Blowing Up

First let me be clear: I do not want to encourage anyone to fly in dangerous weather situations with a paraglider, paramotor or hang glider. 

However, it is also true that safety in free flight comes from airtime and staying current. And as flying conditions change, we must learn to adapt. So, if you want to fly in the mountains and you want to stay current and get airtime, then this article is aimed at you.

Judging flight windows in the Alps last year was more difficult than ever before. Compared with 20 years ago we now live in a climate that has changed, and while I will leave the broader topic of climate change to others, I do want to discuss the weather and the flying conditions as we experience them now, day to day. And that means dealing with overdevelopment on a regular basis throughout the year.

In my experience, overdevelopment in my part of the southern and central Alps happens more frequently than before and is harder to predict. In fact, last year it got so bad that I know of Alpine pilots with decades of experience who threw in the towel due to the uncertainty. 

Apps and weather forecasting tools on our phones and online can only help us so far. The resolution of forecast models is typically much larger (5km) than the single clouds that we deal with on a thermal-to-thermal basis. 

So, to deal with the threat of regular overdevelopment we need to (re)learn how to interpret in real time what is happening in front of us using our...