Judith's blog

We were going to go skiing today, but the forecast was for 14C in the Pyrenees (22C at the coast), and the avalanche risk was still high this morning, so the top runs were closed. Once it was too late to go, we found out that they were blasting and hoped to get the higher runs open this afternoon. Never mind. I hate slush.

Instead, we had a proper classic forecast for Santa Brigida. Five to seven on the Beaufort scale at the coast, light inland. Perfect! I skyped Nicky to see if she fancied a flutter and we posted that we were going on the Parapent-Girona list. Lots of people replied saying they would come.

There were massive wave bars over the Pyrenees and unusually, close to Santa Brigida too. We met in the parking place and Roger, Sergi, Joan, Nicky and us headed up the hill. It was a bit scratchy at first, but then came good. Roger was the first to sky out, followed by the others. By the time I was ready (too much chatting!), it had become scratchy again and Geoff was struggling. Roger promised me a free ride up if I went down, so I launched. Now two of us were scratching low…

It was far harder than yesterday, but we eventually managed to get up again. When I landed, I looked around and squealed with delight… Xevi’s back after a year and a half in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. So nice to have him back! By this time conditions looked to becoming very good indeed and Sergi, Roger and Xevi all went into orbit. Sergi went to explore the valley and el Far, whilst Nicky did a hop, skip and a jump that ended in a twist and shout. No serious damage done, she and I went on a nice evening flight where I tried her Karmasutra harness. It was like flying in a kiddie’s camping chair. I think I need a size bigger!

Joan, whom it was a pleasure to meet for the first time today, did a first couple of top landings and was last to land. Seems he couldn’t get enough of the lovely evening conditions.

Oh, and it’s the first 100km day in the UK. At least two in Scotland, five from Wether Fell and I assume that more people are not even home yet… [later edit: no, these five were all from Wether Fell, not Scotland. See http://www.xcleague.com/xc/leagues/view-1.html?vx=200318]

See photos of today.

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The first day of sunshine for ages! We woke up to leaden skies, but there were patches of blue already showing. With strong tramunatana at the coast, Santa Brigida was going to be the best place to fly. I had to collect my parents from the airport, so Geoff and I arranged to meet there. The trade-off for fetching them, was that they then had to drive me to go flying.

The heavy rain made some of the bank next to the road unstable and a big rock has fallen and is now blocking the road. You can just about get past it by coming off the road, but without a 4×4, we thought we might get stuck, so parked up and started to walk. Luckily, Roger called us after about 10 minutes and came down for us. It had looked windy, but arriving on top, it had dropped right off and gone off to the east. Roger and Geoff launched, but it was scratchy and a bit rough, so both top landed after a short time. Tomas arrived, all keen to get his new kit in the air again, but I was starting to have some concerns about how far off to the east it was getting. Unless it’s 90 degrees off, it’s flyable, but the ridge doesn’t work when it’s off, and unless you get a thermal, you’re nearly guaranteed to go down. Tomas had the added problem of not being able to get into his new pod harness easily and by the time he’d done so, was a long way out from the hill and heading down. So we waited. It became very gusty for a while and clouded over, but at 4.30pm the conditions came good, the sun started shining, and we all had nice flights, getting to 900′ ATO. Geoff, Tomas and I got low at one point and had to work collaboratively to scratch the bowl behind the monastery to get back up and satisfyingly, we all did.

See photos of today.

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Geoff writes: a flying day. The forecast was pretty good, warm, sunny, and south. We set off relatively early to Bellmunt, so Wayne and Mick could have a first flight, to see the ridge before the middle of the day when it’s much stronger. I launched first, and they followed, all of us landing for a retrieve by Judith, and a trip back up. Judith then flew first, followed by Wayne and me. It was a lot stronger this time, quite rough in places, easy to get above launch, Wayne getting 2000′ or so ATO. Base wasn’t high enough to go over the pass to Olot though. We flew for a while, then chose to land at the bottom.

Mick picked us up, and we went to Santa Brigida, for what we hoped would be a nice evening flight. The wind was quite strong when we arrived, but slowly dropped off, and eventually we all had a flight or two, followed by the usual beers.

Overall, a great day. Which is fortunate, since the weather is now starting to deteriorate.

See my photos of today.

See Wayne’s photos of today.

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We had been planning to go to the famous carnival in Sitges today, but on getting more info, we decided to go elsewhere. On checking on the internet again, we realised that we would have missed the main fun in Vilanova i la Geltru and St Feliu de Guixols by the time we got there too. It wasn’t a massive hardship… the weather forecast was excellent and we can easily go to the Olot carnival next weekend.

Lots of people were planning to go to fly at Bellmunt, what with the forecast sunny with light southerlies. On the way there, it seemed very windy in the Val d’en Bas, but less so when we got to the Plana de Vic. A huge number of people were out, but when we got up to launch the wind seemed to be picking up. We decided to wait a bit, but Oscar took off first, and it was evident how much west there was in the wind. Nevertheless, Oriol, Marc, Dai and Miquel also launched. All got high and Marc and Dai flew to Aiats, Cabrera then off to Olot. The rest of us sat around and waited for the gusts to stop and the wind come more on.

Eventually at about 3pm, Amadeu launched followed by a few others. Then the wind picked up again. Then it dropped, more launched, etc. Lots and lots of people flew to Olot today. Once I launched, having waited around for three hours, my heart wasn’t really in it any more. It was also bumpy in the air. I did get high and could have gone to base and tried to cross Puigsacalm again today, but instead I flew around, enjoyed the view and took some photos. A nice chill out!

Geoff got high and pushed into wind, getting to the castle to the west for the first time. We landed together and enjoyed the sunshine, and then drove back up the hill to fetch Amadeu’s car. It seemed daft someone having to drive him back from Les Preses when we were going back that way anyway and when he lives just up the road from Olot.

See photos of today.

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It was one of those forecasts where it could be really good, or over-develop too fast and become crap. Oriol posted on the Parapent Bellmunt group that he thought it would be excellent, but only we and Marc wanted to come out to play. We hooked up with Marc at Les Preses to leave a car there and then drove up to Bellmunt. There was cumulus popping off everywhere and we needed to get a move on, given the forecast of possible over-development. We spent 20 minutes assessing the sky, but each cumulus that started to tower collapsed again, so we decided to take-off. First goal was the Val d’en Bas and then we’d decide which route to take.

Oriol launched first and had no problem staying up. He headed west along the ridge, while Marc took off and rocketed up to cloud base. I was next and by the time I was half way to base, Marc was already making his way to the Col de Bracons, which is the pass that leads along to Puigsacalm and the Val d’en Bas. Oriol came to join me and together we climbed under a cloud. What we hadn’t appreciated on launch was that the fluffy stuff in front wasn’t matched behind the ridge, where the cloud has spread out and was completely shading everything. Geoff was stuck on launch for a while with little wind and no sun to bring it on. Oriol and I were surfing the front of the spreadout and making good progress, but Geoff, only 10 minutes behind us, had his work cut out, racing against the advancing cloud cover.

The clouds were wide, so you couldn’t see what was above you and I decided to proceed with caution. I would test if I was still in the thermal or was being sucked up by the cloud by flying bigger circles and pushing out to the edge of the cloud. Once I was in cloud suck, I went on glide, making the most of the lifty line. Going across Puigsacalm is a bit of a wind-up. The pass is at the top of a massive bowl, covered in trees and usually there is a strong venturi effect, so you do not want to sink into the bowl. The top of the ridge, Puigsacalm, is 400m higher than take-off, so you need a decent cloudbase to cross. I have only done it once, three years ago, when the higher base was over 8000′ and I crossed comfortably. This time I got to base and put big ears on at 6300′ AMSL, and glided to the edge of the Puigsacalm ridge and arrived there at ridge height. Below me, and to my horror, I could see Marc scratching at the foot of the mountain in the bowl. Given his postition, I assumed there wasn’t a strong wind, but there’s only limited, small, steep landing fields or the road. He managed to land in a small area next to a tunnel.

Oriol showed me the guaranteed lift trigger, which was beyond the sheer wall of rock and the waving walkers on the summit. Having seen him crab along the ridge and then hit the lift, I was reassured that it would work for me too, and if it didn’t I could make it out into the valley, which is jam packed with massive flat fields. We got a thermal at the end of the ridge and then had to decide which route to take… along the Val d’en Bas to Olot and beyond, or down the valley to Santa Brigida. I could see a big fire with its smoke stuck to the ground blowing SW, so we decided a better plan would be to fly to Olot and try to cross the ridge to Castellfollit. I promised him beer and olives on our terrace if we made it.

Oriol chose a better trigger and got high, but I went to a cloud that wasn’t working and got low over Les Preses. Twice I got a low save, but with no drift didn’t make any progress in any direction. In the end I landed about 300m from Marc’s car. He arrived about 4 minutes after I landed. Oriol tried to head to Castellfollit, but hit a strong headwind once at Olot, so he turned round, flew back and landed with us.

Meanwhile, we hadn’t heard from Geoff and couldn’t reach him by phone or radio. The spreadout had caught him and he wasn’t able to get a second thermal to cross the pass, despite being at 1600′ ATO. He had to fly back and land in Torelló. He was busy walking up for the car, but with nobody going up, he walked for an hour (with PG), before a passing car gave him a lift. Once he got into the Val d’en Bas, the sky was clearing and he decided to drive to Santa Brigida for an evening flight. He texted us to meet him there, so Marc and I drove down and they both had a really nice evening flight in residual thermals (getting about 700′ ATO) and restitution, landing at 6pm.

See photos of today.

See my flight tracklog.

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The forecast for today was slightly worse than yesterday. Strong north at the coast, low pressure and probably more cloudy. We dismissed going skiing, deciding to save it for a sunnier day tomorrow. I have loads of work to catch up on, so knuckled down this morning, but it didn’t seem too windy and there were nice cumulus forming, so at 2pm we decided to give Santa Brigida a go. The plan was that if it was flyable we’d have a quick sandwich and then fly, if not, we could sit in the sun, have a sandwich and a beer, read for an hour and then head home via a look around Les Preses. Since all the local mid-week flyers have abandoned us, we assumed we’d be the only ones there.

As we got closer, we were looking at the usual tell-tales for wind and were getting a little concerned, until we saw a glider over the ridge. Geoff put his foot down…

We could see three gliders getting reasonable height, but didn’t look high enough, another four were on their way to cloudbase. As we got up to launch our assumption was confirmed – a group of French pilots in FFVL vans. There were a dozen or so pilots altogether. We thought it was probably the school in Font Romeu, where they teach paragliding as an elective, but the R10s and high aspect Sky gliders seemed a bit advanced even for the amazing child pilots the school produces. As we walked on to launch, the wind was west, sometimes even north and the guys were launching when the thermals brought it on. They were getting high, but from their glide it was clear that the wind was actually 90 degrees off and when it turned, they were having some minor problems, although the guys who had launched earlier were in orbit.

I got ready and decided to wait a bit. The forecast was northerly and this wasn’t a classic Santa Brigida forecast. The smoke in the valley was north and on the monastery flag it was west. If we’d been on our own, we would not have got the gliders out of the bag. Everything inside my head was screaming ‘Don’t do this! if you have an accident and you have to explain it, it will be bloody obvious you shouldn’t have launched!’  But seeing people high, having a great time is a massive draw. Geoff let some more visitors go and then decided to launch too. I know his flying style better than anyone else’s and can get more info about the conditions from watching him than any other indication. He didn’t seem to make it look horrible at all. I waited a little longer and then the wind turned south … not just on launch, but in the valley in front and behind as well. Time to go!

I launched straight into a thermal and got up to 1200′ ATO easily and cruised around. I wasn’t thermalling very well. It’s been a while since we’ve been in strong, drifting thermals and I was having some issues mapping them. It didn’t really matter, since there was lift everywhere and every cloud was working really well. Since I didn’t launch until nearly 4pm, I assumed that the conditions would deteriorate and therefore didn’t try too hard, and that might have been a mistake, since the French guys did pretty big triangles, some getting to near Roca Corba, Puig d’Afrou and back. People were basically flying all over the place. After an hour and a quarter in the air, I attempted a couple of top landings, but it had picked up a lot and it was impossible to get down. Geoff was already trying to bottom land and I could see he was having a bit of a time of it, so decided to do the sensible thing and go down too – if it meant a walk back up, so what?

A few of us came in at the same time, so I elected to go into the higher field, but as I came in I hit a huge wind gradient and got dumped on my butt very unceremoneously. It turned out that the French guys weren’t from the Font Romeu area, but from the Alps and some are in the national team. They’re based in Berga for the week, but since it’s too windy in Berga they came down to Santa Brigida. A Sky glider came in after me and it was Laurie Genovese – star of the Women’s Open in Àger last August. Really lovely to see her.

And the conditions today? Base was 2700m (8860′) AMSL – that’s 2260m (7400′) ATO!

Geoff writes: as often happens at Santa Brigida, you’re flying a southerly site in strong northerly winds, and that always makes us a bit wary. But the reality was that today, though the wind was very switchy, there was not that much met wind (at first), so it seemed safe to treat this as a normal thermic site and launch when the cycles came on, as they increasingly did. It was very thermic, but not too rough, and easy to get high. At about 3400′ ATO, though, it did get rough, and I’m pretty sure this was the shear layer between the south and north winds. The clouds were drifting from the north, quite fast, i.e. the met wind higher up was north. I was a bit reluctant to go through this, and so pulled out at about 3500′ ATO. The other consideration at Santa Brigida is the airspace, and it is important to avoid that, for obvious reasons. The visiting pilots were not aware of the airspace, not having checked it out before they came.

So I pulled out and pushed forward, getting further over the ridge in front than I have ever done before. There were thermals everywhere, and it was very easy to stay up – but harder to get down. When I decided to land, the met wind low down had picked up a fair bit, and top landing was very hard, so I decided to bottom land. Not sure if this was a good decision, because it was rough landing, but I got down fine.

And just one Catalan pilot there! All the rest were French, and us.

All in all, a pretty epic day – quite possibly the best we have ever had there.

See photos of today.

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Geoff writes: back home after the skiing trip, we decided to have an afternoon flying, after doing some work in the morning. Warm, sunny, south west and nice cumulus. We met up with Oriol to go up Bellmunt, quite optimistic about the condition, and hoping that maybe the thermals would be high enough, or there would be convergence, so we could cross the (small, 1500m) mountains to get to Olot. Judith has done this before, I never have.

I was first to launch, and struggled to stay up, managing to soar on the lower ridge, going up and down a few hundred feet. Judith, then Oriol, then others who had turned up, also launched. It was a real struggle even to get back above launch height. Judith landed first, then I gave up and went down after about 40 minutes. The others flew for a bit longer, but it never got any better. A surprisingly poor day, given the sky looked so great. Probably this was due to another inversion, we are plagued with them at the moment. Though having said that, it was soarable most of the day, and as we were leaving about 5.00pm, a latecomer was still on the ridge, maintaining.

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