A look back at our course in the South of France this autumn...
. which turned into a superb 3-day itinerary... in Italy!!! Here's the story of our flights between Turin and the Italian Alps...
Departing from Talloires on Friday morning, the seven drivers registered for the course, accompanied by Cédric and myself, set off on the road to three days paragliding where the weather seemed most favourable for flying.
First stop on the Foreclosures (Bisanne) in the Beaufortain. When we arrived at the launch site, the wind was well directed, but almost too strong. We took a few moments to analyse the flying site, which some of us didn't know yet: the wind eased slightly and we decided that everything was OK to fly. And what a flight it was! About 1 hour soaring in the windand even a few thermals to get a bit of height, so you can take in the view from above. exceptional view of the BeaufortinThe Mont-Blanc, the foehn effect underway on the massif in the SE wind... An unexpected and incredible flight to start this journey.
We then take the road to Bourg St Maurice via RoselendThen on to the Petit St Bernard pass. The goal is to get out of the Val d'Aoste, the Ivrea area north of Turin. A short picnic break at Lac de Roselend on the way, where our eyes were once again filled, including on the road to the pass after Bourg St Maurice.
Arriving in Ivrea at around 4pm, we head for the flight site of San Giacomo above the village of Andrate. The conditions at take-off were not easy, with an almost tailwind, sometimes a light headwind, but not often. We waited for a headwind, given the weather forecasts and the surrounding beacons, but to no avail... The particular shape of the take-off (a large flat area, then a very steep break all at once) made it a little difficult for us to get off the ground. Nevertheless, by dint of perseverance and trying out various original techniques, we managed to get off the ground, everyone will be able to take off and discover this fabulous site.
Then it's on to the gîte we've chosen to spend the next two days: a friendly B&B on the banks of the Viverone lake. A good Italian restaurant to round off this first day and then it's off to bed, ready for day 2.
After breakfast, we decided to head back to the San Giacomo site, hoping to find a headwind. It turned out to be quite windy, but the shape of the take-off meant that the canopies on the ground were completely unstacked. This will make inflation difficult for some pilots. But as we're trained to deal with 'tricky' conditions, everyone managed to do well. Robin closed the flight, and decided to cross the valley rather than land with his friends, in order to reach the flight site of Cavalarria located on the other side of the Val d'Aoste. It is on this side that Robin will find small thermals, which will quickly become generous and will allow him to join the take-offs of this site, as well as his pilots who are in the process of taking off there. The conditions are looking really good for the rest of the day!
Robin will then land at the site, at the same time as the shuttle driven by Cédric, and all the other pilots on board. We'd booked a shuttle for lunchtime, but the team who manage access to the site are pretty nice and let us board as soon as we arrived. At the same time, there weren't many of us, just a dozen or so other pilots... After a rather sporty climb with a driver who must have missed his coffee 😛, we all made it to the take-off with very very good conditions: a straight headwind and plenty of thermals, generous, not too turbulent, PER-FIT!
All the riders will be taking advantage of these excellent conditions to discover the site and even make a few excursions to the surrounding hills!
[The tracks are here ]
For some pilots, this will be their first flight in thermals... and strangely enough, the most novice thermalists were almost the brightest 👍 🙂 What a joy for everyone to take advantage of these perfect conditions to learn about thermals! After almost 2 hours of flying for some of us, we found ourselves landing, quite tired, but happy!
We return to our accommodation to enjoy a meal together in the sunshine. At the end of the afternoon, renewed energy and motivation take us to another site further north: Muanda. A new site and another splash! A good debrief in a bar with a few tapas and a last night before heading home...
On this third day, we begin with Rueglio flight siteThis is a very nice area with a 20-minute walk to the take-off. Despite the absence of bright sunshine, a few thermals were there to help us work on our positioning and turns.
An excellent pizza later, and we're off to the last site to be discovered: Santa Elisabetta. A long plunge awaits us, with more and more autonomy for some, better dynamic turns, and even stand-up landings...
Finally, a return journey through the Fréjus tunnel to reach our Grands Espaces school in Talloires at the end of the afternoon. It was a superb stay with some great pilots: thanks to Hervé, Aureliano, Urara, Marie and of course our 3 Belgians: Mathilde, Alexandra and Maïté! We had a great time paragliding, but that's not all!
Thanks also to Cédric, it's always a pleasure to work together, a real power duo!
We took the opportunity to rename the course "It looks like Italy". So... let's do it again next year! 😀
Robin
