Unfortunately as autumn progresses, most of the cable cars shut down for a quiet period before the winter season. This meant my options for where to go for some more paragliding were more limited. Thankfully close to Munich we do have a few good options, and I had planned to head to Brauneck for a few flights before heading up the road to the Blomberg for some shorter/cheaper flights to practice landings.
When I got out of the lift at Brauneck two things struck me, firstly it was windier than I was expecting, and secondly there were a lot of paragliders. I guess in hindsight this was unsurprising as one of the only areas open near Munich!
The launch area was chaotic, with loads of people, wind, failed launches, people being hit by gliders etc. I had a good take off after my first one failing due to the snow, and then had a surprising flight. Firstly there was enough wind for ridge lift, and secondly there was very mellow thermals which meant that I had my first experience of flying above take off. Due to the amount of pilots around I ended up leaving the best area as it was all a bit stressful having never flown in traffic and then couldn’t recover my height so enjoyed a slow glide back down making the most of other ridge lift on the way down.
The second flight was very different was there was no wind, but I found and climbed in some other thermals and extended my flight, even if I didn’t get back above the launch altitude. After 48 mins of flying after two flights I was feeling a bit tired, but headed back up for another flight.
This time it was much quieter and the wind had changed direction, so an easy forward launch led to a final 12 min glide back down with some practice of manoeuvres on the way.
All in all a great day of flying which had much more flight time in than expected for a November day, and it was wonderful to be out in the snow.
