In the Paracuda paragliding club, we distribute the organization of the events among the members. So I agreed to organize a “walk n fly” event in October. Usually pilots go up with a cablecar to go flying. This saves us from having to carry the equipment for too far. But for people that want to do a bit more sport and see a bit more from the nature, there is “walk n fly”. It’s the perfect undertaking for autumn, where the thermals vanished and the temperatures retreat. The interest was stealthy from the start, but I still hoped some people would join. To my dismay, I was alone on the meeting point. That didn’t stop me from going to hike though. The Wasserberg was covered in a cloud, and the description in the Internet described the trail as difficult to find. So I save this one for later. Instead I went to the familiar Pfaff near Glattalp. About once a year, I take the cablecar to the Glattalp, and do the half hour hike to the Pfaff. It has a huge take off area with two possible directions. After I was airborne, I headed straight to the Kupferberg with a nice little cloud atop. As I approached, the birds left, and apparently the thermals as well. So I went to the next one. This was the mountain straight on top of where my father grew up. I remember looking up the wall when I was a kid, visiting my grandmother. It looked enormous from below, but at the hilltop looks very friendly. It even spared some thermals for me. In October late afternoon it’s already very nice, if you can hold your position for a couple of minutes. After cruising around in the Bisital some more, I landed right behind my uncle’s cows. That was actually the most difficult part of the flight. There is a tight grid of power lines, and only from atop I could spot a cell big enough to squeeze into. I had a coffe at my cousin’s house, and then hiked back to the car. The signs indicated more than an hour, but actually it takes only slightly more than half.
