A short video from the final flight of the afternoon last Sunday at Kössen, it was really feeling like autumn was starting to arrive with a large cloud inversion in the valley in the morning, followed by a day which took a long time to start and then when it finally did, a low base. Despite the low base small XC flights are possible at Kössen, and it was great that I was able to get away from the hill as it gave me some good experience on the glider that I was testing. Embarrassingly I didn‘t quite make it back to the landing due to misjudging the direction of the valley wind, the downside of not being familiar with the accelerated speed of the new wing! It was wonderful to fly in the atmospheric conditions, where it was possible soar up the outside of clouds and see Broken Spectres in the cloud.

After a long day on the Aggenstein we were after a shorter walk the following day, which involved a lift for ascent. We decided to head up the Sulzspitze from the top of the Neunerköpfle Seilbahn, the end of a long hike&fly Becky, James and I did last November. When we were there before I had scoped out that it looked like a great peak for a hike&fly, and as such this time took my glider along for the walk up so that I could fly back down. The walk up to the summit was very scenic and very easy, certainly less difficult than in the snow/ice last time!! Once we got to the top there was absolutely no wind, other than the odd thermal cycle from the south face which resulted in a small tailwind. After analysing the situation over lunch, I decided that it was suitable to take off and enjoy the flight back down. I was really hoping to get some lift and extend my flight back down. However as I flew off I wasn‘t finding any lift, I must have been too early for the west. Read the full article…