With another great day forecast a group of 5 of us headed to the Zillertal with the aim of flying from the Zillertal to Zell am See and then back again. The day started off somewhat eventfully as unfortunately one of my flying friends had to throw his reserve above launch, but thankfully he was ok and was able to confirm this over the radio so we didn’t need to go and land to check.
After climbing to 3000m we set off on the first very long transition over the other side of the Zillertal, this was always a risky move early in the day as you either fly to west facing slopes which are slow to start, or south facing slopes which are often in the lee. Unfortunately here the group separated with one of us bombing out and people moving at their own pace as we took the slow climbs back up to altitude. Once I was back at altitude everything started working well and I was soon on my way, on full speed bar between climbs.
The views flying through the Gerlos pass were beautiful and before I knew it I was already above the Wildkogel in the Pinzgau. The flying was easy and very fast up to this point. Unfortunately I made a tactical mistake as I crossed Pass Thun and headed to the ridge as I thought this would be the best line for thermals, however unfortunately it was terrible and in the Lee. I flew into a horrible basin of sinking air and turbulence, and after losing an awful lot of height I managed to make a slow turbulent climb which eventually took me all the way back up to the nice air well above the ridge.
From here it was an easy cruise along to Schmittenhöhe above Zell am See and my turn point. The flight back was very quick, with 6m/s thermals and most of the way I was climbing while fully accelerated in a straight line. The entire way back to Wildkogel was very easy, but the last section of the Pinzgau was a challenge as the valley was completely shaded out, and just below Gerlos I ended up very low and in the Lee. I spotted one area of sunshine and flew towards it and managed to take a very slow climb out which eventually took me high enough to fly to better thermals and to enable me to get through the pass.
From here the flight changed into cruise mode again as I joined the Zillertaler Alpen with strong climbs and a very high base, up to 3900m! At this point I left XC mode and just wanted to enjoy the fantastic views, which was a really brilliant end to a fantastic flight.
Comments