Previously
published in Cross Country # 99 May/June 2005. The two versions
have different photos.
=NIMBUS= |
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In
the far northern reaches of Europe, where the sun
barely clips the horizon in
mid-summer, conditions
can be fickle, the flying tricky, and
the walk-outs huge.
Yet the summer of 2004 saw a
flurry of records fall
including the Norwegian open
distance to the ever-
bold Frode Halse, as he
reports.
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FAILING
The last weekend of May 2004 saw great flying conditions resulting in
several new Norwegian national records, yet somehow I seemed to get it all
wrong. Four weeks into my four months' long record-hunting campaign, my
flying form should have been close to its peak, yet the 'big one' was
still eluding me.
BRILLIANT CONDITIONS
Tuesday 1st of June, frustrated and still disappointed in myself, I woke
up to brilliant conditions, a clear blue sky with late cloud development.
At 12:26 pm, determined to get 'revenge' for all my recent foiled attempts
at the record, I inflated my Omega 5 and launched from Vole in Vågå.
Easily finding a 5 m/s thermal I was at cloudbase at 2500 m AMS just a few
minutes later.
LEESIDE TROUBLE
The westerly 4 m/s wind favoured a route down Gudbrandsdalen Valley
towards Lillehammer and the going was easy maybe too easy and typically I
got careless. Twenty minutes and 10 km out I was struggling in a turbulent
leeside wind and nearly flushed to the floor. But, looking at the sky and
realizing the potential of the day seemed to give me extra powers and I
just managed to climb enough to stay airborne and limp on.
My low altitude forced me to take the Otta route instead of the more
common transit through Heidal Valley till at Otta I finally managed to
climb back to a comfortable 3000 m AMS. Suddenly the record-hunt was
definitely back on.
50 km out and I was in serious trouble again, falling into some violent
leeside air I plummeted 400 metres and was forced to deliberately fly
through the leeside rotor to reach the thermals closest to the slope. The
wing bounced and deflated more than I'd have liked till finally I hit
gold, grabbed the goodies, and rocketed back up to 2900 AMS.
CLOUDSTREET
The sea breeze that blows up Gudbrandsdalen Valley from Mjøsa Lake often
puts an end to southbound XC flights in the Frya area. Anticipating this
problem as I approached Frya, I was delighted to find that my tailwind
persisted! And I even found myself at the beginning of a giant cloud
street! Realizing that this was my ticket to a 'long one' I hooked into
the first big cumulus and began to fly dolphin-style, skipping from one
cloud to the next. After 50 km at 2800-3600 m in -15° my mitten-covered
hands were frozen and all feeling had gone, till the inevitable pain of
the thaw set in!
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Approaching
Gudbrandsdalen Valley at Kvam after the shortcut from Otta. |
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Promissing
clouds above the plateau between Kvam and Frya but somehow I manage to
miss the lift cycles, only finding sink... Low again!
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Surfing under the
cloudgate. 95 km out and 15 km short of Lillehammer. Mjøsa Lake further
south in the middle of the photo.
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Passing Lillehammer
which is sitting at the northernmost shore of Mjøsa Lake. Photo taken with x 3 zoom.
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VIRGIN TERRITORY
Passing Lillehammer (110 km) on the eastern side I was in previously
unflown terrain for paragliders and at 6:07 pm I finally passed the
previous Norwegian Open Distance record of 123.9 km that had stood since
from 1995! Euphoria!
The congratulations came flooding in by radio and
mobile phone. Great, I was satisfied but how much further would I be able
to go? I could feel the presence of the magic '150 km barrier' calling me
from not far away...
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History in the making! Seconds before the GPS "Go To Vole" topple over
to 124 km. The nine years old record of 123,9 km is about to be erased.
But the flight is far
from over, time is 06:07 pm, altitude 2387 m.a.s.
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HEADWIND
Having enjoyed a 4-5 m/s tailwind so far, I now faced the dreaded
sea-breeze from Mjøsa Lake. A straight line towards Elverum would grant me
only a couple of extra km more before hitting the deck. To stay airborne
I'd have to leave behind the luxury of trafficked roads.
Adjusting my heading from SE to E turned the headwind to a crosswind and
reduced my speed by only 5 km/h. At 1600 m AMS, only 500 m above the high
mountain plateau, trying to get across a 30 km cloudless gap that
separated me from the Østerdalen Valley, seemed a formidable task, and
landing out was going to result in a very long walk! The odds of success
seemed terribly low.
Halfway across, and almost down, I caught a nerve-wrecking low save,
escaping from a rocky riverbed with less than healthy landings. By 7.30 pm
the sun was getting low, the thermals shutting down, but hey, who cared,
finally I was through!
Seven and a half hours after launching I touched down having flown 153.6
km.
Nine years of planning and effort had finally been
rewarded: I'd set a new benchmark for Norwegian XC paragliding. Life
is good.
NORDIC RECORD
A few days later I learnt that my 153.6 km flight was also a new
Nordic Record, beating Swedish Peter Wicander's 151 km from 2001. I
couldn't have been happier. For a Norwegian, beating the Swedes is
always a pleasure. I hope the Finnish pilots feel the same about
Norwegians, because seven weeks later Finnish Jouni Makkonen took
the Nordic record from me with a flight in Finland
of 191,7km!
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Exellent retrieve driver Jørgen
brought with him plenty of cold beer, heavenly for a thirsty
and triumphant XC pilot. Instant effect!
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***
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Cross
Country # 99. |
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Southern and
Northern Mesnali Lakes, never previously visited by a paraglider! Mjøsa Lake in
the background.
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Halfway across
on the transit to Østerdalen Valley. Altitude shrinking, next cloud too
far away. Crisis!
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Transit
completed, gliding into Østerdalen Valley close to Rena. |
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X
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Tracklog and relevant objects.
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The important U-turn before
touching down, securing an indisputable 150 km +. (Google Earth map)
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Clipping from Dagbladet, nationwide norwegian newspaper.
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(Reviced
2005-12-03)
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