Goodbye

Yesterday was my last day in Armenia. We went to Vedi with Armen and Miho, Sasha and Vasili. I didn't want to take risks, so I stayed in the valley. It wasn't the day for big XC anyway.

After paragliding we went to Miho's place for shashlik. I was really surprised that they first put all vegetables right into the flames. But it's only to burn the skin, it can be easily taken off afterwards. Learned something new!

Now I'm in Kiev again waiting for my flight to Zurich. I couldn't take that many souveniers with me because of weight restriction and my paraglider, but I take many beautiful memories with me.

Special thanks to Anton and Sashka. It was always fun to go fly with you together. Thanks to Stephan and his mother from balcony hostel. II really like the place. It was good to talk to different people late into the night on the balcony while drinking beer or raspberry wine ;-). Armen jan organised many connections. Thank you as well. I shouldn't forget Mane. She showed me many nice places in Yerevan. Sometimes it was almost too much on the shedule, but it was always interesting.

Thank you all very much. You made my visit to a wonderful experience. I'm looking forward to meet you again!

Armenian record

Yesterday, I could make something out of the given conditions. We went to Vedi, again. I took off, but it was not yet good enough. So I toplanded and waited for a better cycle.

The second attempt was better, and I started flying to east, taking every tiny bit of lift I could catch. In the next valley, conditions were much better. Strong thermals, but a lot of headwind. As I crossed Selim pass, I could already see the massive cloudstreet over the plateau to Garni. I returned to the western side of the pass and made altitude for following the highway...

It was stronger than expected, and the SE wind pushed me. However, I cheated and made some more meters than cloudbase. But chance that there is somebody else flying there is equal to 0, and you really don't want to land on this plateau if you want to get home the same day.

Close to Garni I decided to turn. The Wind turned to W, and I wanted to close the triangle. At one point, I found myself low again. No good landing possibilities, and not even a road in this canyon. But I was lucky again and could reach top. After a long glide, I was just able to cross the ridge to the takeoff.

I was just thinking about gliding in the valley, as I hit a strong thermal again. If you have luck, you got to hold it! Then, I realised that my phone was ringing. Anton wanted to know where I am, so I told him to watch in the sky :-). I crossed the valley to south towards the military area. Pushing as far as I could, and just NOT landing there. But everything went fine and I flew back.

At the end, I landed next to the fountain on the street. The others were so kind to wait...

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:pesca1/25.7.2013/08:08

Jermuk

On Sunday, we went on to Jermuk. Many hotels never completed, like tourism never really came as they expected. We went to see a geysir. The road was to bad for the Delica, so we went by foot. Unfortunately, there were only two places in the hot water and far too many people. So we took just a smoll bath in the river beside the geysir.

We bought some meat for shashlik. First, we went to the river, but there were too many mosquitos. So we went uphill for camping.

On monday, we tried flying in Jermuk. There is a chairlift, and it was even working! However, there was quite strong E wind. Takeoff was limit, the flight as well. Couldn't get enough high to reach the next ridge. So a landef near the monastry, at the beginning of the runway of Jermuk airport (no idea when a plane landed there last time). Strong wind, 40 - 45 km/h, but landed save.

On the way back to Yerevan, we found another place to fly. Tiny hill in a big valley, but we could play around a little bit. Back in Yerevan some armenian fastfood.

Tatev

The forecast for last weekend was not that good, so we decided to go to Tatev. On the way, we bought some raspberry wine beside the street. Really good stuff!

The first part in the plane is highway with 50 km/h speed limit (some sort of road pricing). Then comes a part with valleys and passes. On the third part there is like highland with volcano hills.

To Tatev, you can take either the aerial tramway or go by car. By car, you can also go to the gorge. After some climbing you have to go down the river. There is a cave with some sort of natural bath tubs, very nice. Best part of, the monastry is nice as well, but.

In the evening, we bought some vegetables in Goris. Then, we drove back to a little lake, where we built up the tent.

Selim Pass

With S wind, it should be possible to fly at Selim Pass. Yesterday, i decided to find out. I went at 10 am, unfortunately I had to wait a long time for the minibus. It finally left at 11:30. From Yeghegnadzor I stopped cars. I arrived late at 3 pm. Not really the time for XC.

However, I found quickly a takeoff spot and lounched. As expected, there was lot of wind. But I could play around a little bit. As the valley was in shadow because of a big cloud, I decided to topland and wait for the sun. Unfortunately, the wind turned and I had to pack my glider instead. Because of the long journey, I decided to stay at the pass and try tomorrow again.

There was also a russian, who was exploring Armenia by foot, and a french couple with a camper. I spent the night in the shelter. It was not as cold as expected (the pass is above 2200m) and I could sleep well. So well that I missed the sunrise :-(.

Today, I took off early due the strong S wind. I was able to thermal up in the vally to the right. It's more sheltered from the wind, and I could find something which kicked me to the cloudbase. Because of the strong S wind, I tried to cross the plateau direction NW. There was a big, good looking cloud. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything. It was a gamble.

So I hiked back to the ridge and tried again. The takeoff spot was not so good, and I could only glide to the bottom of the valley.

The first ride was a transporter. I was sitting behind eating apricots and chatting with two nice ladies. No picture but :-/ . The 2nd car drove me straight to Yerevan. Cheaper and much faster than yesterday!

All in all an interesting trip, not much flying, but still fun!

Aparan

Two days ago, we had finally some south wind and we could takeoff near Aparan. First, it was not so easy to get height. The thermals away from the ridge used to go higher, but they were weak and difficult to catch. Unfortunately, Armen and me got pretty low at the valley with the old gold mine. Really not the place to land, as it is forbidden to go there. After a short landing, we discussed the strategy. I decided to takeoff quickly and fly over the ridge with minimum altitude. It was not so bad as the wind was coming sidewards, so no leeside rotors. With the next thermal, I could satellisate myself finally. I turned as I saw Anton flying back. The view was amazing. The valley in the north was completely covered and we were flying 1000m above these clouds. However, it didn't take me long time to find myself again low in the valley behind the takeoff. I was lucky again and could use the convergence. After that, I decided not to fly back but fly as far as still possible. I crossed the railway to Tbilisi. On the other side, i could only gain some meters, so I turned and let me blow into the valley as far as I could.

I packed my glider, then David showed me the way over the bridge to the street. After 10' I got a ride to Hrazdan. From there minibus back to Yerevan.

Yesterday, we tried the site again, but unfortunately the north wind kicked in and it was not possible to takeoff. We spent the whole day watching the beautiful clouds...

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:pesca1/16.7.2013/08:15

Vedi

The last couple of days, we went again to  Vedi, but it wasn't that good as the first day. The Emagrams look always brilliant, but there's still something missing for the big XC-conditions. We have now the 2nd week with north wind, which is not so common here. South wind would open more possibilities for XC. we'll see when the weather will change. However, the flying is still good. Some pictures from yesterday, actually not from the flying itself, but...