Spring in Valais

You’re standing at launch, the last things have been talked through and the Goms lies ahead of you. In the air I’m with you on the radio: I tell you where the next thermal is and when it’s time to go. Where it helps, I fly ahead and show you the line. Where there’s something to learn, I let you decide. In the evening we lay the tracks side by side and you know what you’ll do differently the next day.

You already fly cross-country. Here it’s about getting further than before. What makes the difference are the decisions: when you go, where you cross, when you turn back. They can be practised and that’s exactly what we work on. The kilometres then come on their own.

Why Valais

From Fiesch we’re in the right place at the right time. The launches in the region are thirty to sixty minutes away and we decide in the morning which one it will be, based on the weather situation and on what you’re working on at the moment.

What makes Valais so useful for this: it’s big enough that something works somewhere on almost every day. Northerly and southerly situations both have an effect, the valley winds come from four directions and push hard and the thermals are strong. What counts is what’s happening right now: look, assess, decide. I find that’s exactly why you learn a lot there without it feeling like learning.

“Valais is ideal for first cross-country flights: good thermals and clear structures.”

Where we go

• Up the Goms and back down again: the axis where most of the kilometres add up in May
• On good days across the main Alpine ridge: via the Lötschental or over the Gemmipass into the Bernese Oberland

Other options, depending on the weather

• Northern Alps
• Southern Alps

If Valais doesn’t look perfect one day, this way you can usually still get a good day out of it.

What you learn

Observe, analyse, decide. These three repeat all day long; with every round the chain gets faster.

Reading the forecast. Which day has something to offer and where its potential and its hazards lie.

Planning the cross-country flight. Going through the line beforehand: where the key points are, where the hazards are and where the landing fields are.

When the thermals start. The good lines get going early. When that is, you see the evening before in the forecast and in the morning in what the sky actually does.

Recognising hazards. Where the lee is, how far it reaches behind the ridge, where the valley wind flows and how high. And which options you have then.

Climbing out efficiently. I show you what to pay attention to.

Staying on the line. Climb only when you have to. In between, use the lines that carry you and cover distance with them.

Flying Plan A and Plan B. The plan is set the evening before. In the air you compare it with what you actually see: that becomes a new Plan A plus a Plan B in case the first one doesn’t work out.

Key points and crossings. When you come off the speed bar, how you plan the spot beforehand, where you gain your maximum height before it and where you find thermals again on the other side.

Where a spot commands your respect. We go through it together beforehand: what do you need to see to fly it? Where is your turnaround point? Getting further and staying safe on the way are the same question here, not two.

Why May of all months

Because it’s the easiest time of year to fly far.

The valley wind is still weak. The more thermal volume, the stronger the valley wind. In May the volume is only starting to grow: the month in which you can get to know it.

On top of that the days are already long and the snow is still high up, which gives clean trigger points and a contrast you can read from launch.

Who it doesn’t suit

If you’ve just got your licence and are still searching for thermals, you’ll have four tiring days here and get little out of them. Get in touch and we’ll find something that suits you better. And if kilometres are your only measure, you’ll be disappointed.

Included

• Four days of guidance, in the air and on the ground
• A weather briefing and a site briefing every morning
• Guidance via the Zello app: I give you the push-to-talk button to keep and lend you a headset and PMR radio
• Sites chosen with public transport in mind: after an outlanding you usually get back by train
• Debriefing and track analysis in the evening: you come away from every flight with a takeaway
• Exercises for afterwards: what went well for you and what could go even better, I turn into two or three exercises for your next flights
• A one-to-one conversation about your goal for these four days

Not included

• Travel to the camp: by train or by car, you organise it yourself. During the camp we get around by train and bus: where we land is still open in the morning.
• Accommodation: you book it yourself. That is on purpose: some sleep in a camper van, others in a hotel and booking ahead for everyone costs time and money. You get recommendations from me.
• Cable cars, train and bus tickets, food
• Insurance: third-party liability is mandatory, accident and rescue insurance strongly recommended
• The way back after an outlanding: we choose the areas so that the way back works by public transport

What you organise yourself

• Your accommodation in or near Fiesch: you book it yourself and you get recommendations from me

A day at the camp

1. 08:00

   Weather briefing

   We read the situation together and set Plan A, Plan B and Plan Z.

2. 08:45

   Site briefing

   Launch and landing fields, airspace, the spots where you pay attention here.

3. 11:00

   Into the air

   Cross-country with guidance over Zello: sometimes I fly ahead, sometimes I fly with you.

4. 16:00

   Way back

   Back to the starting point by public transport. Most of the day gets talked through on the way.

5. 18:30

   Debrief

   The tracks side by side, mine included. The most important part of the day.

6. 20:00

   Evening

   Dinner together for anyone who wants. Optional, four days in the mountains are tiring too.

Times are a guide. The weather moves them, not the plan.

Requirements

• A valid licence: SHV or IPPI 4
• You climb out in thermals and have already done some cross-country flying. Now you want to take the step up to big cross-country flights.
• Airworthy, checked equipment: your wing is expressly allowed to be an A or B
• Vario with GPS
• Third-party liability insurance with at least one million francs of cover, plus accident and rescue insurance
• Mobile phone with a data plan: communication in the air runs over the Zello app
• Four days in a row free. At shorter notice there are the XC Days.

I don’t much mind what is hanging above you: the line and the right day decide, not the equipment.

I fly with you, I don’t fly for you. Launch, route, turning back and landing are your decisions: my assessment is a recommendation, not a clearance.

Dates and schedule

Whether it goes ahead

By 15 April 2027 at the latest, three weeks before. From 4 people the camp is on; if fewer come together, I call it off and you get back everything you have paid.

If the weather doesn’t play along

If the forecast gives roughly two and a half flying days, the camp goes ahead. If a single day doesn’t work at the starting point, we go to where it does: your accommodation stays where it is and if the route calls for it, I organise a driver. If the whole week looks clearly worse, I postpone the camp. On a day when nothing works at all, we work on the ground.

Starting point

Fiesch landing field

Arrival

5 May 2027. Arriving the evening before isn’t compulsory, but it makes the first day much more relaxed.

First flying day

Thursday, 6 May 2027, meeting at 08:00

End

Sunday, 9 May 2027, around 18:00

Which camp suits me?

Every camp assumes that you fly thermals. Beyond that, the camps differ in what you bring along and what you want. Three sentences, one of them applies to you and behind it are the camps that are built for it.

Learn cross-country flying

You climb out in easy thermals. You have hardly flown cross-country yet, your flights have been shorter than about twenty kilometres.Afterwards you fly the same line again, this time without me on the radio.Season start in Ticino 15–18 Apr 2027The Goms 13–16 May 2027

Fly further

You fly thermals and have already flown cross-country: about twenty kilometres or more. Now you want to go further than before, longer lines, a new area or high alpine terrain.Afterwards you decide on the way yourself: when to go, where to cross, when to turn back.Spring in Valais 6–9 May 2027 · this pageXC Camp Flex – The best place 3–6 Jun 2027Between the four-thousanders 5–8 Aug 2027The southern valleys of Valais 2–5 Sept 2027

Not that far yet? If you don’t climb out in every thermal yet, you don’t have to wait until it comes by itself: a coaching day for two shows where you stand and you take two or three exercises away for your next flights. Over the season add briefing and debriefing, so that every flight turns into a takeaway.

If you’re unsure which sentence is yours, write me one sentence on where you stand: flights, wing, longest flight. I tell you honestly which camp is the next one for you and if there isn’t one, I tell you that too. And if three or four of you are at the same point, I make days out of it just for you.

Tell me where you stand