Saturday
As forecast, the classic 100 km route from Fiesch was achievable on saturday, provided pilots paid attention to the Grimsel "snake", with a possible but potentially challenging extension into the Saas Valley.
In this game, it was Kurt Hänni " Kuertu" who posted the best score of the day in the region with a fine 125 km flat triangle, launching shortly after noon from Moosfluh, the top station of a chairlift above Riederalp. It was a clever choice for the day, as it allowed him to launch above the inversion layer and made the task significantly easier to complete.
Kurt did not venture too close to the Grimsel area and was then able to benefit from sufficiently high cloudbase to cross the glacier behind the Eggishorn. He placed a turnpoint near the Gemmi Pass before attempting an excursion into the Saas Valley.
That move did not go according to plan, and he only just managed to make it back to Visp before eventually landing at "Chez Raoul" in Ried-Brig.
Conditions appear to have been slightly weaker than expected along the Jura range, and usable convection only started around noon rather than the forecast 11 a.m. Patience was therefore required for those who arrived at launch earlier in the day.
The best score of the day went to Hans Strahm, who completed a 106 km flat triangle from Obere Wengi, a launch site located on the ridge just north of the Weissenstein, from where Sebastien Benz flown the first ever 300km on a paraglider in Jura.
As forecasted, Bernese oberland didn't give conditons good enough for serious XC flights.
This kind of situation, where the Jura delivers slightly less than forecast while Valais performs exactly as expected, reinforces my feeling that whenever good conditions are forecast in both regions, Valais is usually the better choice.
Sunday
Conditions were clearly weaker than on Saturday, just as forecast.
Most pilots therefore opted for flights along the Jura ridge. One of Switzerland’s top pilots, Sébastien Benz, completed an impressive 132 km flight after launching from Weissenstein shortly before noon. He first set a turnpoint at Montoz before continuing all the way back toward Zurich.
The second-best score was less than half that distance, with "only" 64 km flown from Mauborget by Thierry Schaffer.
In the Alps, Mike Wicki pulled off a real heist after launching from Sorebois West (Zinal) at 2:15 p.m. He managed to climb to cloudbase nearly 4000m and then crossing the Val d'Anniviers and surfing the majestic Weisshorn cirque. From there, he enjoyed an easy glide down to the landing in Chalais.
See you Friday for the next week end forecast !
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