Hangliding & Paragling Cross Country (XC) from Saint Andre Les Alpes

Flying here; I never leave one part of my route without having found my next target landing field. I fly dot to dot down the desired course linking landing and next climbs to quickly crack on the miles stress free. This means no "hopeful" lunges into valleys.

As you get more experienced at this you do it faster requiring less altitude using the days “averages”  covered in XC Tips this really does speed up your overall time round your route or extend the miles.

That said, there are lots of landing options all over the valleys and many cracking emergency sailplane loand out fields. You can get a list of these from here

While high - Make VERY good/careful visual inspections watching out for power lines as you 360 to understand your drift. If you are up to date on mountain and thermo dynamic flying you will have a great grasp of wind flows around the valleys.  Valley systems can be narrower here. Generally this is good news as the valley breeze will generally be consistent on the valley floor.

Taking these steps early on builds your confidence and reduces flying stress."I can land over there with ease" - I can now focus on climbing.

If you end up getting a low save (which happens fmost of the time, especially if your averages for the day have been positive and there are no major changes) stay with the climb until you can navigate your way down route to the next targeted field.

Watch out for all the usual wind markers, practice slow lazy 360’s watch the direction of drift. Make sure that the evidence from all sources is painting the same picture.  Use the formal aircraft landing approach whenever you can. Do expect nil wind or slight cross winds as you come into ground effect, unless there ae obvious signs of wind.

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