Blog Posts in Category: Austria

144km from the Zillertal to Zell am See and back

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. Read the full article…

Attempting the Karwendel Dreieck

With a great forecast I decided to take the day off and attempt the classic Karwendel Dreieck, a ~100km FAI triangle from my local paragliding site. It was my first attempt so all of the route was totally new for me, with some of the greater challenges towards the start with long transitions over some smaller hills. I was desperately hoping that I didn’t bomb out after the first transition. On arriving at Brauneck it was clear that the day was already “on” and people were already heading off on the xc adventures for the day. I quickly set my gear up and was soon in the air. The start of the flight went very well and I was soon well above Brauneck and off on my way south on the first transition. I was intentionally taking my time as I knew that there was a long day and I didn’t want to make a mistake due to rushing, especially on the first section. Thankfully in these conditions everything was working well and I was really enjoying the flying in the strong conditions, with integrated climbs of up to 6m/s.. Read the full article…

Zillertal Paragliding

I had organised to test the Skywalk Sage from Flugschule Hochries, unfortunately for the duration of the time I had the test wing the flying weather was very suboptimal. The only window turned out to be on the last day I had the glider, although the forecast was still fairly dubious with lots of cloud in the forecast but a good airmass. As it was still only the end of April the road to the Melchboden start was not yet open, however our taxi driver thought that the gate may have been open already, so we took a chance and drop up to the gate. Unfortunately we found that it was locked shut, so we got out of the taxi ready to walk the last few km, however as we were repacking our bags for the walk someone from the alm at the starting place turned up with a key and agreed to give us all a lift which was great. The conditions at the start were great with good climbs, a high base and no too much wind. We made the decision to fly towards Hintertux and then see. Read the full article…

Paragliding in the Bregenzerwald

With a slightly challenging forecast due to the good airmass but strong north westerly winds it was hard to work out where to go in order to make the most of the day. I elected to stay within a day trip of Munich, but made the long drive into the Bregenzerwald in the Bregenzerwald, in order to fly from Niedre, which is above Bezau. As I arrived in the carpark it became clear that I wasn’t the only one with this location as an idea, but that should be no surprise as it is one of the few lifts which are still running at the moment. It was also because there was a competition on from the same launch, but I didn’t know that at the time. After taking the lift to launch I was pleased to see that despite the meteo wind from the north, which was demonstrated by the summit windsock, there was a good thermal breeze flowing up the south facing slopes which created nice launch conditions. After a leisurely setup and a small wait until the thermals became strong enough, I launched and immediately found a. Read the full article…

Hintertux Flight

While away in the Zillertal skiing for Becky’s birthday, I took the opportunity of a perfect weather day to fly down from the top of the Hintertux ski area. It is very rare to get conditions good enough given the high altitude location and complex wind conditions. We were also lucky that despite being half term week in a lot of Bavaria the slopes were very quiet. During the day I was lucky enough to get not just one but two flights down, which were both absolutely beautiful. The views were just stunning and it was great to get a different perspective on the ski area, after my first flight down I wasn’t really expecting to get another, but when we were getting towards the end of the day and the conditions still worked, I couldn’t help myself but to enjoy a second flight back down.

Wösterhorn (Wösterkopf) Skitour

After munch debate about what we were going todo, on our second day in the Bregenzerwald we decided to head to the beautiful Lechtal with the objective as the Wösterhorn/Wösterkopf, which was an objectively very easy skitour, but it started high and we expected it to have fantastic views. The tour started easily out of the car park along a prepared piste which we followed for a few kilometers before branching off and heading off the beaten track. The initial ascent was wonderful with a beautifully made skin track which gently worked its way up the mountain with no need for any kick turns, as we climbed the terrain progressively became steeper and soon we were firmly in easy kick turn territory up to the Wöstersattel. The top of the ascent to the Wöstersattel became very cold as it was in the shade with a wind blowing down the slope, so it was great to emerge at the Wöstersattel and into the sun. From here the views up the Lechtal were absolutely beautiful and we could see north into Germany and the persistent inversion. From the Wöstersattel the ascent to. Read the full article…

Zafernhorn

Following fresh snow in the week and with a sunny weekend forecast, Eric and I decided to head to the Vorarlberg for a weekend of ski touring. As we had both had busy weeks with business travel and long days, we set off from Munich relatively late, leaving at around 8am. This only left time for a relatively short ski tour and after some planning we decided to head to the Zafernhorn in the Bregenzerwald. The tour started easily up a Forststraße, from which we emerged with stunning views at a beautifully located hut. From there we continued up towards the summit with no particular difficulties, there was one steeper section where we had to remove our skis and walk up, but otherwise it was fairly straight forwards. When we set off there was no sign of an inversion, but as time progressed it moved slowly up the valley and provided a wonderful view. When we got to the summit there were a number of other teams there, enjoying lunch, but we just quickly took some photos and headed back down, not wanting the snow to become any wetter. After. Read the full article…

Wetterkreuzkogel Ski Tour

After not getting to an actual summit yesterday due to the quantity of fresh snow no the ridge, I wanted to ensure that Katherine actually ski toured to her first proper summit today. I decided that with the snow conditions at the moment our best bet was to head back to the Wetterkreuzkogel, which I first did with Adam on a week long ski touring trip in 2019. We decided to go for an early start as some of the forecasts suggested that bad weather would come in around lunchtime, and it meant that the route would be quieter. It was another very cold morning, my car said -15 degrees as we were driving to the car park, and I think it was about -13 degrees where we parked. We took the phrase “be bold, start cold” to heart and were absolutely frozen as we left the car, but soon our cores warmed up as we climbed abruptly from the car up the twisty track in the forest, and eventually my fingers even warmed up. We emerged from the woods as the high cloud in the sky was being lit. Read the full article…