Every year, after a long and cool winter, the spring sun wakes up the Alps pilots and our flights become longer every day. I had a fantastic gliding holiday in April. On one day I flew 550km, crossing the Alps to Est from Aosta to Tirano and back, followed by a memorable flight the next day.

The Alps were closed with cumulus and cu-nims but in Aosta a small part of the sky was free. It was impossible to go too far and anyway I had promised Aosta club member Aldo that we would fly together. I have an LS-8 and Aldo an LS-4.

We waited for the valley wind before taking-off and left the tow too low at 800m QFE (1250m QNH). The thermals were under 1500m and very small. Aldo worked for about an hour to get to 3500m and we flew round looking for the wave that seemed so close, but was never there when we got to cloudbase. One by one the pilots flying that morning decide to try the other side of the valley where the clouds are more affected by the wind.

Here in Aosta it is 5km across the valley and in difficult conditions you can lose 1000 to 2000m and our 3500m didn’t leave us much height in which to try and find the rotor.

Many gliders were back on the ground after struggling for an hour. Then, close to the other side of the valley, we connected with the rotor. The vario become crazy, the turbulence was strong enough to be dangerous if we didn’t get enough speed and were not quick enough on the control column and the rudder.

The rotor was not fix in a fixed area and the wind at 3000m become strong. We were circling to pick-up height but it was becoming too difficult. Aldo left for another slope but I was still convinced I was in the right place and continued turning like a yo-yo.

At 4000m the laminar zone become more stable and I could relax my hand. I called Aldo by radio and he came back immediately. With oxygen on our voices were muffled by the mask. We lost the wave on the slope and had to make our way around the snow covered crest.

Mt Blanc at 4807m is the highest mountain in Europe and we were playing with two levels of wave which were beneath us. The happiness become total when we could see through a little hole in the blanket of clouds with an electric blue painted sky.

The temperature dropped to -45 degrees C and at 6677m I was still climbing. But my feet felt like blocks of ice. The 5000m gain of height was achieved with sufficient margin but with the wings not too happy at this temperature I needed to lose altitude slowly to prevent the risk of cracking.

I made a little tour of the top of Mt Blanc where a Citation came close to us. I had a tail wind of 140km/h and for a second the GPS showed a groundspeed in excess of 280km/h. Entering a rotor at this speed would explode the glider, but knowing the laminar flow I came down on the quieter side of the mountain, parallel to the slope. The Stau orographic clouds were falling down like beer froth from a cup that was too little to hold them. Coming back to the airport another rotor put us at the first level of wave where the clouds were as thin as a princess’s veil.

The forecast for the following day was good with a 270 wind direction on the ground. In these conditions we could take-off early in the morning because in wave it is possible to start in clear air. Giorgio took off at 10.10am and Giancarlo was last at 11am. We put different tasks into the logger: 771km for me and over 1000km for Giorgio and Giancarlo. I thought the foehn conditions would allow an early take-off but we don’t expect more than than 280km free airspace from Stau, due to the higher Alps. My task would be away from airspace and I felt with the strong wind it would be just a fantastic thermal day.

Leaving the tow at 1500m QNH the lift wasn’t organised and I needed to turn a lot before finding good conditions that seemed more like a thermal than a rotor. My opinion was confirmed - the flight was only possible if I flew at 100km/h.

At the wind was light: 20km/h from 300° and not enough to try to climb into cloud.

The conditions seemed very good and I tried to push and push. Trying to keep Giorgio in sight I got into a bad position and again lost time. Then I saw Giancarlo close to the cloud generated by 4650m Mt Rosa.

I needed to wait for my turn to use it and close to the cloud I traced a line to the pylon, 180km away. I then crossed into Switzerland to Locarno. I was high enough and just needed to follow the clouds.

Crossing a slope, again from Switzerland to Italy with not more than 20m, I was sure to reach the pylon at Frontale (240km from Aosta). The only problem was I needed more speed. The MacCready was set at 4, which was too much, and my glide went from 60 to 15. Giorgio was coming back from the Tirano pylon and I heard that Giancarlo was at the same pylon and ready to return.

Many gliders were crossing the Alps on this unexpectedly beautiful thermic day. The Valtellina valley was like a little Owens valley where you only need to climb and push the control column to another thermal. The snow covered the mountain over 1800m and with the sun in my eyes I needed to concentrate hard to look for gliders coming in the opposite direction.

Again in Switzerland I used the S. Valtellina lifty, climbing 5-6m/sec. Again at 3500m I left Locarno for the Masera pylon, 160km from Frontale. This way was very familiar and I didn’t have any problem jumping from one cloud to another. I was flying at 2000 to 3500m and turned whenever the vario went over +3m/s. My speed averaged 90km/h and I was sure I wouldn’t make it back to Aosta as the mountains were too high and in sun would go down early in the west.

I reached the Masera pylon were the flood last October destroyed the runway and left a gravel area. The light north winds cleared the sky of big clouds and I was sure the thermals would continue until 7 to 8pm. The mountain shadows became longer and I passed the Tirano pylon at 5pm. Coming back I found a fantastic evening thermal - +5m/s - and was sure this would be the last time I would see 3500m on the altimeter.

With work the next day my aim now was to get as close as possible to Aosta. I passed Locarno at 6pm and another unexpected +3m/sec took me to 3000m. On the Palmnav, Biella was shown at 90km: +600m with 40:1. I tried putting Biella into the Cambridge and the airfield of Gattinara into the PalmNav. One eye was fixed on the vario and one trying to find the runway. Minutes seemed an hour! The second point in the GPS setting at 115km/h gave me an optimal speed of 140-150km/h, which was too much. My L/D was no more than 30 and after 55km Biella was shown at 36km. I was at 1400m QNH, 1130m above Biella, the airfield I chose to land at because of the mountain between me and home.

My heart was in my mouth. A little thermal lifted me 30m and I made just one turn because I wouldn't like to have lost altitude in a wrong turn. I continued the flight in a perfect line to the runway, leaving the little mountain on my right side. The L/D become better due to the evening ground lifting effect.

The computer showed Biella at -200m, but I had 300m. There were high voltage lines and trees before the airport. I called Biella tower announcing that I hoped to reach there with a long final. The GPS beeped on Biella runway at 130m QFE.

After 9 hours I had flown over 740km, the last 90km in 40 minutes of pure gliding. And I was at my second home! The evaluation with SeeYou gave me 708.8k, but it needed changing to the correct value of 726.8km.

I flew this task again on June 14 in weak conditions, landing in Calcinate after 668.7km, to give me the lead in the Italian Junior Class Cross-country Championships with 2713pts and 5th place in the national ranking.

Photos of the flight can be found on my website.