Internet Problems!
Am sorry to report that I’ve had to suspend the blog for a while due to dreadful internet connection problems! It’s been causing me no end of frustration… aaagh! 
so for the time being the updates may be a bit sporadic, if at all but I intend to resume normal service as soon as! Meanwhile the snow is fantastic!!! Every cloud eh?!
Let it Snow!
Just look how much snow there is on Plaine Joux launch now, and it’s still snowing… we may go for a plough through the snow tomorrow up there. It’s actually quite wet down here, but who knows maybe later in the week or beginning of next we’ll get a chance to do some skiing 
!
Plaine Joux Launch... now!
And here’s the other side, a lot more than yesterday!
a lot more than yesterday...!
It’s Snowing, Yay!!!
Look at all this at Plaine Joux, and it’s still snowing! Time to polish up and sharpen those ski edges!! woo hoo!!!
taken from webcam, just a minute ago!
Ski Cruising 2010/11
We haven’t been doing much ploufing, just can’t seem to rustle up the enthusiasm. It’s been very cold recently and snuggling up by the fire is very appealing whilst we have some spare time. It’s not going to last for very long as the airport transfers are starting to accumulate. It looks like a weather change is on the way as snow is forecast. Thinking about snow, I’d taken a couple of helmet cam movies of last years skiing, so threw together a video. Just a taste or reminder of last seasons skiing to whet the appetite for the coming season.
Waiting for Winter
Not much to report just now… other than the weather has been flyable, so we’ve been out ‘ploufing’ most days, it’s set to continue along the same lines for a while yet, so more of the same seems to be the general concensus.
We’ve got regular frosted mornings, and early frozen vehicles the early signs of approaching winter… There’s been some snow on the Italian side of the mountain already and various light dustings around here but only short lived, it’s still incredibly mild in the afternoons.
Early Cloudscape
Not much to report, other than getting on with it. The new woodburner has arrived preparations are continuing for said applicance to take residence, hopefully
it will be up and running in a couple of days, especially as it’s getting darn cold at night, well for me it’s cold.
This morning we had some pretty impressive cloud formations, and here they are. Well it’s the same cloud really, just zoomed in a bit more on the second pic.
The sun brightened up the afternoon, although the cloud was disturbed for almost all of the day. The clouds did look heavily laden enough for rain, but that never materialised. Looks like it may well be flyable for the next couple of days.
Afternoon Play
Ben and me, (taking the pic!) on one of our mini glides
We’ve had a few nice autumnal days flying. The weather has been extremely sweet and agreeable. Dennis, was out working with Rozi, our client whilst I had other things to get on with before joining them later on in the afternoon.
Enjoyed a lovely afternoon’s flying and was playing around in the air with Dennis and Ben, there were a lot of non locals around today… don’t know where they’d come from but it was an exceptionally lovely aftrnoon. The inversion was present but weak, easy climbs, light puffy clouds and pleasing glides.
Serene September
August has come to an end as September serenely arrives with slightly cooler temperatures, and today… rain. It’s to be expected I suppose. Can’t complain about the rain with all the heat we’ve been having recently, I think everything could do with cooling down a bit…
We were out yesterday, where there were a few flying. Not many and not going anywhere but a couple of gentle floaty top to bottoms were had by most. We’re starting to wind down on the flying clientele just now although it’s not over yet! We do sometimes get some unexpectedly good flying days in September, October and on the rare occasion early November… although the days are shortening so not so long to fly.
contrast
We’ve had some nice pics from the Belgian Paragliding Open, where they sent us a link to the photo gallery… there are some great pictures amongst them, and we’re sorry we missed the presentation evening it looked like a great night.
I was having a look at a couple of photos taken here at one of the competitions earlier in the year and found this one… thought it looked really interesting with the lenticulars over snowy Mont Blanc and the contrasting dark green lower hills with climbing gliders in front, thought it captured the atmosphere pretty well… so here it is…. if you click on the pic the gliders will become visible.
Apologies for the lack of blogging recently, just found ourselves much busier than expected…
Journey Home
Mens Valley
Meanwhile, we left Laragne a couple of days early, as we had pending work to sort out, as well as get organsied for our next client. It was more beneficial for us to return home a couple of days early than to wait on what the weather charts dictated was going to be darn difficult to get to fly. A great big thankyou to the organisers though, because they did their absolute utmost, with an aoutstanding sterling effort to do all they possibly could to get us to fly, but sadly it never happened. It’s the nature of the game….
U-Boat mountain
On the drive home we came back through the Mens valley it’s a great view through there, we tried to find the launch area a time before but it was quite difficult to locate. The valley itself is so open with great xc potential I wonder why it’s not an area that is popular for competitions, maybe it’s a tad rural….? I just had to take a picture of the U-Boat mountain…. as we drove through you see what I mean.
Back at home, and getting organsied we have had a few relaxing days with family… but back to it tomorrow. The intensity of the summer months has subsided a bit now, we had some snow on the lower ridges of Varan and Les Quatre Tete, but it’s all cleared again… a slight autmumnal chill is making a minor appearance as we are nearing embarkation into the mellower month of September. The temperature change is very welcome as it has been stiflingly hot recently.
Question?
It’s absolutely pouring down this side of the Alps, so no flying for us…. However, it’s no biggie, why? because the XAlps is on, and we’ve been glued to our computers watching the tracks, it’s fanatastic!!! So here’s the thing, what are you doing looking at this blog when you should be here, where all the action is???
Normal, services will resume when the weather improves
One snippet of news though, we’ve managed to secure our places at the British Open in St. Jean Monclar!
For Sale
We have for sale two Kortel Kamasutra 2 harnesses with pods. 1 XS and 1 M. They are both the latest models purchased in Sprng 2011 and the condition is ‘As New’ Both for €750.00 each + postage.
Kortel Kamasutra 2 with pod
We also have for sale a Small Kortel Kanibal Race, again in ‘As New’ condition with the new modified flight deck/chest strap arrangement. Yours at a mere snip of a price of only €600+ postage
Kortel Kanibal Race
Please feel free to email us at info@flyers-lodge.com …
Autumn Is Upon Us
Autumn is definately here, with the treetops all turning, the temperature dipping, a regular dampness in the morning, and condensation on the windscreens. The snow has made a fleeting appearance , settling on Varan, and the surrounding mountains although then disappearing… just a minor taste of things to come. Our flying has now taken on the more serene character of gentle air and mild soaring. It is all still very enjoyable as what we don’t have in the spring and summer months in the shape of strong thermals and xc potential, we make up for in the sheer beauty of the changing landscape and the depth of colour, artists revel in. So here’s to welcoming in all the changes that mother natures offers….. We are still flying, but just scraping climb outs now.
