www.FlyingMax.com – Paragliding

– SIV over Lake Annecy,
– Festival at Coupe Icare – St. Hilare,
– Flying in the Dolomites and staying at a 5 star hotel,
– Flying in the Bavarian Alps
– and parting at the Oktoberfest in Munich with style.

This is pretty much what it was in short.
“Most asked question was, how many days could you fly… answer, 
Out of the whole trip, which was 2.5 weeks, 2 days we were not flyable.”

The tour started in Geneva, Switzerland and I picked up the Canadians with a 9 passanger van. About an hour later, we arrived at the campsite which is right at the south end of Lake Annecey and right next to the SIV landing site.

The day we arrived at the camp we got a very warm welcome from Christa and Juergen (owners of the Flight school www.fs-grenzenlos.com).  Juergen offered to drive us up to the launch site, from where we were we were able to see the magnificent views over lake Annecy, followed by a one hour thermal flight. Not a bad start for the first day!

The next day (Sunday) the SIV started with checking the equipment, going through the protocols of the SIV and social/food/drink program. You can sign up in the camp to get breakfast and dinner within the program or simply go out for dinners. For accommodations you can bring your tent or rent a trailer/cabin to stay in.
The SIV program was jam packed with flights and instructions. We flew every day (except one day) and every pilot was working on their own program and goals.
Thanks again to Christa Vogel and Juergen Kraus, who mad us all feel so welcome and put on such an fantastic course.

On Friday we drove to St. Hilare to the Coupe Icare which took about 1.5 hours. We set up our tents and then joined the fantastic activities and shows until Sunday. It is hard to describe the Coupe Icare, and the only way to understand it all is to be there! John described it as  “almost an overload of flying activities”. Whether you looked into the sky or on the ground, there was always something going on.

Sunday was our last day at Coupe Icare which we finished with a morning flight and then drove 8 hours to the Dolomite’s in Italy.

The first night we spent in Sillian and on Monday we all met at Bluesky.at for the pilots/welcome meeting. Right after, on our way to the hotel, we had our first flight at Monte Pinao (next to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo). Later that day we arrived at our base camp Hotel Olympia, which is a very friendly 5 star hotel in Araba, right in the middle of the Dolomite’s. Accommodations include a European breakfast buffet and a 5 course dinner, if you planned to come to lose weight, that is the wrong place to be.
We were able to fly every day in the Dolomite’s, with some days flying for hours over the Marmolada Glacier, Langkofel, Sella and the Rosengarten. Again, words and pictures will not do justice, you need to be there yourself to understand.

After the Dolomite’s we were headed to the Bavarian Alps, with our basecamp in Pfronten. We only stayed there for 2 full days with one rain day and one day for flying at the Neunerkoeplfe and at Hannenkam. The rain day was a great experience on its own, as we ended up at a local street fest which gave us the opportunity to get dressed up for the Octoberfest in Munich.

On our last day, we traveled in the morning to Munich (1.5 hours) and spent the day and night at the Oktoberfest and I think I do not need to write about the fun we had there.

All in all, it was a great trip, awesome people, learned lots, flew a lot, lots of laughs and gained a lot of new friends.

More pictures about the tour at
https://photos.app.goo.gl/v1y8Okg9o1nZKWXr1