St Hillare, Annecy and an awesome flight

We travelled north again leaving Laragne. The cloudbase outside the car looked low and we didn't expect to fly. On the way up to Annecy, we thought we would check out the St Hillare launch since it is so well known for it's paragliding festival in September. Just as we got there we saw another hang glider turning off onto an unmarked road. We followed. It took us to a near vertical launch. 2 mins later, a bus load of hang gliding students turned up. It was on. And we were off.

The lift was extremely weak as it was nearly 100% cloud cover but we managed to stay up for about 20 mins before giving up the ghost and going for a glide along the cliffs. Still very nice and a worthwhile stopover.

We kept on going towards Annecy.


We woke the next day to heavy rains and a flooded campground. It took till 2:30pm before we bothered even heading up the hill. But when we got there, it was on again, paragliders were everywhere and going up.


We launched and started going up but then the cycles stopped we grovelled for 20min before finally finding a corker to take us up close to cloudbase. After that was some of the best and most scenic flying I have ever done. This place is awesome.


Flying around a lake with jagged rock faces surrounding it was very beautiful. We did the traditional circuit around the lake, hopping from peak to peak. On the way back, you stop off at a ridge that is 90deg to the valley breeze. You are able to soar it all the way to top. I have never done something like this before because I almost soared this ridge back to cloudbase.

After I did the circuit, I still hadn't had enough and started around again. On the jagged peaks just past launch, I managed to surf the edge of the cloud a hundred or so metres above base. Nice.


Was the best flight I have had. Maybe. It is definitely up there. The forecast for tomorrow is looking even better.