Flying the Saleve

My sister got married last weekend, so I decided to come early and do some paragliding.

The Saleve is a nice flying spot outside of Swiss Geneva, on the french side. There are four starting areas, and at least three landing areas.

Access to the Saleve is povided by a cable car service, for paragliders it will cost you around 5 bucks.

Right at the top, where the cable car ends, theres take off area #1. A short and sweet take off, with a crop of rocks off to the left. The problem here is mostly the wind direction, as soon as you leave the immidiate start area, there can be side winds...a second wind flag shows wind speed and direction a bit further out from the cropping.

For this starting area, there are two possible landing sites, #1 landing is pretty advanced,located in france, off to the left of the lower cable-car station there is about a 100 m long strip faceing N-S, no wind flag available, however closest to the cable car for reruns.

Landing area #2, on the swiss side, belongs to a local flight school. Very nice landing, two wind flags, and area to support landing from N-E-S-W. The field is divided into two sections for andvanced and beginner pilots. The down side to this landing area = a 10chf landing fee. It is however the closest to public transport to get you back to Geneva.

Starting area #2 is a 15-20 min hike up the ridge. With a short static start you should be in the air, be carefull of this area, it has the most soaring accidents and tree landings due to the irregular shapes of the rock face below and a large indent in rock croppings off to the left (creates a twister like thermic). Landing areas as depicted above.

Starting area #3 can be accesed either by a shuttle service driving up or by taking a @ hour and 1/2 hike. but the conditions here are beautiful. With a wide starting area, a really stable nce updrafts, many a pilot will use the starting area as a soar point. The slowly curving face below acts as a stabiliser for updrafts.

Landing area for #3 is directly below it, on the french side, it allows for a W-E landing, again, no wind flag with high trees blocking your aproche. Also a very dangerous aspect about this landing area is that it is right under a an updraft which creates bad turbulences. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS LANDING AREA, and is possible (with >800m asl) land at the school landing area. You will not be able to see it from the area above and have to go furthur out into the open (away from the updrafts(loose hight)) to be able to spot it. Its on the far right of starting area #3

I learned the hard way, and almost broke some bones on that landing, when the wind just gave out and I droped about 5 m. I survived with a few bruises ;)...painful never the less.

I recomend the Saleve for pretty much beginner pilots such as myself as it has a very stable updraft with no real thermic turbulences. But be carefull about where you land.

Cheers

AiREA Shape Large

Today, we had some nice steady wind out in the flatlands behind the train station. I knew there was a front moving in, actually very dangerous conditions to play with a wing. But seeing that I hadnt really had the chance to test this wing before trading it in for something a bit more in my class...I did some research.

These are the specs.

When I bought the wing, I was under the impression that it was a 1-2 class wing. I was wrong, after studing the specs page, I found the wing to be closer to a "b-c" or 2/2-3 wing.

Definition of a class 2 wing :
"Paragliders with demanding flying characteristics and potentially dynamic reactions to turbulence and pilot errors. Recommended for regularly flying pilots."

The Shape Large is classified as a 2 however its also classed as a cross wing.


Here is a nice class comparison.

I figured, "I should wear a helmet for this test".

I found the wing to be quite agile in comparison to the DHV tests, which described the wing, in particular scenarios as average. It apperantly has a tendancy to over-shoot its position above me. Maybe this was just because I am used to a slower wing (bodygaurd), that reacted better to a low pull impulse. I also fully appreciated the way this wing, unlike other 1/a wings I have flown, responded to wight distrobution on the seatboard, allowing for very nice controll using weight translation. My harness (advance success) is pretty beginner, with a high connection point, to dampen any over zealous weight distrobution by noobs such as myself.

I found the experiance on a whole, to be nice, something that I would actually think about taking skywards, sometime in my future flights. I would compare this wings groundhandling action to something similar to a paratech p12, one size too small or a tad over the weight spec (with ultimate area loadage).

Anyway, before anyone starts to think Im an expert...which I am most definitly not...I have to show you a reason why I decided to call it a day. Remeber, I am crazy. This is not the first time I have done something as crazy as this...and its deffinitly not the crazyest thing I have done to date.

Originaly, I thought that the front would pass me by heading over the Rhein and on towards Karlsruhe. effectivly leaving a nice somewhat usable path of stable wind to wing on....I had my eye on the front moving in. Someone stoped in their car and actually got out and asked me if everything was okay. It was at this point in time that I actually figured that I should call it a day. None too soon, I pulled all the lines together and shot this picture.



I managed to grab my gear just as the wind started to really pick up. I assume that there were windspeeds of up 50 or so kmh, and that, just as I started to head towards a nearby underpass to foldup the wing.

What I learned today is I really really really need better schooling in meteorology.  I thought I had correctly assesed the situation, I guess not, and nature is not to be underestimated.

Im lucky to have gotten away with my life.... again..... this is seriously the last time I do something this crazy....I hope. ;)

Cheers and good flight.