Things are getting spicy. As most of our group lost the best flying day walking or in the clouds, we started the day high up in the mountains with a forecast of 30 km/h+ winds.
We decided to climb the nearest hill anyway, but up there we measured winds up to 13m/s – def too much. However, lower down we found a “protected” spot and after “quick” one-hour contemplation, I decided to give it a try. Should I have known it wouldn’t be the sketchiest take off spot of the day, I would have taken off immediately instead of waiting for one hour… 😀
Conditions were smooth and nice, lifts everywhere. I got some additional height and then I hit the wall wind in the valley. After that, full bar, a sketchy landing and barely any distance at all. We gained nothing, asphalt was the winning option again. But hey, at least we’ve got some nice shots!
Then it was just too hot, too far, too windy and too tiring. Spain as I imagined. Our next selected take off laughed at us with gusty wind. But the way down was long and would take ages. In between the cycles, we measured around 7m/s, so I decided to give it a try.
I walked down a bit and opened the wing. The cycle came brutally, I had to knee down holding the Bs. But well, I’ve done that before, in Chile, South Africa, Brazil, so I count on my experience. I pull the wing up, the lift comes immediately. I’m traversing the slope, twisted. I can still stall it, I think… I manage to turn around and try to get to my speed bar. My always peaceful Scala seems to be mad. I sort out a cravat, push the bar and try to calculate how much altitude I need to jump behind the ridge. There are no landings in front and I can barely move forwards – sideways it is then.
I take some lifts on the way and clear another ridge as I can’t seem to fly along it. After the next one, there are only high mountains. I’m not taking chances, so I decided to escape all the lifts and move towards the main valley. The valley is calm and there are big landing spots there – I like that. I guess I could have pushed further… Still, I gained some positions, found some limits, and most importantly, flew over really slow terrain.
We finished the day early, at 20:10. As the storm approached, it made more sense to fly down in the morning than to descend that late.
Overall, that day 4 was a good day.
