That fantastic Tuesday after Easter

2025. május 03. - Glidingirl

Easter Monday finally gave us a good day for flying, but Tuesday seemed to be even more promising. On Monday morning I wrote to my manager to ask for one more day-off and as usually, he replied very quickly and there was no problem with my request. I was ready to attempt the 300 km flight for the FAI gold badge!

I found the first good thermals in Lugano CTR (Mt. Martica - Piambello) and tried to head to the east immediately. I encountered the usual problem: I did not find any lift at Mt. Orsa which made it impossible for me to complete the first leg. I decided to try the other direction: Mt. Nudo and Sette Termini were much more generous, they gave some really good lifts and hey, I found myself at 2700 meters at Mt. Tamaro! At this point I thought that it is still possible to reach the first waypoint and complete the 300 km so I did a long glide until Mt. Generoso. The idea worked because then I found a thermal at Mt. Generoso but that good height (2700 m) was wasted like this. I should have gone to Mt. Gazzirola and remain really high.

I know why I try to avoid the Gazzirola: 1-2 years ago on a bit windy day I took there some really bad downwind a got freaked out above Porlezza. The outlanding opportunities are a bit limited in this zone, of course there is Locarno and Lugano airport near (if you reach them...but to outland in Switzerland, well, that is not so easy...) and Porlezza field - but it is really bad (with big stones and cows!) which would let a pilot survive the adventure but it is very likely that you damage your glider.

But let's get back to the flight: from Mt. Generoso I went to Mt. San Primo and then I crossed again Lago di Como to reach Grigna. Unluckily I knew that I won't be able to push more in this direction because the top of the Grigna was covered with clouds. This is a really impressive, beautiful wall - I was happy to fly here, but the thermalling was not that easy as I was under the ridge. The max. height here was only 2150 m so I decided to return to the west.

I felt myself slightly low (1700 m) when I found a good lift at Monte di Palanzo and I did not stop here until the cloud base (nearly 2200 m). I did a long glide back to my "home mountain" (Campo dei Fiori) where the max. height is 1676 meter because of Malpensa Airport. Mt. Nudo - Sette Termini: 2400 meter, I am ready to cross Lago Maggiore to reach Albergone spot on the other side of the lake. The classic places to find the thermals worked well, I am nearly at 3000 m when I enter to the Cento Valley. I cross the valley and I continue on the north side. But why not to try something new this time? I won't return to home the same way where I came, I decide to reach Mt. Togano and I go in the direction of Gravellona Toce.

I've always heard that these mountains do not work very very well, you can do the final glide here, and it was true: I found only one thermal. Nevertheless, the experience was nice, new landscape, those cities and mountains under me that I knew only from the car when passing in this valley. I flew above the city of Verbania: I was here just 2-3 weeks ago with car, but it is so different from above, so calm and beautiful.

When I returned to Mt. Nudo, I found again some lift so I went to Campo dei Fiori - Mt. Orsa - Mt. San Giorgio and Generoso. (At this time, quite late, the tricky Mt. Orsa worked well.)

The sky was covered with some high clouds when I finally landed. I knew that this flight will be special for me, but I did not know yet that it will be my new personal best to date: 320 points OLC, 258 km with my ASW15b. It might be not so much for the great pilots, but for me it was an important step forward. I hope we will have many more days like this!