It has been a few years since I last flew in the Dolomites, so when the conditions lined up with my availability, I was very excited to be heading back for another flight in the stunning conditions. The plan for the day was simple:
- Climb up above launch
- Transition to the Langkofel
- Fly down the west side of the Val di Fassa into the Rosengarten
- Cross the Karerpass
- Gain altitude and fly over the Val di Fassa
- Follow the obvious ridge line east and then north to the south face of the Marmolada
- Soar up the south face of Marmolada
- Glide over to Saas Pordoi
- Fly back to launch
Launch conditions were challenging with a slight back wind in between the thermal cycles, with a number of dust devils to add to the chaos. Unfortunately my first launch attempt was not successful and it took me ages to get myself sorted again before I finally launched.
The conditions were pretty good and once in the air the flying was a brilliant as ever, with wonderful views. I was soon up at base above the Langkofel before the long first glide, however knowing that around the corner there was reliable cliffs and thermals made this very fast and I was soon climbing out in perfect harmony with another pilot.
Over the Rosengarten I decided to take the slightly longer high line, as it looked like it would work better in these conditions. I do not know if it did, but I made good progress and was soon topping out above the Vajolet Towers, which we climbed 5 years ago, and heading south to the first turn point.
As conditions were so good, I decided to extent the first turn point to the south west before making the long transition over the Val di Fassa. Here I arrived lower than I would have liked, in some fairly unpleasant air, but after some perseverance I managed to slowly soar back up to the ridge height before climbing away and back to cloud base.
The next section was very fast along a south facing ridge, with good glides and only limited turning I was soon on final glide to the south face of the Marmolada. Here everything goes up and I was in strong climbs taking me up and above the beautiful summit and highest point in the Dolomites. Although it was a shame to see how small the glaciers are looking!
After topping out here, I was able to glide all the way to Saas Pordoi, above which I climbed out and could have glided to close the triangle and land in the valley. As the day was still going strong, I decided to head to Piz Boe before doing a tour of the Sellagruppe. Eventually I decided that it was time to land, and as I flew over launch decided that I would top land which was a great end to a wonderful flight.
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