The Pyrenean Plummeting Tour 2006
by Colin Harrison
So the game plan was for Ian Smith, Ross Paterson and myself to head off to Spain and try to check out a few new sites on the way to Ager. We were also going to take in the European vulture centre at Yaiza, scene of a league meet and where Sandy Argo, Ian Smith, and myself had been way back in 1998.
First stop was Orduna about 30 clicks south of Bilbao. This has a decent sized north facing ridge (taking NW round to E with 1800ft TTB) with a St Cyrus style cliff take off though it is of course a bit inland, with massive unofficial landing areas with starey Spanish men wearing the straw hat of disapproval.
The PG field at the foot of the hill is an impossibility for HG. Standard thinking is that if it isn¡¯t actually On - it sea breezes later so you can usually get some kind of flight and there is a reasonably good road to the top, 4WD recommended.
Anyway we rotated retrieve so that one of us had the van and the other two could fly ¨C this time Ross drew the van. It was a bit swirly on take off but I went off and scratched for an extended plummet. Ian launched and managed to catch something and got in it well enough to get up to one of the back ridges and had a good soaring flight, in pretty much pure thermal conditions.
We also checked out a southerly that overlooks the main cliffs but this is best summarised as complete pants, small ttb, 4WD and I hope you like carrying. Our survey said¡..off to Arangoiti.
Yaiza / Arangoiti / Lumbier
There is a good road to the masts (2WD) and you can get off in either Southerly or Northerly directions on the semi spine-backed ridge.
It was a bit crossed so both Ross and myself shimmied a bit on take off with Ross perhaps shading it as chief wobble-meister but nothing worthy of the Laurel & Hardy theme song.
We both got 2000-3000 over with the vultures which is a lot of fun and there really are rather a lot of these big birds, certainly in the tens and twenties in the air when its good, and they usefully mark the thermals. There is also a handy microlight strip at the far end of the ridge though you have to catch a rising star and put it in your keel pocket if you want to get down the ridge to there.
There is also a beer machine at the strip (which was nice) and numerous bomb out options on the north side.
After about an hour and half of flying we both landed at the strip ¨C I remember the previous 98 visit when only Exxstacy man Ian managed to get down the ridge. Anyway the one flight we had there was pretty special actually.
Unfortunately the next day was blowing meekly and weakly up both sides and no-one fancied it, and since the Spanglish Nationals were coming up (we avoid proper comps) it was decided to bin it as the weather was also increasingly garbage.
The scoop from the Microlight Airstrip gang is that Yaiza is at the meteorological limit of the Atlantic and Mediterranean systems so that they get a lot of good flying weather. Apparently. Usual story, great last week and next week ¨C this week pants. So we rolled up our tents, packed our trunks and headed off to Ager.
Ager
Ager is a small, mainly closed village, near the well known huge lump of southerly facing rock in the Montsec region, perhaps about 30km long, with massive landing opportunities, about a 3500ft ttb and it is possible to get to base at 8000-9000¡¯ ASL with relatively little difficulty, Declan apparently having been at 12000ft the previous week. No, his hotel isn¡¯t finished yet.
What was shocking as we turned up was that there has been a severe drought for a couple of years so that previous drowning opportunities are now potential landing areas.
Although it is a big ridge the site is almost pure thermal in nature so you do have to get in something or you will be on the deck. Suffice to say that some active flying in the regular stonking thermal conditions would get you above the ridge top and then it became much easier to climb out. Which we all managed, though at times it was quite scratchy until locating the small but powerful cores. My memory is that cores were typically 400-600ft/min up on the averager but a few times it peaked off the clock (ie 20 up+) and could be a bit wild and tippy-outie at times with the odd second of complete weightlessness thrown in. Hoo-yah.
The main problem was that almost every day we were there it tended to get quite Cu-nimbly later on so much so that you could set a careless watch by it. As Mr Smith said of the worst cu-nim day ¡°oh no going down¡scratch scratch¡.oh no going up!¡± Ian then had to do a rapid Exxstacy de-rig in the gust front and it was rain continental style. That is I should say BIG RAIN. I think we managed one evening flight (this had been the fair rotation plan for the driver) when myself and Ian had a decent fly later in the blue conditions.
Probably Ross had the flight of the trip completing a nice 30km triangle - showing us old hacks what we should be trying to do, and I think most us managed to get maybe not all the ridge done, but certainly a good wedge. I have to say that I found about 1.5 hours in the air was about all I could physically handle in the rough conditions and this usually needed a day of rest (or two) afterwards. As far as I was concerned there was more flying available than I could handle, and I flew down to land coring the sink on several occasions. Funny how there¡¯s always lift on approach. The other slight hassle was the lack of regular chow opportunities but Ian had thoughtfully brought a catering pack of disposable-barbies (Barbacoa Sp) and there were a couple of complete meat-fests enjoyed once the portions had expanded a little. It turns out that the most of the restaurants are now open weekends only with only `Bar Torres and the one up the street open through the week. The other place was recommended by Declan to avoid for health reasons. Eventually though I cracked and had a 9 euro scoff there, preferring a chance of the trots, rather than Torres-burger three nights in a row. It was a risky but adequate. Steve will be disappointed to hear that the amusingly (and aptly) named bar Nager is now also closed. Ahem.
Ross also was also volunteered into opening a radio-control and motorcycle support clinic for the night doctor next door, AKA ¡``Frenchy and sons`. He also broke up a dog fight, which was actually rather nasty, between an abandoned wolf-type husky (Tyson) and next door¡¯s pet dog. Funny how all the Spanish could suddenly speak English when the dogs started playing up. Mini motos, proper bikes, dog fights and model cars all round.
On the way back we sort of checked out a coastal northerly about 20mins from Santander but it all looked a bit no landing-ish. Anyway who wants to be a coastie in Spain. All in all another good and safe trip with no broken limbs or metal work, bites by bizarre beasties or other incidents.
