XC131: the latest issue of Cross Country magazine

The latest issue of Cross Country magazine ‘XC131: the mountain issue’ has just gone to print. As you can guess from the title we’ve focused the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Cross Country magazine on mountain flying.

Accompanying XC131 is a FREE A2 colour poster that explains how valley winds work.

FREE poster with XC131 on how valley winds work

The 84-page glossy colour extravaganza kicks off with a six-page gallery dedicated to mountain flying, with contributions from the legendary lenses of Maupoint, Scheel and Busslinger.

With your appetite thoroughly wetted towards adventures in the big stuff, flick onwards to ‘Mountain Flying’, the first main feature of the issue. Cross Country’s outgoing editor Bob Drury gathers some of the best names in the sport to create an eight-page focus on how to fly the mountains. With special attention given to understanding those mysterious beasts the valley winds, it’s a must-read for anyone serious about flying in mountainous terrain.

Staying on topic, ex-paragliding world champion Bruce Goldsmith looks at some of the techniques he’s used over the years to bring him his world title and three British Championships, when he explains how to race in the mountains.

XC Files, Cross Country magazine’s tuitional section, looks at the effect of a wind gradient, the performance gains of pod harnesses, and long-time hang gliding weather expert Denis Pagen challenges our resident meteo columnist Honza Rejmanek on his explanation of dust devils last issue.

As well as a look at the safety of 2 mm sidewires on their wings, hang glider pilots also get a closer look at the goings on in the European championships, then get closer still with the new European champion Gerolf Heinrichs.

If thrills are your thing then be prepared to be overdosed when you read the firsthand account of Cross Country magazine’s resident acro columnist Pal Takats’ experiences of learning to Infinite Tumble a tandem with Gabor Kezi. The bit where the glider explodes and they plummet into freefall will make you shiver; the onboard images of it happening are amazing!

And there’s more…

Find out what the test team thought when they took the Ozone Delta and ITV Awak Tandem for a spin. Read about the 312 km flight and the PG pre-worlds in Spain’s Piedrahita, the latest from the PWC, the El Yelmo festival, iPhone apps for flying and the sad discovery of Russian Alexey Ashurov, the pilot who disappeared in Bir, India last Autumn.

XC131 is available in paper or digital format as part of a yearly subscription or as an individual issue.

Click here to buy it.

Pål Hammar Rognøy D-bags from his own paraglider above the Swedish ski resort of Åre.

Britain's Kirsty Cameron tops the podium, flanked by Spaniards Esther Garaizar and Beatriz Garcia, at the first women's paragliding open in Ager.

Britain’s Kirsty Cameron has won the first female-only paragliding open that was held in Ager in the Spanish Pyrenees, both open and serial classes, winning herself a new Sup’Air harness and Flymaster B1 nav GPS-vario.

Spanish pilots, Esther Garaizar and Beatriz Garcia, were second and third respectively, both also on serial class gliders. Britain’s Ruth Churchill-Dower topped the sports class category,

The competition finished on Friday 27 August, having had four tasks which ranged from 38 to 100 km, wind unfortunately depriving pilots of the last potential task day on the Friday.

The field of pilots was not huge,only 36 pilots being on the final results table, but judging by the blogs and Facebook comments, a good time was had by all, and those who attended seem to be looking forward to attending the next event (it seems there will be one) and pilots who missed out this time promising to swell numbers next time.

www.womenspgopen.org

PWC Portugal 2010 overall winners' podium. L-R: Claudio Virgilio, Lucas Bernardin, Julien Wirtz

PWC Portugal 2010 womens' podium. L-R: Katarzyna Gruzelwska-Losi, Seiko Fukuoka-Naville, Marina Olexina.

The seventh competition in the 2010 Paragliding World Cup series finished in Serra da Estrela in Portugal on 14 August.

Three tasks (104, 53 and 66 km) were held, the other days being plagued by strong winds. (more…)

Norwegian acro star Ove Tillung in action over Are, Sweden in the 2010 Downteam Challenge. Photo: Fred Gustafsson

Nordic acro champion, Norwegian Ove Tillung, won the 2010 Downteam Challenge acro competition held in the Swedish ski resort of  Ã…re from 6 – 8 August.

With him on the Norwegian podium were Rolf Dale and Kjartan Andvik.

Sixteen-year-old Emil Selin, only flying for a year-and-a-half, topped the Swedish podium, with Martin Kjellman (last year’s champion) and Axel Knutsson in third.

As with last year’s event, the weather was very kind for the duration, the pilots getting in six runs over the four days, and the judges basking in the sun while others swam in the lake.

It is now to be an annual event, and the organisers are looking forward to welcoming even more pilots and spectators in 2011.

Full results on Downteam’s website.

Downteam Challenge 2010 Norwegian podium. Photo: Fred Gustafsson

The Swedish podium, Downteam Challenge 2010. Photo: Fred Gustafsson

Readers who enjoy the electronic version of Cross Country or Paramotor magazines through Zinio, may like to know that Zinio Reader 4 is now availble to download from the company’s website. Zinio say of Reader 4, “Our fastest, lightest application to date features clipping / bookmarks, customizable zoom and access to new, enhanced content”. www.zinio.com

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Flight international festival for paragliders, hang gliders and microlights takes place at the Tegelberg, Germany, over the weekend of 25 – 26 September.

www.flight-festival-tegelberg.de

In July 2010 India’s paragliding community came together to form a National Association for the sport, the Paragliding Association of India.

The main objective of the association is to provide a national platform for the paragliding community in India and to promote, develop, control and regulate the sports of Paragliding and Paramotoring.

The PAI’s first general meeting took place in Mumbai on 17th July 2010. A Managing Committee was democratically elected to administrate the association and a Technical Committee for flying and safety. A second meeting is planned for 27 August at Yelagiri.

www.pgaoi.org

Three weeks after Argon won the Golden Peak award at the Nissan Outdoor games in Chamonix-Mont Blanc, French team Oseven have won the online contest with their film, directed by Maxime Moulin.

The team were selected by a Julbo Eyewear sponsored contest.

More than 1500 votes were recorded, and team Oseven were ahead in the voting from quite early on.

www.nissanoutdoorgames.com

In celebration of their tenth anniversary and new image, Icaro Paragliders are running a competition to find the best photo of Edelweiss growing in the wild, but they implore, please do not pick the protected flower.

The deadline for entries is 31 October 2010 and the winners will be chosen on 8 November. The five winners will receive shopping vouchers of 100 Euros each for Icaro Paragliders and Fly & More.

Icaro suggest perhaps including a piece of the wing or your backpack in the image, to reflect the adventure you were enjoying when you found the alpine flower.

Send your entries, max 5 per entrant,  to Icaro paragliders by email (up to 10 Mb JPEG) or post (address below) with the heading “Fly & bring me Edelweiss”. Don’t forget to include your name, address, telephone number and email address.

Icaro Paragliders, Fly & Bring me Edelweiss, Hochriesstraße 1, D-83126 Flintsbach, Germany.

Edelweiss bloom in the Alps from July to September. You find them on stony meadows, rocks, alpine meadows in limestone surroundings at altitudes of 1,800 to 3,000 metres.

www.icaro-wings.com