back in Iquique around 1900. We bought pisco for Bill and a bottle of mango sour for Bob and some tomatoes and unripe lemon that looked like a lime (green, but hard like rock). Our room keys did not work again and the car rental company had called - they though that we were returning the car on 11/29 (I guess something got lost in the non-translation). We got our wings packed up and inside their protective bags. This part of the trip is definitely winding down. We’ll probably do some touring in IQQ tomorrow.

11/29 Wednesday I asked the bellhop Antonio if he could check to see if we could drop the car off at the airport – nope, has to be in town. I gave him 5000 pesos for his help in renting the car. We had a leisurely breakfast and at about 0930 drove to near Arturo Prat Plaza and walked through it browsing the not-very-interesting wares at the stands. We stopped at one shop on Baquedano with “Aymara Textiles” and on the way back C.J. bought a llama wool cape. We stopped at Sernatur, the tourist agency and picked up a free map and wandered through downtown IQQ to the central market. It seemed small for a city of 200,000 and did not have much color or variety. We toured the Regional Museum then returned to the hotel about 1300 for lunch. After a nap (When in Rome…) we drove to Zofri (the huge duty free mall) and walked past almost innumerable shops on at least three floors. It was not really very interesting but it is an important attraction of Iquique so I thought we should experience it. Later we drove to Playa Cavancha and wandered past the Camelidos pen and the caiman-turtle-koi exhibit, along the beach past the Bambu Bar with its windsock back to the car (which had a sunshade on the windshield. I removed it and stuck it in the car and drove away with the cries fading into the distance). Back at the hotel we dropped off our “stuff” and went to Santa Isabel for limes and Banco de Chile for an ATM. C.J. called Ihor and invited him to dinner – tried to get Todd with no success. We finished up the mango sours and packed the liquor we had bought in airline blankets inside C.J.’s rollaboard which we are going to check.

11/30 Thursday After breakfast we took a taxi to the airport, checked in and flew to Antofagosta where we had to wait for conditions to improve at La Serena. At Santiago airport we arranged for a minibus at a booth in the arrivals hall and shared a ride with several others into the city center. When we were within a couple of blocks of Hotel Vegas, we had to get out and walk because the street was cordoned off by the carabineros. We saw two guys in big, bulky bomb suits with helmets, and a helpful woman explained what was going on and asked the police how long before the street would open up. A few minutes later we were allowed to pass and a gentleman helped us pull our four rolling suitcases the block and a half to the hotel. It was a great introduction to the unexpected friendliness of the people in such a large city. Unfortunately, not everything was destined to go smoothly because we shortly found out that we had no reservations because they had not received our emailed acceptance of a double room. The staff was very helpful and arranged a room at the Hotel Lira for the night and even paid the taxi fare. We left our paragliders stored in a back room at Hotel Vegas. (photo, left) C.J. was able to pick up email and download the front half of the magazine in the breakfast room while I went out to explore the neighborhood. I should have taken a map because I finally had to give up and retrace my steps to get back to the Hotel Lira. We asked the manager for a restaurant recommendation and walked south on Lira into a motorcycle shop district with no restaurants. Heading back, and after an ice cream, we spotted the restaurant on a side street but it didn’t open until 2000 and appeared expensive. [We later found that it was a place that the city tours used for their night tours.] We walked pretty aimlessly up to Alameda and eventually past Hotel Vegas, back along Alameda past some noisy, smoky schoperias, through the artisan market (Sta. Lucia) and ended up at Fong Kung Chinese (!) restaurant which wasn’t great. We went back to the hotel for a shower and a nice long sleep.

12/1 Friday Breakfast was more typical of a small hotel – juice, hot chocolate and six slices of toast, butter and jam. We checked out of Hotel Lira and caught a taxi to Hotel Vegas – our laziness gene overcame our cheapness gene. We were surprised to be directed immediately to our room because it was only 10:00 A.M. The second surprise was that the room was a matrimonial rather than the doble which we had expected. The manager later explained that the couple (from SF) who had been in there had asked to move because the party in the café under the windows had been loud and had gone on till early in the morning. [The local soccer team had scored a big victory the previous day] Anyway, there were lots of windows and a sitting area in the corner turret that looked out on the cobblestone Calle Londres. (Compared to looking out on a rather scruffy lightwell as in Hotel Lira.) We went out to get stamps (only at post offices) for the only post cards we had seen so far in Chile (right at the hotel desk) and then did the Lonely Planet walking tour more or less. We stopped in the Iglesia San Francisco, oldest church in Santiago (1572), and in the cathedral on the main square, Plaza des Armas; (photo, left, cathedral and decorations in Plaza des Armas) we walked the pedestrian paseos crowded with wall-to-wall people. We ended up at the Mercado Central fish market and bantered with the restaurant touts until we felt hungry enough for a big lunch of fish/shellfish stew (paila marina) and calamares en ajillo. Stuffed, we headed back to the hotel for a bathroom break and a rest. When we went back out again around 1600, we walked to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia past the Neptune fountain, the tomb of McKenna and the summit observatory. On the way down we went through the shops of the Exposition of Indigenous Art finding nothing of particular interest. Then we crossed the Alameda using the Metro entrance/exit and toured the Centro Artesanal de Santa Lucia. C.J. bought a scarf for Ginny and I bought a llama wool hat. Then we went back up on of the pedestrian paseos towards the Plaza des Armas to buy ice cream at Bravisssima Gelateria – a lucuma cone for C.J. and a chocolate milkshake for me. We hung out in the plaza for a while then headed back stopping along the way to buy a takeout pork-tomato-avocado sandwich to eat later. Back at the hotel C.J. worked on the PDF and I read for a while. Tomorrow we are thinking that we might go to the Cerro San Cristobal in the Parque Metropolitano.

12/2 Saturday We awakened this morning to the sound of “Ave, Ave, Ave Maria” as a procession from Iglesia de San Francisco bearing a large statue of Mary passed right under our windows. Breakfast was a hot buffet with hot dogs (?), bacon, omelets, toast, juice, hot milk (for cocoa for me), yogurt, fruit, etc. – not as extensive as at the Terrado Club but quite good. C.J. worked until 1100 when we went down to the front desk, checked out and stored our gear in a back room off the terrace. Then we took the Metro to Baquedano (Plaza Italia) and walked to the base of Cerro San Cristobal where we took the funicular to the terrace below the summit (869m). The whole area was busy with weekend crowds – boy scouts, pilgrims, lovers, bicyclists and just tourists. We could pick out the hill we climbed the day before and some of the downtown area. The summit is crowned with a large statue of Mary standing on a crescent moon. Pope John Paul II said mass here during his visit in 1989 (?) We checked out the teleferic and then went back down on the funicular. We had lunch at a sidewalk restaurant La Palmera on Pio Nono – pork chops and a big ensalada Chilena for me and a soup with chicken, green beans, and potato for C.J. We shared a schop, 500 ml stein of Escudo beer. We took the Metro back to Santa Lucia and returned to the Centro Artesanal where C.J. bought a skirt. After a pit stop and a rest in the hotel lobby we went out along one of the paseos to get an ice cream, our last excursion before catching a minibus to the airport. At the plaza, we sat and watched kids chasing the pigeons then walked over to see why a crowd had gathered. C.J. stumbled into a space in the grating covering a drainage channel and punctured her leg at the top of her shin. Many people stopped to help with baby wipes, bandaids and compassion. We got a bandage on and limped over to a Cruz Verde pharmacy where an English-speaking salesgirl checked the wound and sold us some antiseptic and Steri-strips for pulling the wound together. We headed back to the hotel and hung out there until our minibus arrived and took us to the airport. We had a nice conversation on the way with a lady who had just returned from her second cruise to Antarctica. The line at Delta was long but we checked our bags with no trouble. We did not have our original travel document so had to fill out another set before going through passport control. No water was allowed in so I bought C.J. another bottle once we were through airport security. Then we had about 6500 Chilean pesos left and the duty free shop had both pisco and pre-mixed pisco sour. I bought one of each for us and had to hand-carry them on to the plane. Once through the gate, there was another inspection of our carry-ons on the jetway and C.J. had to give up her unopened bottle of water (!) but the liquor made it through. We got dinner on the long flight and slept for a few hours.

12/3 Sunday There were long lines to go through US passport control in Atlanta, almost no inspection at all of our luggage and all we had to do was push our cart into a line of carts at the end of the room and airport baggage handlers took it from there. To go through the TSA security check we could have no liquids (except for the 3-oz bottles in a 1-qt ziplock bag) so I had to run back to our checked bags and stuff the two bottles inside C.J.’s wing bag hoping the glass would survive. We had seats at the very back again just as on our flight SEA-ATL but the view was good all the way across the country and the back-of-the-seat- monitors could be set to show the GPS map of our route. We came in past Saddle Mountain and right over a point south of Tiger then over downtown Seattle. Bob picked us up along with our undamaged (!) luggage. On the way home we stopped at Meadowbrook Urgent Care Clinic in North Bend and had C.J.’s wound looked at and stitched up by a doctor.

Great trip!

Europe 2006

Verbier and Chamonix area

14 July-1 Aug

C.J. at Verbier

Europe 2006 Verbier and St. Gervais

7/14 Friday Up at 0340 to meet Bob Hannah and get to SeaTac by 0555 for a 0755 Continental flight to Newark then on directly to Geneva. Seats just behind the wing made identifying the route across the Cascades and NY/NJ difficult. (Next time bring GPS with map). Eight separate pieces of luggage, more than we had ever brought before (necessitated by the new rules that no piece could be over 50 lbs or 62 inches in L+W+H), made the trip by train from Geneva to Martigny and Martigny to Le Chable (where we were eventually picked up by Mike of Verbier Summits) challenging at times. After arrival at the chalet and a shower, we walked into town with Jack Leiman to get money from a UBS Bank ATM and some lunch cheese, ice tea and bread. A shower soaked our drying towels while we were napping before dinner at 8 p.m. Awesome salmon w/pesto and parmesan topping was prepared (and cleaned up) by Leah. A big fireworks display around 2330 visible from bed was part of (we learned later) a wedding that Mike and Stu had participated in. Sometime around 10 p.m. James Bender and Pam arrived and had a late dinner. The other paraglider pilot at the chalet was Peter ___ from GB. (photo above left: C.J. at the Geneva train station)

7/16 Sunday
Breakfast at the outdoor table was served around 0830 by the twins and Rachel, Mike’s girlfriend (also, like the twins, from GB) – cold cereal (3 varieties), croissants, fresh bread, jam, coffee, tea, OJ. Shortly after breakfast we were on our way by van up to Les Ruinettes, a launch (6800 ft) just below the terminus of one of the lifts from town (or, by connection, all the way up from Le Chable, a 10-min. walk from the Montagnier LZ).The 20 min flight was a “top-to-bottom”, or sledder for acclimatization purposes to the LZ next to the small church, familiar from the 1989 trip. The van met us there and we went right back up to Les Ruinettes for another flight with a short pause for a WC break and lunch at “Le Kiosque” just above launch. Stu’s plan was for us to get high behind launch and follow him up the valley (NE/E) along or above the mountain ridges and peaks toward the glacier at the head of the valley on Le Petit Combin, returning on the opposite side of the valley (Val de Bagnes) to the Champsec LZ located farther up the valley than Montagnier. [Valley winds in the afternoon usually make Montagnier an undesirable place to land PG]. An accident involving a mountain biker below launch required a helicopter so our launch was delayed. When we eventually launched, Stu immediately got up at the house thermal to the left. The rest of us had to scratch around before getting up to 7500 or so, but not up to where Stu was hanging out waiting for us. I lost some altitude and decided to cross Val de Bagnes to the other side where lift was supposed to be mellower. I scratched around gaining and losing at around 5000 ft until lift improved. I followed Stu (who had also crossed over) to the W (down valley) losing altitude when suddenly lift got strong and rough. I decided to bail to the LZ.
(photo left: Looks like Stu is swearing that we will have an XC flight today)
However, I hadn’t noticed the cloud development that had been occurring in that direction and soon found myself climbing in strong cloudsuck. Since the development was closer to Champsec, I headed out and down valley using big ears and bigger ears until I got out of the cloudsuck and could land in the Montagnier LZ in pretty light-wind conditions. Stu radioed to check on my location and, shortly after I got packed up, the van picked me up. We all returned to the chalet until the weather might improve (with one stop at the boulangerie for a cake for us. C.J. and I also bought a loaf of bread and a cup of sorbet fraise). Around 1830 Rachel picked us up and drove us to the launch at Croix de Coeur where “the boys” were doing tandems. It was windy and surprisingly chilly, and there was big development to the east over Montfort. Only Pam and James flew. We stopped at a pub for a drink (paid by Verbier Summits) before heading back to the chalet for another of Leah’s excellent dinners (chicken stuffed with mozzarella and wrapped with bacon and served with a tomato-pepper-zucchini sauce). (photo left: "consolation cake" for being unable to fly a third time today)

7/17 Stu sat with us at breakfast and talked about doing SIV at Lake Garda in Italy near Verona. [Not S Lake Garda which is very touristy.] Then we drove up to the top of the Savoleyres lift and hiked along a ridge a short ways to launch. [Looking N from the ridge one could see down into the Rhone valley far below.] Launch overlooked the Verbier sports center way below and the Val de Bagnes even farther below.
(photo left: C.J. at Savoleyres launch)
We launched and went right, along the ridge face to a point below the rocky peak where the slope was covered with steel avalanche barriers. I didn’t like the lift near the face and went down the treed ridge and caught some ratty stuff and climbed back above launch. Then I headed across the valley and worked light lift on the slopes above Bruson watching farmers raking and turning hay on the slopes. I landed (last) at the Montagnier LZ for about a 50 min. morning flight. (After landing we heard that Jack had been injured while launching and had been taken to a medical center in Verbier for x-rays, then sent on to Sion hospital where he was diagnosed with a shoulder dislocation and something broken in the shoulder (?). He got picked up and returned to the chalet late in the evening. [I volunteered to go get him but no one had insurance to cover an additional driver.]) We drove into town and Pam and James and the rest of the group went to Le Farinet for lunch while we ate our bread and cheese in the village square. After lunch we went up to Les Ruinettes with Rachel and got set up to launch while waiting for Stu and Mike to finsh their tandems and take the lift back up. She pointed out that conditions were much better and no overdevelopment was forecast so we should try to do the circuit of the valley again by getting high and going back to Mont Gele and follow the ridge from the Bec des Rosses to the southeast. I cut the circuit short by leaving the strong lift at over 3000 m and heading SE, along the Bec des Rosses face instead of over the top, to the narrow part of the valley, crossed to the Petit Combin side and flew back towards Champsec in light lift. From below 5000 ft I eventually got up to 7500 ft but not quite to the top of the ridge, still the scenery was great with trees giving way to meadows and rocky cirques. The valley wind had picked up, there was overdevelopment spreading toward us from the W and the valley was lifty. I cored sink to get down, did one 360 too many and landed on the backside of the LZ for a 1 hr 10 min flight. On the way back I bought some cheese and yogurt at Migros and walked back up to the chalet. We didn’t go out to fly in the evening because Leah had to take the van to go pick up Jack (and dinner was a bit late as a result). [Even though there was overdevelopment and anviling, we could see a half dozen paragliders ridge soaring at Croix de Coeur.]

7/18 After breakfast we went up and launched from Savroleyres again. I got off about 1045 and climbed back to launch level above the ridge in front of Pierre-Avoi and crossed to the other side of the valley. Arriving a bit higher this time I was able to scratch up higher than yesterday, finally getting above timberline on Six Blanc. I crossed the big canyon below Mont Rogneux and crossed the valley again to the N all in light lift, landing at Montagnier. (1hr 10 m) After picking up the twins and their tandem passengers from the LZ, we went back up to Croix de Coeur (after a quick stop for lunch at the “mushrooms-for-sale” place, Café de Carrefour). C.J. asked Stu if she could fly tandem with him and we all launched (1345) intending to climb high on the ridge to the left and get over Les Attelas (above Les Ruinettes) and Mont Gele and follow the line of the Bec des Rosses to the end of the valley, cross over and get up over the glacier below Gr. Combin.
(photo left: lunchstop at Les Carrefours on the way up to launch)
C.J./Stu were successful but I could not get high on the first ridge and had to take the low route across the ski slopes to the Ruinettes launch where the house thermal pushed me to 9600 ft over the Mont Fort lift and about to the top of the Bec des Rosses. I headed SE along the ridge sinking, crossed the valley at the narrow point again near the Cabane Brunet (hut), and tried to get up again. I moved W (down valley) into the sunshine and climbed above the same point as yesterday. With enough altitude I crossed the big canyon (with a lake in the cirque at its head) and found lift on the far ridge which got me up above timberline on Six Blanc and over the ridge with a ski lift terminus to the NW. The clouds were starting to overdevelop so I headed for Champex and had to core sink to get down (1h45m). We went back to the chalet around 1600 for some lunch and rest. Around 1800 we were all asked if we wanted to go up and fly again.. Everyone passed (and later we found that flying was not possible any way as a storm came up and we had a little bit of thunder and rain at the chalet). I helped Jack pack up so he would be able to get all his stuff on the train from Martigny to the airport.
(photo above left: C.J. and Stu reached the glacier below Gr.Combin)


7/19 We left at 1000 for Savoleyres and launched at 1100 into ratty thermals over St. Christophe ridge. I headed for the other side of the valley at 7000 ft and found enough lift over there to get back to 6400 ft (?) and cruise around above the chalets and forest for an hour.
(photo left: G flying the slope above Bagnes valley)
We had a lunch break back at the chalet while Pam and James and Peter ate at Le Farinet salad bar/BBQ. Then we said goodbye to Jack, picked up Derek and Christianna from S. Africa and went up to Les Ruinettes. I launched at about 1500 and found lift to 8300 ft. Then James radioed to ask if we knew Peter was down in the trees below launch. No one knew until then; apparently Peter’s radio would not transmit so he could not report that he was OK until he got his mobile phone out. I flew over to mark the location, and then went SE sinking below launch level and crossing the valley to the cloud-shaded other side, where I was too low to utilize the lift that Pam was working. I landed in the Champex LZ in switchy conditions (0h30m) which later became a down-valley flow. [Pam landed into the wind after a radio call but the SA tandem landed downwind in a heap but without injury.] Rachel picked us up and returned us to the chalet, or to Migros to shop for dinner which James had volunteered to prepare (it being Leah’s night off). And he did a very good job with grilled marinated steaks, grilled potatoes, and fresh salad. We owe him a dinner. I bought some more cheese and ice tea at Migros while we were there. Peter’s wing had two brake-line attachment points ripped off and possible other damage. He’s going to fly a Firebird Spider loaner for the rest of the time.

7/20 The prevailing wind was forecast to be from the NW so over the back at Savoleyres. We went up to Les Ruinettes for our morning flight with students and 8-yr-old Marguerite Tong, a tandem passenger. I launched at 1100 and, finding no lift, crossed to the far side of the valley where I scratched around for as long as the light lift held out over a house above a rocky cliff(around 5000 ft) with some hawks (0h40m). I landed in Montagnier with no wind. I was asked to move my wing to the S side of the signboard where the LZ part of the field ended (Wonder why no one told us about that). We stopped in town at Le Farinet for lunch and Peter bought us a drink. Then we went up to Croix de Coeur for an x-c flight – Stu would launch and lead left and get up over the next peak then cross back over Savoleyres to Pierre-Avoi and get even higher then cross Val de Bagnes and get high above the ridge there (4000m) then cross NW and fly the far side of Val Vicheres(?), (Val d’Entrement?) or Orsiers(?) which continues on to Italy. Stu and Pam got off in lee-side thermal and both got high but not at the same time. Peter, C.J. and I did not feel good about launch conditions so packed up (especially after Peter’s wing took off with his harness in a gust). After some discussion with Stu and Mike we went back to the chalet. Around 1700 we drove back to Croix de Coeur with a bunch of students and flew what should have been the evening ridge lift. My wing came up crooked and I flailed around before getting off. There wasn’t quite enough ridge lift (“dynamic lift”) to soar so I went L towards the sunshine and climbed a bit on a rocky spur. But soon enough we all were sinking. Stu radioed us to land at the LZ above the golf course because it appeared to be storming in the main valley. Landing was tricky with 8 or more gliders landing in a small sloping field crosswind. (0h15m) Back at the chalet, Leah presented us with a spinach-mozzarella lasagna. (photo above left: Flying above Sarreyre village)

7/21 We were up on Savoleyres with a bunch of students around 1000 and the conditions seemed to be lee side thermals. I launched after the students at 1100 , worked the face a bit and flew in lift along St. Christophe Ridge until I crossed to the other side. I scratched around for a half hour before landing at Montagnier (0h48m). Then we had lunch at Le Farinet – our bread and cheese, their grapefruit juice. Afterward we headed up to Les Ruinettes. The prevailing wind was E and there was a good chance of a storm so the plan was the usual attempt to fly around the valley. I launched after James and Pam and found strong, sharp thermal lift so I flew SE along the face mostly in zero sink until just below Bec de Rosses where I crossed to the W side of the valley which was soarable over a wide area. I headed upvalley and worked lift near Cabane Brunet then returned to the ridge above the LZ and continued to climb as I crossed the big canyon farther back above the cirque and then worked NW above timberline until the lift stopped and I found myself far back and low over the ground. On the way out there was sufficient lift to ease the anxiety and I crossed the Val de Bagnes again and took some photos of Sarreyer, a village on the slope above the main valley, before returning to the LZ where a nice upvalley breeze made landing easy. Meanwhile C.J. had pulled her wing up for a second launch attempt with her risers twisted and been blown into the (stationary) chairlift cable and dumped to the ground, fortunately squarely on the back protection of the harness. As far as we could see the wing was unharmed, not even a grease smear on it. Returning to the chalet, C.J. took advantage of Leah’s other skill and had a massage. (photo above left: Stu describing the plan for the day)

7/22 Saturday I got up around 0800, had breakfast, packed and went down to Le Chable with Peter to catch the train to Montreux. There I found the Hotel Montreux Palace easily and signed the paperwork for a diesel, Octavia model Spod that looked just like the VW Passat wagon I had reserved. The manual shift took some getting used to and I couldn’t find the connection to the motorway so I ended up on the road along the lake for much of the way to Martigny and got back to the chalet shortly after noon. All of our stuff and Jame’s stuff fit inside the car and we were off with fruit stand and overlook stops along the way. It was a scenic drive between Martigny and Argentieres.
(photo left: ruins of a tower in Martigny)
We bypassed Chamonix on the motorway and found our way to Chedde-Passy (LZ) and up to the launch at Plaine Joux where we had lunch and looked at the stormy weather – very few were flying and then no one, We ran into rain on the way down, continued on to Le Fayet and Saint Gervais which was pretty busy (a wedding at the church in the town center added to the crowd). We continued up the road toward Megêve and found the Chalet Renaitre. After settling into our tiny, hot rooms, we headed back to town and wandered around St. Gervais, picking up Euros from an ATM, Getting a slick paragliding site guide (free) at a sports shop, and getting dinner at Les Alpines-Capuccines: tartiflette for me, brochettes de Diot (sausage on a stick) for C.J. and lasagna for James – all 10.50€ each from “le menu”. After dinner we wandered around the center of town, stopping for ice cream, before returning to the free underground parking garage where we had left the car. We headed back to the Chalet R for a shower and sleep with the temperature finally dropping.

7/23 Sunday Breakfast was the same everyday – sliced baguette, jam, Nutella, honey, orange juice, and hot milk with mix to make hot chocolate. We drove down toward St. Gervais to find the LZ for the launch on Mt. D’Arbois. It was behind the tennis courts and pool complex. Then we checked out the lift from the valley to launch –runs every 30 min, 8.30€ one way (5.90€ for seniors –over 60!). Then we drove to Megêve and found the LZ (using GPS and the site guide). We spent some time checking over C.J.’s wing for chair lift cable damage and James kited it several times. It seemed to be fine. We could see people flying, probably from Rochebrune, but they were landing in Praz sur Arly farther up the road that continues to Ugine and, eventually, Annecy. We drove in that direction and, after a couple of attempts, found the small LZ and watched a pilot land. From there we drove up to the telecabine for Rochebrune and had lunch, talked to some pilots but could not convince ourselves that it was not going to overdevelop or get too strong in the valleys, so we returned to the chalet for a nap – much cooler today in the breezy conditions. (Photo above left: James on the Chalet's balcony) On the way back we stopped at a kitschy wood carver/nifty gifty shop but found nothing we had to have. Around 1630 we went down to St. Gervais to see about wireless access for C.J. but the cybercafé did not open until 1730. We wandered around a bit, had ice cream, and bought a poulet roti and a loaf of bread and something to drink for supper. Then we drove up to Les Houches where we knew (from our 2001 trip) the tourist center had internet connections. Sure enough, and they also had wi-fi available for 3€ for 2 hr and C.J. was able to download a bunch of stuff to work on. We ate dinner on a picnic table in the shade of the church. James provided some tomatoes and peppers, and there were a few drops of rain but not enough to cut our meal short. On the way back to the chalet we did not see anyone flying at Plaine Joux (or anywhere that we could see) so we returned to the chalet to work and read.

7/24 Monday We drove up to the Rochebrune lift in Megêve and checked out some fields above the lift station for possible landing nearby (The LZ in Praz sur Arly would require a ride from one of the local schools/tandem outfits or a couple mile walk). James said a couple of local PG guys told him that tomorrow will be SW and better (which is strange since Rochebrune faces N). We drove down through Sallanches and Cluses to Samoens, found the LZ and drove to the top (Samoens 1600 “Les Saix”). C.J. and I flew while James drove, then we went back up and I drove while C.J. and James flew. Afterwards we drove into town and wandered around the old section of town which is pedestrian-only. Then we drove back up again and James and I launched again around 1830 in cross from the left (west) conditions. I tried a few passes on the left then flew across the valley in mostly buoyant air and made a few turns on the far side. The valley flow was pretty strong (My GPS over-ground speed was 40+ kph downwind and 12-14 kph to the west.)
(photo above left, C.J. launching at Rochebrune)
[We noticed that there were people flying to the north much higher than anyone at Les Saix. Apparently there is a launch at La Bourgeoise on the road out of Samoens to the north. Possibly one can get a ride for 5 euros with one of the school vans. Or, you can get across from Les Saix if you get at least 200 m over launch.] After packing up we drove to Taninges and found a restaurant on the main street with a patio. C.J. and I had the fondue Savoyard. Our credit card did not work in the restaurant scanner and we had to pay cash, and later we found that none of our cards would work in the gas station at Sallanches Carrefour. [Later we found that only French cards with the embedded microchip would work at those self-service gas stations. Too bad, because that’s where gas was cheapest – diesel was close to $6 per gallon, gas the same]. We got back to the chalet at 2130 –time for a shower!

7/25 Tuesday After breakfast we drove up to Megêve where C.J. tried to get stamps at what turned out to be the Post Office Bank and I got 100€ out of an ATM. We looked in a Provence shop and a quincaillerie which had kitchen ware and stuff including a bread-cutting board with a removable plate with routed slots one slice apart. Then we drove east a bit to a gas station and filled up with diesel at 1.18€/liter and put the total on our credit card (56.00€). By then it was time to catch the lift to Rochebrune.
(photo left: G landing at Praz sur Arly - an LZ for Rochebrune
We all went up figuring that one of us could hitch a ride back to the car [As it happened, the Megêve Paragliding guys gave me a ride right back to the lift - at no charge.]. We didn’t wait around long because some earlier gliders were climbing to the left. However, we mostly got extended sledders although I worked a nearby point to the left for several minutes ending up with a big 15 minutes. After retrieving the car we had lunch along the stream and then went back to the chalet for a nap. The clouds were developing vertically and later in the afternoon we started hearing thunder. Around 1730 we drove back to Les Houches so C.J. could get some work done. I bought some more cheese, flavored fizzy water and cookies at the Shopi next door. We looked around Les Houches and noted that “Flyers Lodge” is now “Skiers Lodge”. Then we settled on a café/bar/creperie for dinner and had Gallettes (buckwheat crepes) (Forestiere-with ham, cheese, egg, and mushrooms, and La Houcharde with raclette cheese, ham and potato) and a shared Greek salad. It was pouring rain outside while we were eating. James had bought some éclairs at a patisserie in town and shared one with us back at the chalet (where it was still raining lightly at 2130).

7/26 Wednesday After breakfast we drove past Megêve to Flumet and took a winding scenic road over the Col d’Aravis [The route was one stage of the Tour de France this year and there were lots of bicyclists on the road, and lots of graffiti on the road surface.] down through Clusaz to Le Grand Bornand. We found a place to park near the lower LZ (le patrinoire?)– not easy because it was market day and found a local pilot who told us how to walk to the lower lift (Rosay). Tickets to the top were 6.80€, no geezer discount - and we had to change at the top of the telecabine to a chairlift (Lachat). There was a big cloud above the top but people were launching in no wind or light downwind and getting up over a lower point out in front of launch (Roche de Arces?).
After helping C.J. get off, I set up behind James but he did not like the conditions so there was a long wait until launch. After he got off, I tried to launch but my wing did not come up clean. I had to abort which was difficult on such a steep slope. By the time I was ready to go again about 1300), the sunlight had hit the slope and there was some breeze up the hill. I found no lift from launch to Les Arces and ended up scratching in light, but rough lift between the rocks and the LZ. I had a couple of collapses and decided to just tour around a little. Finally I crossed the Le Bouchet valley and then headed for the upper LZ, Le Bouchet, up valley, which I expected to be downwind , but I needed speedbar to place myself above the field. I landed fine downvalley but that was clearly downwind (0h26min). I walked the 2 km back to the car and drove up to pick up C.J., James and our gear. Then we went down into town where the market day had wrapped up. We bought half of a boule paysane and ate lunch in the covered market place. No one seemed to be flying anymore so we drove out of town on the road to the north over Col de Columbieres, another scenic road which eventually came out at Cluses. On the way back I took the road to Passy just to see if Plaine Joux was working. It was not; no one was flying at all – so we headed back to the chalet with a quick stop at the little grocery store, Petite Casino, to buy some cold drinks. Around 7 p.m. we went up to Megêve and wandered through the pedestrian-only center of Megêve and found a more upscale than usual restaurant that served good food and had a nice presentation, Le Prieure. But we still stopped for ice cream cones on the way back to the car.

7/27 Thursday We got out as early as possible and found a place to park alongside the road not far from the valley station for the Aguille du Midi. We bought our tickets (36€ each) and during the 50 minute wait walked into Chamonix to the central square and back. The ride up was quick and very steep especially the second stage approaching the upper station. We had an hour and a half and that was not really enough time to absorb everything. We saw people climbing the steep trail from the aiguille to the launch – definitely want crampons and ice axe, maybe even a short rope. It was a great day for views – few clouds and little haze
. (Photo left: C.J. at L'Aiguille du Midi")
There were suspended catwalks that went from one viewpoint to another and one that climbed several flights up the outside of the aiguille on “cheese-grater” platforms. We had views of Mont Blanc, Dent du Geant, Bosson Glacier and other aiguilles and glaciers to the north and east. Then the view to the south had Les Houches, Les Prarion, the next ridge was Mt Joly and Mont D’Arbois; the next ridge after that was Rochebrune above Megêve. To the west we could see paragliders flying from Plan Praz and getting up above Le Brevent, others landing at the Savoy LZ and at Bois de Bouchet. Argentieres was obvious toward the N end of the Chamonix valley. We got separated from James and so did not stop at Plan de l’Aguille which looked like a nice place to wander around on the trails or just in the grass (or in the restaurants). From Chamonix we drove up to Plaine Joux and had an early dinner at one of the restaurants with a view of launch. Prices were surprisingly reasonable for such a scenic and out-of-the-way place, I had bourgnettes montagnard which was sort of dollops of seasoned (deep) fried mashed potatoes, two wedges of reblochon (?) cheese and several thin slices of smoked ham served with pickled onions and pickles. C.J. got her lamb chops that she didn’t order the previous night, and broccoli. By the time we finished it was a bit too late to fly as a storm was heading in and we could hear the thunder.

7/28 Friday We went to the weekly marche at Megêve – fun to browse and we also bought bread, sausage, tomette cheese, 3 jars of honey, an herb grinder, and paid for 1.5 hrs of parking.
(photo left below: epices et herbes at the Megeve market)
After dropping James off at the chalet with an achy lower back, we went on into Chamonix to check out the Brevent telepherique and the two valley LZs. We found roadside parking near Le Savoy LZ and walked back up to the Brevent lift station (where we found that you could park all day for 1€) then down into town for a hot sandwich lunch. We browsed through the town a bit more, had some ice cream and walked back to the car, drove to the other LZ, Le Bois de Bouchet and walked from there to the long, narrow hang glider landing zone. Later C.J. got some work done at Les Houches visitor center while I bought some eggs, zuke and tomato for dinner, and dropped in at the church for a private organ concert. We tried to change a travelers check in Chamonix, Les Houches and St. Gervais with no success – I guess the old travelers check is no longer a good way to deal with carrying money to Europe. Maybe we just chose the wrong banks – we can try again in Chamonix tomorrow if we go there to fly. The sky today was partly cloudy and there were scattered showers but when we returned to the chalet around 1800, a real storm started with thunder and lightning and hard rain. We cooked up the eggs, sausage and cheese, tomatoes and zucchini for supper.

7/29 Saturday After a day off from flying we were ready to try a new site. We drove in to Chamonix as early as we holiday-ers could manage and caught the lift to Plan Praz, and walked up to the NE-facing launch, about a 10 to 15 minute walk uphill. We had lots of company as there were many French pilots and students laying out on the grassy launch. I finally got off after C.J. around 1045 and found some light lift to the right near the top of the telepherique. Then I went L (north) about half way to La Flegere in zero sink, then back to the Plan Praz lift line to scratch around for a while. C.J. and I both landed in Le Savoy LZ lightly downwind (upvalley) along with almost everyone else (0h30m).
(Photo left: NE-facing launch at Plan Praz)
I walked back up to get the car at the lift station garage. After picking up James at Le Bouchet LZ we drove around and returned to the LZ to have lunch and watch the landings. [There was a marche in Chamonix so parking was even more difficult today.] Then we went back to the chalet to drop James off to pack and relax while we went up to St. Nicholas de Veroce and up to the Croix plateau above it. From there we drove a gravel track higher until we reached a trailhead below the Porcherry launch. The trail climbed steeply up a ski slope and then along a ridge and we continued up until the weather began looking threatening. On the way down we stopped to talk with a French pilot laying his wing out on the launch (just above the roadhead). Conditions were getting stronger and gusty so he probably did not fly. We headed back down and over to Les Houches so C.J. could check mail and get some more work-time in. We returned to the chalet around 1830 and went with James’ suggestion that we try Restaurant “Robinsons” just down to road a little way. It was okay but I had too much “charcuterie”, some with C.J.’s menu Savoyarde and more with my “La Boite Chaud” which was a round box containing a small (200g?) Reblochon-type cheese heated to melting. It was served with potatoes and slices of jambon fumeé and sausage. C.J. and I also ordered glasses of kir. Late in the evening we were awakened by explosions so we got up to check out what was happening. There were fireworks from the direction of Sallanches and from other directions in the mountains. Apparently it was a feast day being celebrated mostly in Sallanches.

7/30 Sunday We went up to Rochebrune pretty early (1000) and waited patiently until someone other than a tandem showed up to launch. Two of the tandems launched from a NE-facing slope very near to the “Super-Megêve” lift station. From there you could see the “altiport”, a small airport in the head of the valley below. It was quite active. I launched (at the usual N/NW launch) after C.J. at 1158 and tried the point to the left and then crossed the valley to the W where C.J. was scratching. I got to the ridge just enough later or just a bit higher so I was able to hang in there in very light lift until I stumbled into an actual thermal that I could turn in. Nothing got me anything like “high” but I was able to scratch out 43 minutes before landing (making this one of my longest flights in France). By that time James had gone to get the car and we went back to the chalet so he could check out. Around 1330 we headed down the A-40 to Geneva and after fumbling around for a bit with directions designed for arriving from Verbier/Lausanne we got James to his Holiday Inn Express right near the airport. Leaving Geneva we drove the highway towards Annecy considering the wings over a windy Saleve but opting for the Semnoz ridge. After trying to buy gas at an automated station in Annecy (wouldn’t take our cards) we drove up the long, winding road to the launch at Semnoz with the gas gauge showing we had 120 km worth of gas. By the time we reached the parking lot, maybe 20 km later, the gauge showed 0 km remaining! A couple of pilots launched as we arrived joining the five or six who were already pretty high in the air. However, there were a bunch of pilots who were not launching. We had some lunch and thought about the conditions (and the emptiness of the gas tank) and decided that it would really ruin our day if we ran out of gas. Besides, the sky was cloudy and unsettled and some of the gliders were “parked” facing into the wind. We watched a couple of toplandings that seemed pretty rough as we went back to the car. We drove down (with the gas gauge showing more and more gas available) and took the road around the south side of the Lake, noticing that the clouds had now become very ominous lenticulars. I skipped a couple of gas stations and by the time we hit Faverges we were almost empty again and could find no regular gas stations. We finally stopped at a “Champion” super store which had card-operated pumps and no attendant. Our non-French cards did not work and we had to ask a fellow motorist to use his card and take our euros. Feeling much relieved, we drove on to Ugine and found that the main road to Megêve was closed and we had to take a mountain road deviation to Flumet. When we got back to the chalet (1930?) we fixed our own dinner with the chicken and salad we had bought yesterday.

7/31 Monday Unsure about what to do with overcast sky and SW winds, we consulted the site guide after breakfast when the overcast began to break up. We decided on Mieussy and drove through Cluses and Taninges to the LZ just outside of the village. People were landing and the local instructor said conditions would be okay for the next two hours. We drove up the 12+ km to the ski area at Sommand, drove in as far as possible and hiked the last quarter mile up to launch without our wings since the sky still looked threatening. We ran into a group of Dutch pilots who were going up also w/o wings but they explained that their vehicles were taking their gear to the top. [The road is 4WD and you need special permission.]
(photo left, Dutch pilot launching at Mieussey)
On launch it was not SW but more like E or SE but that was not a problem because the reverse slope of the ridge was an excellent launch as well. The group had mostly good, easy launches but no one soared. We were not enthusiastic about carrying our gear, the weather, or the difficulty of retrieve so we headed down just as a few drops of rain began to fall. [The instructor was quite accurate about it being okay for 2 hours.] On the drive down it rained for a while. We headed back to Sallanches for some souvenir shopping at Les Carrefour . We had lunch in Sallanches on a bench overlooking the stream that runs through town. Then we went up to Les Houches for a little work time. We drove down through Servoz on the way back and looked for a gas station in Le Fayet and St. Gervais before giving up and going back to Megêve to fill our tank. Back at the chalet we packed our checked bags and moved them to the car. We paid our balance to M. Azzegat, had dinner of whatever was left over – chicken, eggs, green beans and salade composeé – drank up the last of the flavored water and had cookies for dessert. We were just about ready to head home.

8/1 Tuesday Our host left breakfast stuff in the little kitchen so we ate bread, jam, Nutella and our cheese. And I heated milk for cocoa. We got on the road around 0640 which was later than I hoped but we made good time until we were almost to Geneva when construction necessitated a detour. I took the Geneve-Annemasse turn instead of the Geneve-Lyon-Paris direction and had to drive some surface streets and backroads until we started to find sign for Geneve-aeroport. So we were 30 minutes later than the two-hour cushion. Fortunately there was no problem returning the car, but there were no “trolleys” available so we had to unlimber the luggage carts and stack the luggage up. We used the elevator so there was less chance of a luggage avalanche this trip. The airport was pretty hot and we had to stand in a long line but we were in plenty of time to board early, although there was no time for duty-free shopping. We got full cans of drink and a pretty good lunch/dinner around 1130 (so maybe C.J. won’t have to eat the hard-boiled eggs, left over bread and etc. after all). We got another sandwich plate about an hour before we arrived in Newark (and another sandwich lunch on the EWR-SEA leg, too). There was less than an hour to make the connection and we had to wait for our luggage to show up and go through Customs so we were sent to the “Connections” desk of Continental. When we got through the line, the counter person told us to leave our checked bags and go to our original plane because it was still boarding. That was a bit of a rushed situation but we made it. The plane cooled off slowly from the 93 degree NJ heat and we passed over some interesting scenery from Montana on as we passed in and out of clouds. We landed about 15 minutes late in Seattle approaching from the N over Diablo Lake and the Skagit Valley. We waited patiently for our luggage but it did not arrive on our plane. The Continental luggage person arranged to have it delivered the next day and we went off to catch a taxi to Bob Hannah’s place where our car was parked.