La Galerie

Two dozen Hawaii pilots and spouses migrated to the French and Swiss alps for a few recent weeks to inflict their airborne simian hijinx on the peace-loving peoples of the Haute Savoie. Their mischief and misdeeds are hereby chronicled in digital form for posterity, or at least for anyone thinking about going on next year's trip. Because we are definitely going back. (If any of you monkeys are holding out on us, please cough up the goods. We want all the photos and videos, even the NSFW stuff!)

Alex	Pete & Bonnie	Sharky	Berndt	Nikki
Duck: Vid 1	Duck: Vid 2	Duck: Vid 3	Duck: Vid 4
Ryan	Mad Dog: Vids	Mad Dog: Pics

Invisible Playgrounds of Chamonix

A good editor would probably wring my neck, but here goes... One of the logs from one of the twenty or so monkeys on the Chamonix 2010 paragliding expedition:

L'Achat de la Biere est Obligatoire!

Je suis en train de deguster mes vacances - therefore I have been avoiding computers with zeal. It was time to check into cyberspace again though, so here's a bit of a Chamonix flying story from my perspective. After some "challenges" in California that usually come with an adventure (like dead batteries and "personalizing" my glider bag and camping gear with a motorcycle exhaust pipe) and the interminable flight to Zurich, I finally landed in Europe on a Monday morning.

Lake-crossing Losers

[Update: I was confused about the names of the various formations along the ridge above Lake Annecy. I just figured out that only the 3rd formation away from the Montmin launch is the "teeth", the Dents du Lanfon - the one I thought was the 2nd tooth is called the Lanfonnet, and the one I thought was the 1st is the Roucher du Roux. And the really big peak behind Montmin, the one that will lead Mad Dog back to Chamonix one day, is La Tournette. My silly story below is based on the notion that all the formations are known as teeth, but apparently most of them were false teeth!]

Je Suis un Bâtard!

I just figured out that there has been a technical problem with my previous posts that has stripped out the stories leaving only the pictures. I'll try to restore the text when I can get onto a wifi connection.

Yesterday we saw the best conditions since Nikki and I arrived three days ago. People were getting very high early on, under some really sweet looking fluffy clouds, and I was excited to think I might have a chance to finally make my way out of the valley to Plaine Joux.

When Cows Fly

Not all the adventures are in the air. Donna & Yolie got stuck driving down from launch as a herd of cows blocked the road. One apparently took a leak on the car Donna was driving, cow must have known it was Reaper’s. Big thanks to our wives for taking the vehicles down.

This was a day when we took a trip over to Annecy. The Monkey chatter in the morning said there would be tons of traffic at Annecy so no one else wanted to go and elected to stay in Chamonix. Don, Yolie, Donna & I in one car; Reaper, Bonnie, Flash & Mack in the other. It was just a short ride, about an hour to the bottom of the launch where all the PG stores were. We reserved several demo wings for the next trip to Annecy on Monday then headed up the hill.

Really good pilots

Way too many adventures to describe in the limited blog time I have set aside at the cafe this morning. The lift starts at 8:30 and I want to get Sharky up there early for some nice morning flights.

After yesterday's morning flights, the thermal research team launched and found better lift than the previous day. Mad dog led the way out of the Chamonix valley to Plaine Joux, and Reaper and I sunk out at the last turnpoint, landing in a field with a combine harvester - a moissoneuse! It was my best XC attempt here and my first outlanding.

Presidents Log: Sept 1st

Nikki and I arrived together in Geneva and caught our private shuttle into Chamonix by 9:45 am, in time to catch the lift up for the 1st thermal flights of the day. The sled run stragglers were just landing.

The conditions the day before we arrived were unstable because of the low pressure, which is not typical for this time of year. Those monkeys who managed those sweet XC flights that day didn't realize how lucky they were - I've always dreamed of making that flight. But of course now that I'm here, we're back to the regular stable high pressure regime. As they always say: you should have been here yesterday!

Quatre Traine a Plane Joux

This story starts in Chamonix on a morning of the bluest skies and clearest views. Today I put my passport in the flight deck. The Monkeys anxiously all clamored to the Brevent. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Mad Dog helped Larry, Mack and Sharky off. Sharky got his first flight on his new lady over Chamonix Valley.

OMG

The title is of short text form because Don was suppose to write this flight log, seeing as Alex is not yet here to carry on the President’s Log. But we all know Ike is a pilot of few words … ah, typed words, that is.

Saturday arrivals were Duck & Ginger, Sharky, Larry & Adriana, Big Island John and finally Donna & Sidehill. Ike & Yolie and Mad Dog and Jeanine were already here for a few days. This day was a day to catch up on jet lag. A few even fell asleep at the table during dinner.

Snoballz Report: Chamonix, Aug. 30

No flying today. High clouds heading south with waves in them came lower, I guess, and messed everything up after morning raininess down low.

Chamonix t-shirt

Sharky got me all fired up to design and print a shirt for the trip while I was here trying to catch up on work in DC. What a crazy idea, right? Yeah, well, I guess I'm just crazy like that. Not sure yet if I have room or weight allowance for all 20 of these bad boys on the flight to France, but I'm hoping to fit them in - that way I should have lots of room for French goodies on the return trip!

Snowball Report: Chamonix, Aug. 28 & 29

Nice airline flight. Economy Plus a good idea. Bring own drinks and food and metamucil & suppositories too, next time. Did not sleep enough. Saw Sharky and Duck & Duck's wife on the plane and began chatting them up inbound to Geneva. Geneva immigration line quite slow. Skipped the airport shower (a bad idea, if you ask me -- next time will insist). Took a couple hours to sort out the van. One the size of a Subaru was not what was intended.

The Chamonix Song

This song is set to the tune of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver. Kinda get it in your head while reading it. Every great trip deserves a theme song!

Leaving Hawaii

I was the first to leave - and I'll be a late arrival in Chamonix but not the last. I took a picture as I passed over the neighbor islands. It was the best view of the neighbor islands I've ever seen from a plane. Molokai looks nice and flyable...

Chamonix

Can't wait-----totally stoked !!!

Yet another travel blog

This Chamonix blog is a place for the Hawaii monkeys who are going to Chamonix and other parts of Europe this fall to post updates, stories and pictures, so we don't clutter up Wind Lines with our crazy euro monkey business. I will try to invite all the travelers to this blog, but if I leave you out, or if you forget how to post, let me know and I'll set you up. See you all on September 1st!