XC Camp Flex – The best place

The weather decides the region

Two days before, I look at where the conditions offer the most over those four days (Prättigau, Engadin, Valais, Bernese Oberland, Ticino or just across the border) and announce the region. After that it’s fixed.

What that means for you: you book your accommodation yourself as soon as the region is set and you get recommendations from me. As a small group of seven, we can find something at short notice outside the holiday season.

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.

Choosing the region. Why it makes sense to be standing on exactly this mountain on this day. Two days before, we go through together what the conditions offer.

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.

Who it doesn’t suit

If you need to know the place six months in advance, this isn’t the camp for you: the region is only set two days before. If you’re fine with that, the spontaneous XC Days are something for you too. And 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.

Included

• Four days of guidance, in the air and on the ground
• Region chosen according to the weather, announced two days before
• 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
• Accommodation recommendations for the chosen region
• 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 the announced region: you book it yourself as soon as the region is set. As a small group of seven, we can find something at short notice outside the holiday season

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 fly further.
• 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 13 May 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.

Where it takes place

1 June 2027, two days before, I announce the region and the meeting point. Only then do you book your accommodation; you get recommendations from me. As a small group of seven we find something even at short notice outside the holiday season.

Arrival

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

First flying day

Thursday, 3 June 2027, meeting at 08:00

End

Sunday, 6 June 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 2027XC Camp Flex – The best place 3–6 Jun 2027 · this pageBetween 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