Hammertag comes to Austria

Did you call it? Perfect conditions came to the eastern Alps on Saturday allowing thousands of pilots to enjoy epic cross country flights. It was especially welcome for pilots in the region who have not had any good flying days this year until now.

Over 100 XC pilots were reported on the Stoderzinken, a popular launch pad for big XC days near the Dachstein, east of Salzburg. “Late but great conditions,” reported Alexander Robé. “We got rewarded with outstanding conditions and many new personal bests. For me 282km on this first Hammertag of the Eastern Alps.”

Ten pilots would eventually fly over 250km from the site, which faces south over the east-west running Enns valley, among them the Czech pilot Honza Čapek, who flew a 283.50 FAI triangle up to Bavaria and back to the Hohe Tauern (and whose photos we’ve shared). “There was a nice group flying so we helped each other out at times and kept a great pace,” he wrote on XContest.”

Three pilots flew 300km FAI triangles. Michael Sommerauer (336.10km) and Franz-Josef Egger (309.73km) flew triangles around Zillertal – Chiemgau – Pinzgau valley while former Red Bull X-Alps athlete Stephan Gruber flew a 304.06km triangle that started nearby south of Innsbruck but then crossed the main chain of the Alps to the Dolomites and then back.

German pilot Marcel Duerr achieved a personal dream that he’d had his eye on for 12 years, a so-called glacier triangle from Lenggries, south west to Imst, then east over the mountains south of the Inn valley before turning north again along the Zillertal.

“After nine hours of flight time and 240 kilometers of flight, I land again at the starting point in Lenggries. A very special moment that I still can’t quite believe,” he posted. “Many airspace restrictions, inaccessible areas with glaciers and high-alpine terrain with no road access made the project difficult. Last Saturday, then everything fit. Lines, timing, decisions – and the little bit of luck, you can’t live without it.”

The Eastern Alps have suffered a poor start to the season. Simon Oberrauner told us last week that he’d only flown about 40 hours this year, compared to over 100 the year before. On Sunday, Burnair revealed that their tracking app had recorded 7,000 female pilots in the air and processed over 20 million track points. “We are so happy that so many of you had such a great day!” Bernie wrote.

Burnair was one of several forecasts to predict the good conditions. Mastering Paragliding author Kelly Farina was another, correctly anticipating 250-300km FAIs on the north side on his Bassano forecasting service. So what did he see? A high pressure over the Alps, a skew-t that showed a high cloudbase of 4,000m and a negligible south föhn.