Großglockner and Alpenhauptkamm / Paragliding 2017

LIGHT & SHADOWS - Großglockner and Alpenhauptkamm, 6th July 2017:
Last Thursday - possibly the best day of the year to date - i bombed out near Lienz already at 10.30h in the morning. More than ten hours before sunset. Maximum penalty! And once again awfully disappointed.
To spend the rest of the day on the ground - waiting on Johanna, Didi and Tim - was not imaginable. I needed distraction … be airborn again, soothe my “pain” ;-)
After a short autostopp and two and a half hours of marching, the middle station of the Kalser mountain railway lay directly on the way up. Menless :-) And because I wanted to fly and not to walk, I did not let me beg for long, jumped into one of the passing gondolas and made me ready to start while driving up the cable car. Arrived at the Adlerlounge, I felt gusty wind from northwest to northeast, the clouds also showed a lot of wind in the altitude. If, however, the wind allowed to reach the base, I could use the west component well for a jump over the main crest. Not the worst option … and it would take me a little way home.
After a short look for a suitable take-off, I was finally airborn at two o´clock in the afternoon. The cooling did very well. With increasing altitude the thermals were quite disrupted, but the turn up to the base was possible. In addition, the wind was turning southwest. Perfect!
With almost 4,100 meters and partly 30 km/h + backwind, the route to Großglockner was very easy. I would have liked to stay longer at this magic place, but not today. And so the many impressions around Großglockner, Pasterze and the main crest have moved far too quickly past me. Over the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße I could already see and feel Zell am See, Steinernes Meer and the Hochkönig. But the cloud image of the north side spoke volumes of its own: more torn, windier. The Ferleitental along it went still fast, although much more turbulences than on the south side.
After crossing the Pinzgau I had, as expected, to fight the strong north-west wind. Thanks to the labile layering and many small bubbles I nevertheless slowly advanced. The coming home was hardly within reach because of the wind. After some thrill at Hundstein and Schwalbenwand it became unflyable to me at the Steinerne Meer. I capitulated and landed in Maria Alm at about 5 o´clock. My Bunnystopper (www.shuttle-bun...) helped me to a quick journey home again: two stops, short meeting with pilot-friend Alex at Saalfelden and at half past seven i arrived at my home. With a tearful and a smiling eye: I am too much of a pilot and love long trips too much, not to look back a bit wistfully for the missed opportunity.
Anyway, I’ve been given a wild and beautiful afternoon. And like last year, i could fly over Großglockner, Alpenhauptkamm and numerous other beauties towards home. Even if it looked like this at the beginning: it was not a lost day! Also not for others: Lex, Sebastian, Marcel, Tim, Didi and quite a few others made some crazy flights… Chapeau!
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Musik: Sweet Melancholy / Dag Reinbott, www.terrasound.de
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[@krzysztofkarczewski9188]

Servus. Wo hast Du gestartet? Danke im voraus.

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Richtig schön. Da will man gleich wieder fliegen gehen. 👍