Tammy advises me to include more descriptions and commentaries about the area, which is really not that easy to do, because of the time consuming nature of what I'm doing right now. We eat breakfast, travel to flying sites, fly, eat lunch/dinner, come back to the Inn, have a debriefing of the days events, write emails, go to bed...repeat. That's not a bad schedule, considering what the first week is supposed to be about. Nevertheless, to non-flyers, it may be boring...to flyers, it's great stuff.
Here is a recap of events since the last blog entry, and some observations:
--One of the nice things about international paragliding tours (especially through non-USA companies) is the opportunity to meet and associate with interesting people from various parts of the world. On this trip there are three pilots from Argentina; Jarek and his two assistants are from Poland, and the guest/assistant guide is the Slovenian national champion in paragliding. All super friendly and fun people. The rest of the group are Americans, from Hawaii to Connecticut. Most people under 35 yrs old speak english here....that's good or bad, depending on your point of view. First, it's incredibly easy for a linguistically challenged American to get by in this country...bad because one is rarely forced to learn any words in the local tounge.
--The Soca River is one of the most beautiful rivers that I have ever seen. Turquoise in color, it flows slow and has challenging rapids...white water canoing is something that would be fun to do another time here.
--The history here is very interesting. Castles can be seen, and the carnage that occurred here during WWI, when tens of thousands of soldiers died in these green farm fields is hard to immagine. Following the collapse of Communism and the Cold War, Slovenia was quick to return to its own identity as a country and culture, as Yugoslavia was disolved. It is a peaceful, thriving, clean, beautiful country, and a joy to visit.They are part of the European Union and the Euro is the currency.
--Pragliding has included two more launches froom the Stol site, one involving navigating in and through low clouds, a somewhat unnerving and sometimes surreal experience. Launch was covered in clouds, and we waited until we has a brief break where we could see the valley below to launch. once launced, the clouds sucked each of us up higher and higher. We knew the clouds extended out only a few hundred yards, and with careful monitoring of our compasses and the use of Big Ears, a decent technique, we were able to pass through and avoid long periods of total white-out conditions. However, one of our group did not pay attention to his compass and came within two meters of hitting the side of the ridge. With cloud suck, he forund himself too far north to come back to the ridge and was forcel to land in difficult terrain in the canyon to the north of where he should have been flying. His radio malfunctioned and we lost contact with him. Later, Search and Rescue found him unharmed, and embarrassed. It was painful to watch the anguish of our tour leader until the Argentinean was found.
--We got in one launch from a terrific site, Kobala, near Tolmin on the east end of the valley that proved to be a great experience. After thermalling for an hour, and hopping from ridge to ridge, soaring back and forth in front of a castle next to the landing was cool. On a down note, we watched a helecopter fetch a paragliding accident victim from the hill below launch...pilot error.
--In desperation to avoid bad weather today, we traveled south to a site near the town of Nova Gorica, on the front range of the Alps. What looked like a simple off and down "sled ride", turned out to be a good 45 minutes of thermalling. Soon after landing, it started to rain. We are obviously living right.
A curious cow checks me out while I wait for launch.
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