Austrian Arena

Early Winter news from the Austrian Arena, I know it’s a lot so take your time

Firstly I just want to mention that for 2007, we are offering a 5% discount on our courses here in Austria to BHPA members and pilots who have already been here in the past. Just subtract the discount from the price for the week you’d want. Simple.

Well as I write this so far the season has been pretty snow free, a slight downer for the people who’ve paid a lot to come and ski here. Luckily the resort over the past years have invested in snow cannons everywhere. So a least they can ski even if the off-piste is green.

However it’s not all bad news, for us the conditions are working well. Even on one of the shortest days of the year I managed to easily climb out to 300m above launch. Insane for a time that is normally cold glides down. This is because there was no snow in the valley or on the trees. Thermals are free to form and on this day the average climbs were 2-3m/s. And 4 weeks there have been quite a few days like this and I was having a good time even if things were getting desperate for the skiiers. Then as if by magic it snowed for 3 days solid, transforming the whole valley white. Actually looks quite nice now…

This is how desperate it was, the annual downhill race is Kitzbuhel was on the brink of being cancelled, as a last ditch effort they got 50 or so HGVs to bring snow down from the Gross Glockner glacier. They then used helicopters to spread the snow all over the piste. All at a cost 350,000€. The Slalom races went ahead even though it rained again on the lower pistes after that massive effort…

A few things about our re-vamped website, we hope you like it and when you get a chance have a look around it. One major thing is we got rid of the squint vision text. Some new features are the monthly updated wallpapers, just click on the picture you want and install it on you desktop at home or work. There is also a new ‘latest news’ section on the right of the home page, if you see blue icon next to topic then you haven’t seen it yet. Red means already visited. Also I’ve made all the previous skywings articles from over the years available to view online. This could be interesting for visiting pilots who want an insiders view on how the valley works here.

Some stuff a little further away from home. Congratulations to the Valic brothers from Slovenia, who both on the 7th December broke the World Record for free distance, 426km, and declared goal flights, 368km. These records were broken in De Aar in South Africa, both aboard the new Magus 5 protos. I don’t think it will be much longer before the WR is pushed to 500km but the bigger question is where it will take place. Zapata, Texas or De Aar, S.A. have to be the favorites, although with enough pilots there over the next few weeks maybe even Australia has a good chance. Especially now with some comp protos claiming glides of close to 13:1. I suppose we’ll see over the next few months if these outrageous claims have any worth.

Anyway I hope that everyone out there is looking forward to the coming season in the northern-hemisphere as it’s literally just round the corner. The courses in early April are now close to full and the Bassano trip is going ahead as planned, looking forward to that one. I really love this time of year as all the local guys are training with their new toys in the weak conditions and some days it feels like a PWC competition as everyone is fighting to gain that little bit more and test their new machine’s performance.

Some new weapons over launch the last days have been the MacPara Magus5, Nova’s new DHV2 the Ra, which looks fantastic with only 2 main suspension lines. A few guys are testing the new Trango 3, also the new comp weapon for the World’s from UP has made it’s debut in the Z.V. aptly named the “Bonzer”, A.R. of 7.5 and looks good although Stefan Steigler has said that it’s not the replacement for the Targa 3 but just a research avenue that he may or may not pursue.

I have the new Magic FR3 from Airwave. Haven’t had a chance to do any real comparisions yet but feels absolutely amazing in the air, aspect ratio 8 and extremely curved. I’ll post some photo’s on the gallery very soon if anyones keen to see it. Reckon it’ll be able to do some amazing things in this years comps and this year I’m hoping to fly at least one flight of over 200km+, the prep’s been done so just need the right day. Some time in May or June would be perfect as I’ll need a lot of daylight for this one…

The first big comp this year is the Worlds in Manilla, Australia. I’ve not been picked to fly this time round as places are limited to just 5 pilots, Bruce, Adrian, Steve, Russell & Mark will represent Britain this time around. Will be interesting to see who wins in the flatlands. Also which gliders will do well, as most manufacturers have new weapons for this comp. Advance’s O8 proto, Boom5, new U3, Magus5 and FR3 are my favorites. Wonder if Luca Donini can pull of another amazing performance or will Chrigel Maurer show his true form to gain the only title that has eluded him so far. Anyway I’ll be watching the results and run reports like a hawk….

Just a few words about this coming season and the courses which are available with us.

First I’d like to let you all know about the two new launch sites that will be coming this year. The first will be on the Penken, this will be halfway between the usual north launch and the south launch at Penkenjoch. It is at 2080m and will face south. This will be ideal for those days that the valley wind is not strong enough to over come the thermals on the south side or when the wind is from the south.

The other launch is even more interesting as it will enable us to leave it later before getting up the hill for the last flight of the day, sometimes a little close as the cut off is relatively early at 1600hrs for the Penken chairlift. The new site is directly next to he new gondola station on the Ahorn, 2000m. This extra hour gives us the option to see what’s happening better and will make the afternoon flying even more flexible. I’m excited about this one. Photos of both launch sites will come on the site when I have them.

New for 2007 I’ve made around 10 movies so far, what makes a good day, how valley winds are created, what are lee-sides to other subjects like the foehn, how thermals form and how to put it all into practice. I used Google Earth images and real photos with arrows depicting the flows and affects the topography has on the air around us.

Quick Overview of this year’s Itiniery…

Now onto this years courses, all details of courses are found on this website.

First off will be Bassano in Northern Italy, this place is such a nice place to fly, if a little busy sometimes. We are teaming up with local guy Luigi who will be helping with the logisitical sides of things.

Then I’ll be running the usual and extremely popular XC courses around the Zillertal for May and half of June.

One of these weeks, not 100% sure which as yet, will be put aside as a ‘just FLY’ week. Over the years I’ve always offered courses to pilots wanting to better their understanding of the mountains. So instead of the usual theory and route planning, this week will be pretty much “let’s just get up the hill, brief and fly”.

Aimed at pilots who don’t want a technical course but feel that they just need somewhere cheap to stay, good weather/site briefing and then just cruise about where they like. This week due to it’s simplicty is offered at only 330€ and there will be no limit on numbers. I’ll still be on hand to answer any questions but with much less hands on contact then is usual.

In July I’ll be running the usual thermalling courses but this year with a twist as I’m combining it with a ‘how to assault the Ahorn Spitz, 2968m’. This peak is towers directly over Mayrhofen and with my guidence I’ll be helping pilots fly the small XC flight to get to the summit. Last year was amazing with never so many pilots over the top, ever. Check March’s Skywings article for more info.

Later on in the season there will be another chance for pilots to fly to and from the Hintertux Glacier on our BIG mountain course. Last year’s surpassed all expectations as I guided 3 pilots the whole way there and back reaching 4300m. Everyone was stoked after we completed a tour of all the 2800m+ peaks in the immediate area.

Also new for 2007 I’ll be running together with Alban the intro to XC courses. This year they’ll be held in Stubai. This valley works well throughout the summer months and has a spring like quality to the thermals. We’ll be setting very achievable tasks around the local area, with the aim to get to launch in the late afternoon for evening soaring on the Elfer. Very similar to the Ahorn.

Then I’ve teamed up with Mark Leavesley from Leavesley Aviation to do a guided XC trip to Àger, in Spainish Pyrennes. This will be a great course and is filling up so don’t hang about if you want to fly somewhere completely different. After seeing this place for the first time last Autumn, Mark & I saw huge potential to run a guided trip there. We have local support from the flying school there and long time resident and British team member, Nicky Moss.

Then last but by no means least will be an XC ramble thru the Dolomites in October. This place has to be seen to be believed. One of the greatest places on earth to fly a paraglider. Again places are limited to 8 and has nearly been filled already. If due to demand they may be another chance in the season to go there, possibly the week earlier too.

So it looks like a very busy year for us here, not to mention the upcoming competitions, Nordic and British Opens in Spain, British Open in UK and the last round of Brits in St.Andre, one of my favorite places to race paragliders on the planet.

I’ll be in the UK for some time during August. So I’ll be available to give some XC seminars with movies and pictures for your local club. Please email me if you think your club would benefit from this and I’ll for sure try me hardest to help you guys out.

Anyway have fun wherever you fly this coming season and I hope to see you somewhere over the coming months.

When I have more news on flying around Europe I’ll write about it, so keeping checking the site when you get a chance as it’ll be a busy season.

fly high, fly far, fly safe

Kelly, Alban, Mark and George.