Amazing times here for canoeists as the swollen rivers fill up the lake.
May - Montain biking Saint Andre Les Alpes
Riding here in the French mountains of Haute Provence is really special. This is the Courchons MTB ride - a belter. A long gentle climb with views that expand onto 3 valleys before summiting. Then you get a grand view down the Castellanne lake and the village of St Julian. Come and hire our bikes and rip up the incredible MTB terrain. The Satellite picture looks pretty incredible... Imagine being here in the middle of all this.
May - bye-bye snowboards, HELLO Mountain Bike - I ♥ U
The Mountain Bike (MTB) trails here in St Andre are now clear of snow, drying out after the heavy winter. This 9 mile ride up the mountain to the South paraglider take off with the crazy decent is my FAV!
55 minutes and 2,000ft to the summit.
35 mins of technical single tracks, skimming slate/shail, then into forestry tracks, with views that leave you feeling sooo alive.
12 cracking paramotor pilots picked an epic time to visit us here in St Andre Les Alpes. Launching from the slope next to the house, flying up snow lined mountains and eating up the scenery in calm conditions. The landing area only a minute away from fresh tea!
We also got in some paragliding, making soaring/light thermal flights. I took Neil and Rita out for tandem flights. Neil who has one flight logged on a paramotor, used the hour and half of airtime to get the feel for piloting the wing and how airflows/thermals work round mountains.
This is a small video from day one. Hopefully it gives you a feel for the amazing flying to be had here. A cracking group. Super company and a lot of fun. These guys charged it!, making the most of conditions.
Feb - Husky dog sledging at Col St Michel, near St Andre Les
This is a lot of fun!
Feb - Sledging fun, Saint Andre Les Alpes
AIR ATOS VR for sale
New VRQ on order the old one has got to go. Grab yourself a bargain! Details here
Jan - Skiing and snowboarding - Riding powder
Amazing, amazing, amazing. When conditions are good its EPIC! - When there bad.... its still not too shabby :-) - Come and ride with us soon.
Jan - More snowkiting at Foux d'Allos
Hooked up with Oscar for some snowkiting as we pioneer where best to kite here. This time we caught the 2050 button lift and hoped off left as it turned right. We played on the flank and in the bowl. Winds were very strong at around 40kmh+. I made nervous progress on the 4M Access in the strong winds. I am looking forward to my new Ozone kites arriving and playing in better conditions. I will also be checking out the Rattery Ski du Fond station at Colmars. I hear that might be a great spot. If you kite give me a shout be great to get a posse together. Cheers Mark
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Join us on New Years eve for pizza making
You and your family are warmly invited to our new years eve bash - Starts at 8pm. To confirm, give us a quick call on +33 (0) 492 890 941
WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS
December - New snowkite area found at Allos
At last!! somewhere to snowkite at Foux d'Allos which is only 35 mins away.
Had a lovely session in strongish WNW winds with Ulrich on a 7M. Was smooth. The site takes WSW through WNW. Its directly above the 2050 restaurant at the Col-du-Allos - Call us if you fancy flying together. In a WSW I am sure it would be possible to ride right towards the far left of the photo. It will be interesting to see if we can ride the opposite side of the ridge in in the Easterlies.More as we pioneer this area. Call Mark +33 (0) 6765 72613
October - Hangliding and Paragliding
October is my favourite flying month followed closely by November. Easy mellow - chilled. Perfect for getting the most out of a class 5 glider. Why not hop to the plane, catch a train and come and hire one :-) or plan a posse trip here for 2010.
October - Trails biking in the back-yard
Had a ripping 4 hour ride with Frank Tamblyn. No roads and only 1 gate! Tooo much fun. Come and play with our hire bikes.
October - Climbing near the Gorge du Verdon
Had a lovely afternoon with Nick and Mark who are teaching me how to be a better climber. Nick lives just below these incredible crags that loom above the Gorge Du Verdon. There's more rocks to climb here than you can shake a stick at! :-)
September - Rhys learns to skateboard in Saint Andre Les Alpes
Kids need a decent place to play while your out flying yer socks off on holiday. Most kids love the chance to learn or practice their skateboarding skills. We have many kilometers of skate perfect roads to play on here and boards for hire. Helping exhaust your little tike's and putting a huge smile on their faces. Making it easier to enjoy your flying.
August - Saturday morning bimble on the hanglider
Hangliding life seriously rocks here in Saint Andre Les Alpes.
August - Tandem paragliding with Joanne and Kevin
Kevin and Joanne are super guests! I had a great tandem flight with Joanne.
August - Our lavendar gets its first harvest
Now in its third year. The lavender is starting to look good. Can't wait to see what it will look like next year.
August - Fly St Andre speed arms (rash vest) now in stock
If you want to fly faster, stay warm in the lake, not burn in the sun and keep cool on runs you need a Saint Andre Les Alpes rash vest. This wonder garment does it all! Just €20 each in Small, Medium, Large and XXL. To order yours simply email
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August - Sunset paraglider flying, Saint Andre Les Alpes
A 1 minute video of me and my great mate Andrew just chilling, decompressing catching the last of the sunset rays on the Ozone paraglider. The sunsets and mellow flying are incredible all year round. St Andre is one of the best places in the world to fly from beginners to cross country champions.
August - Incredible mountain bike (MTB) rides here in St. Andre Les Alpes
A cracking morning mountain bike ride with Andrew and Natasha to Courchons. Amazing technical single tracks with some good downhill riding.
We head back via the diving bridges and a refreshing 300m swim in the lake. Check out the views as they unfold on the ride in the video and my puffing and panting. Not the most exciting video but it gives you a flavour of the mountain bike riding and views to be had here in Saint Andre Les Alpes.
No need to hurry up the hill! Spend quality time with the family having a great time on the lake. Race off at 3pm to go and rig the hanglider and enjoy large out and returns XC. Saint Andre is the best play ground in the world!
August - Canoe's for hire at Saint Andre Les Alpes
We have a couple of great canoes for hire for guests taking our rooms, apartments and gites here in St Andre les Alpes.
August - Learn to ride trial bikes in St. Andre Les Alpes
16 year old Josh learned to ride our Beta Rev3 270cc trials bike. We have two trials bikes available for hire with all the safety gear.
We use a simple 3 step coaching process to quickly teach total beginners how to ride safely. If you are a competent mountain biker it will take about 1-2 hours to learn even if you have never ridden a motor bike before.
Our process goes like this:
1. Sitting on the frame, 1 gear engaged, starting, stopping, riding loose figure of eights, acelerator control
2. Standing on the pegs - repeating the above (Josh is at this level in the video)
3. Gear changing while standing
Once you can demonstrate rapid emergency stopping, perform tight figure of eights we are good to hit the mountains.
August - Sailplane gliding near Saint Andre Les Alpes
There are lots of famous gliding clubs and schools around us we decided to tie in a days gliding with a music concert held within the walls of the old fort at Sisteron. What a day!
August - Digne Les Bains Lavendar carnival
Digne is lovely town fairly close to us in St Andre and well worth a trip. The Lavendar carnival is in its 63rd year! The floats were amazing and the fun fair a riot! August is our fete season and lots of fun! Free parking and to attend.
August - Down-Hill-Mountain-Biking (MTB) at Foux D'Allos
Allos is only 35 minutes away and an incredible ski resort during the winter. In the summer they open up the lifts for Downhill MTB. We had a blast on the blue runs. The reds are fairly technical. Something for everyone. I cant wait to get back at the weekend and spend much longer. We have 2 great down hill bikes for hire and all the body armour.
Andrew being chased by Tasha and Josh Josh zooming past!
Look at the amazing mountains in the back ground - WHAT a cracking playground!
1st August - August the season of French fete's - starts here with St Julien
The pretty village of St Julien kicked off the weekly summer festivities that happen here every August.
Each village hosts a fete and tries to out do the other. Three days of entertainment and music starting around 10pm and ending in the wee hours. All generations partying like rock-stars! For English people these wonderful French celebrations batter our conservative senses and make us stronger. A wonderful way to spend an evening.
1st August - Via Ferrata Puget Theniers - mountain climbing experience
Especially designed for people that don't normally climb. Had a cracking day out with our friends at Puget Theniers Via Ferratta. Well worth doing while your here in St Andre Les Alpes. More information here
30th July - Amazing wakeboarding on the lake near St Andre Les Alpes
After our tandem paraglider flight yesterday, Jean-Louis returned the favour and took me out on his Mum & Dad's wake board boat at the lake. The colour of the water and views as you pass round the lake are incredible. You can learn to wake board and water ski here. St Andre is one of the few places I know where you can multi-sport like crazy, mixing, air, land and water all in the same day. The activity options are endless here in St Andre.
29th July - Tandem paragliding in Saint Andre Les Alpes
I had a lovely top to bottom tandem flight with 14 year Jean-Louis from Belguim who is staying with us. The mellow morning conditions, light winds , incredible views make St Andre the perfect place learn to paraglide or enjoy a tandem flights. We have an Ozone Magnum available for hire to qualified pilots or can help arrange tandem flights through the local school. See our tandem paragliding pages.
26th July - Dinghy Sailing with Charlotte near Saint Andre Les Alpes
We had a super day on the lake charging about on a Laser sailing dinghy. Saint Andre is perfect sailing, windsurfing and canoeing on the lake. At St Julien you can hire hobie cats, canoes and dinghies its only 10 minutes drive away. The thermic winds make for wonderful and challenging sailing on the azur blue water.
28th June - Saint Andre Les Alpes the perfect wedding location
The marquee was perched over looking the lake at Saint Andre with wonderful sunset views over the paraglider landing field. 120 family and friends partied from 7pm to 6am. With no neighbours to disturb the DJ went wild as the caterers cooked up a storm. The bride and groom were delighted. Getting married? Want an unusal location that will keep everyone happy? Give us a call to see if we can help. +33 (... .
14th April - Easter Monday - Epic flight! - 4pm launch land at 6pm - in APRIL!
Launched the Atos VR at 4pm after zooming to Castellane on the Ducati for a late lunch. Cloud base was high, day looked okay.... thermals were soft/mellow.
Zoomed to the antennas, then out to Tartonne, down to Baremme where I almost landed out. Heading over to a large field I spotted a tractor ploughing and eagles climbing. We wafted up lazily to cloudbase and snow! - Decided that snow and the black cloud over St Andre were worth avoiding for a wee while to allow it to simmer down. :-)
Pushed on to the Digne/Barreme ridge and used that to cover some more miles. Got halfway to Digne, bimbled back via Baremme doing almost the same as earlier.... Then on a single glide to the Chammatte ridge at St Andre. Landing at the huge field in La Mure at 18:10. A perfect 2 step landing. Love days like this. Take this link to see some photos
For more information contact us: Helen
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it +33 6765 72613
Like our website? We would be delighted if you would link to us. https://www.FlyStAndre.com
Come and see us soon - Cheers Mark & Helly
Proprietors: Mark & Helen Taggart, A Little Piece of Heaven, La Plaine, Route de Meouilles, Saint Andre Les Alpes, France.
Company registration number: 48746407500018 | Company TVA number: FR61487464075
We have created specialist websites to cater specifically for those who want to enjoy the following activities here in Saint Andre Les Alpes, Haute Provence, South of France.
• Chill, walk, hike, paint, write poetry, do yoga, photography, enjoy Provence. Check out: www.ALittlePieceofHeaven.biz
• Free fly, paraglide, hang glide, tandem paraglide, kite. Check out: www.FlyStAndre.com
• Cycle, mountain bike, snowboard, trail bike, ski, water ski, wakeboard, skateboard, freebord. Check out: www.RideStAndre.com
