My host invited me to join her on a different flying spot today,
It is a little (mostly winter ski) village about an hour’s drive from here in Annecy. One of her friends went with as well and we parked up in Le Grand-Bornand before taking a gondola to the first stop on the hill and then a ski lift up to Mont Lachat at 2000m. It is simply beautiful here, conditions are predicted to be good and many paragliders were waiting on the hill for the thermals to start kicking off.
After a bit of a line-over situation, that didn’t turn out to be a line-over, I was off into the first thermal just in front of launch. I don’t know what the collective noun for a group of paragliders is and the internet seems uncertain too. Maybe a gaggle (of geese) or a flock (of birds) or a parliament (of owls) or perhaps like in today’s case a murder (of crows)… It was crazy being surrounded by so many other gliders, all trying to gain height in the same little bit of airspace. An other website suggests a “flotilla” or a “flash” of paragliders, what ever it was, it was difficult focusing on my pilot instincts, instruments and getting up so that I could leave the group. I uploaded a YouTube video here: Paragliding – Mont Lachat – 6 August 2024. (Beware of motion sickness, it gets pretty busy)
I made it up and away from the crowds eventually, dodging some of the crazies. Climbed really high to 2665m above mean sea level. Not so impressive of an achievement is you consider launch to be at 2000m, but still, the world seemed pretty flat from up there. More videos on my YouTube channel here: Paragliding – Mont Lachat – 6 August 2024 (2) and Paragliding – Mont Lachat – 6 August 2024 (3). It was also not plain sailing, so I didn’t venture too far and landed after an hour, walking back to the car. The cottages with flowers everywhere were just stunning.
The bonus was making it back to Doussard in time to catch the shuttle to Montmin for a late evening, hour and a half flight down to landing. So chill and relaxed floating above the lake. Packing up and walking home in the shade of the mountain, ending and pretty spectacular day.
__________
43.5323 – 172.5567
6 August 2024
FP-208
4 responses to “Le Grand-Bornand.”
Sjoewee.. Air Traffic muchness. 🙃
2665m is pretty high up in my world.. not for the faint hearted like me😊
Yet another magical day surrounded by all that dreamy beauty..
Certainly the traffic is something I have not encountered like this before, and was tough to stay focused on me and my flying, while remaining safe. It only takes a split second for something to go wrong, in a bad way. About the mountains… “delicious” like the bread, cheese, chockies and pastries in France.
I think the internationally accepted term is ‘gaggle’ but whatever is correct, that is just classic conditions you are flying in, although one or two pilots are either too inquisitive or need to brush up on the rules of thermalling. It really puts our local hillls into perspective.
Yes, like with everything in life, there is always one or two people that are a little more unique than the rest of us. True, a busy day at our local hill does not compare.