Paragliding the Alps with Jon Chambers
Regular columnist Jon Chambers, who lives and flies in the Alps, takes us through the ideal alpine season in Cross Country 157.
It is winter in the Alps – the off-season for flying. But, there is a little bit more to it that just an off-season and a flying season, so for this article I thought I’d talk you through a year in the Alps to illustrate how the flying evolves and changes throughout the year.
In the winter snow dominates the high Alps and everyone turns to winter sports. Flying tends to be almost forgotten, but still some top to bottoms can be fun with the ski lifts providing easy access to some high altitude launches.
You need to be careful though with these winter flights as typically on the glorious days the wind will be katabatic close to snow covered slopes, meaning a gentle downslope wind.
Not only do you need to be confident of your forward launches but you also need to know some tricks to prevent your glider sliding down the slope on the smooth snow…
The full article is in Cross Country 157, Jan/Feb 2015.
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