Antholz – 23.07.2021 – Hans Walcher
…After the rain the day before at 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm. I almost gave up hope of an early take off. Correspondingly only a few pilots were there…
“Just try it out and see what the day has to offer”, I thought to myself and was pleasantly surprised that at around 10:00 am there were already good thermals to dare to take the flight. The flight to the Stallersattel and the Defreggental were amazingly easy. I didn’t venture further to Kals and then turned to Matrei early so as not to be too late at Stallersattel.
“Just try it out and see what the day has to offer”, I thought to myself and was pleasantly surprised that at around 10:00 am there were already good updrafts to dare to take the flight. The flight to the Stallersattel and the Defreggental were amazingly easy. I didn’t venture further to Kals and then turned to Matrei early so as not to be too late at Stallersattel.
From Meransen to Sterzing, too, things went surprisingly well. I always had enough height to get over the summit, so I could easily reach the Ridnaun Valley. There I had to turn up on the leeward side, but that was more relaxed than two days ago when it was extremely flooded by the north. There was a southerly wind in the Ridanna Valley, which allowed me to get to the glaciers quickly.
I then turned around at the Becherhaus near the Wilder Freiger to fly back with a tailwind. At Ridnaun I was able to turn up really well in the north wind from the Brenner, south wind from the Ridnaun valley and west wind from behind.
So it went higher and higher and I had to get past the clouds on the windward side from the west and north wind.
From then on it went fast to Brixen with 70 to 106 km / h and I almost doubted my display – especially since it was flying very quietly. With the clear westerly wind, the return flight to the Dolo’s was easy anyway, I was more concerned about flying out of there again. The south wind could be felt and more clouds dissolved than there were. So I actually made the return flight to the Grente far too early and still gave away a few kilometers of the task.
Arriving safely at the destination was worth more than risking.
- Text Hans Walcher
