Local Sites

Local Sites

Mahony Aviation is based near Laragne, SE France, in the Hautes Alpes region - an area which offers excellent paraglider, paramotor, hang-glider, microlight and sailplane flying with excellent sites and reliable weather conditions. Our accommodation partners at www.allez-up.com and www.les-glycines.com provide luxury accommodation in beautiful gites near Laragne for all who wish to visit the area. Below is a selection of the local sites we regularly fly including Laragne Chabre, Sederon, St Geniez, Aspres, St Vincent les Forts. Additionally Orcieres-Merlette, Les Richards, Digne, St Andre-les-Alpes sites are all within an hour and occasionally visited for a little variety. The area has incredible safe cross-country flying potential in reliable flying conditions.

La Chabre -LARAGNE
	La Chabre is our local site and the take-off is only an 8km glide from the accommodation gites. Almost all Paraglider and all Hang glider pilots will have heard of Laragne Chabre though information on this site has been misleading and only recently have British paragliding pilots discovered how good it is and that it is suitable for both para and hang gliders, a fact much better known to the

Germans, Swiss, Czechs, Belgians etc, who make up the majority of visiting paragliding pilots here at present. Conditions can be strongly thermic in early afternoon in mid summer as is the case with most other popular French Alpine sites which allows substantial XC flights to be made from here. Laragne has two faces and is effectively a spine back ridge with the main take-off facing South East.

The site has an automatic weather station on the summit giving weather information every 15 minutes on the FFVL frequency. However, being a ridge, this information does require local knowledge interpretation.

The main South East take-off at Laragne only really works well in thermic conditions as flying in dynamic soaring mode means flying in a relatively strong wind which is not generally advised on a spine-back ridge! The take-off area is huge with plenty of room to lay out lots of gliders. The 30 or 40 hangliders (or more) often found on take-off in July and August usually set themselves up clear of the main paragliding launch and tend to launch later than the ‘floppies’ which they use as wind dummies. With three take-off spots to choose from and room for at least 10 paragliders to lay-out on each of them, take-offs are happily not overly pressured unlike some flying sites situated further to the North.

The site usually has gentle breezes in the mornings and is often used by schools. However, thermals become strong after midday giving the site enormous potential for cross-country flights (Bob Drury, Marcus King and Sophie’s 110km flight over the Ecrins climbing to over 4,000 metres started from here as do most of Rachael Evans's regular 80+km XC's on her DHV1/2 Buzz). The terrain to the North West through South East consists of big flat open valleys with lots of fields for out-landings between the orchards. But there are lots of big hills in, amongst and around them where you can find that next thermal source to extend your cross-country flight for as long as you are able to!

Indeed a recent article in a French magazine listed Laragne to Aspres (and back), as one of the five best ‘cross-country routes for all time’. For those days when the first thermal proves elusive or you miss the cycle there is a huge bottom landing beside the access road allowing rapid retrieves and a second attempt (Top to Bottom 500m). Like Bergies (see below), Laragne can suffer from dust devils on some days and care needs to be taken. Also, the wind often goes Westerly at some point in the afternoon necessitating a quick change of site if you don’t get off soon enough.

The North take-offs at Laragne are more committed and, while fine for hangliders, require a level of confidence and competence on a paraglider. Happily the wind generally blows from the South and if it doesn’t, then there are several gentler North facing sites in the area to choose from. Laragne North has no less than three huge official landing fields with two being big enough for light aircraft and microlights to land in.

SEDERON

Sederon is approximately 30km to the West, (a good cross-country home), and has the advantage of 7 take off and landing sites catering for all wind directions. Like many such sites it has its own weather pattern and a good days flying can often involve flights from three different take offs.

A morning flight off Le Fort, a lunchtime XC from Bergies and a nice evening restitution flight off BUC. Also it is blessed with very friendly locals, farmers included, enabling a ‘vache’ (out landing) in almost any non-crop field, of which there are plenty with no worries about the farmers reaction - he's more likely to offer you a lift than tell you off. The local school here trains well over 200 pilots a year and also has excellent training slopes and sites for first high flights which can be used by prior agreement.

Sederon sites:

Bergies (North and South):
The main site has an automatic weather station on the summit giving radio transmissions of wind direction and strength every 20 minutes. There is a road to the top and the North landing field is an easy glide some 560 metres (1850 ft) below. The northerly take-off is gentle and grassy and is used as a morning site by the local school for first high flights. It is also the main take-off for cross country flights at about 1pm. The wide open valley to the East makes this site excellent for first cross-country flights with lots of landing options and a gentle 6 or 7km glide if that second thermal remains elusive. The more ambitious can emulate Ingmar or Rachael and fly to Colmar or St Andre les Alpes just over 100km away or just head for home. The Southerly take-off is steep over a cliff and reserved for more experienced pilots. Again the wind usually turns Westerly in the early afternoon and caution is required during and after this transition. This is the time to go for a coffee and wait for the westerly wind to establish itself so you can head off to Buc.

Buc West (and East):
For us as English pilots Buc took a bit of understanding! Due to the influence of the Rhone valley to the West, the wind almost invariably veers Westerly on the site in the late afternoon (even on an Easterly day) and at any time from 3pm onwards (usually later) Buc starts to work. After an initial couple of hours of thermal chasing trying to get away, Bergies generally smoothes off in late afternoon giving the opportunity of an evening of gentle restitution flying which is ideal for confidence-building in low airtime pilots.

The big challenge of Buc is knowing when and where to take off. The site can involve a walk up, though the long awaited road has now been built, it is only really suitable for 4x4's - or hire cars! The lowest take-off (known as ‘Jacques Tree’ after the first pilot to get up to the summit from there in the days of less buoyant canopies), is at 1,050 metres and is only a 15 minute walk up - less if you let the 4x4 take your canopy up. The skill is picking the right moment to try and fly up onto the ridge or in finding someone else to use as a wind dummy to see if it's possible. Alternatively, you can opt for a longer walk up to ‘Le Goulet’ which is 100metres higher or up onto ‘Le Sommet’ which at 1,440m greatly improves the odds of staying up in your favour. The reward for this longer hike being gentle restitution soaring until the time comes to retire to the bar! The landing is a large area at the foot of the bowl at 950 metres where the cars are parked – unless, of course, you achieve enough height to go over the back to the Bergies landing or fancy a wander over to Le Fort and the school landing field behind.

La Trappe:
La Trappe is a South facing site with a road to the top and a landing field amongst the lavender. and

Le Fort:
Le Fort site is used for those Easterly morning glides to the landing field below.

St Geniez:

It took us a long time to learn how to pronounce this site, too! This is a very ‘British-type’ site - but bigger! The locals mainly fly it in the late afternoon and evening and in a light Southerly wind when flights generally involve soaring along the ridge west of take-off or on the summit behind if you can get there. As the automatic weather station is sited behind take-off and some 200 metres below the summit, its readings can be misleading and are not indicative of the winds on the summit.

St Geniez is also used in thermic conditions and opens up the mountains to the East of the River Durance towards St Vincent and St Andre but without the need to cross the Durance valley. In weak conditions, the site can get congested in French terms especially if everyone is soaring the lower ridge. The landing field is immediately below take-off beside the road from which the track to take-off leads. The main take-off and landing areas are a little small for hang gliders and the site is rarely used by them. Top to bottom = 200 metres.

Aspres:

Aspres has 3 take-offs: South, West, and North but only the Southerly one gets much use. This take-off is a large grassy bank at the top of a huge (600 metre) hill with enough room to lay out several gliders. The site is regularly used by the local schools for morning and evening training flights both on paragliders and hang gliders. However, the site also has lots of XC potential with Grenoble only some 50km to the North.

There are a couple of landing fields in the large valley below. One is directly below take-off whilst the other is located at the Aspres sailplane airfield. There is also lots of out-landing potential in the area. The site is also used by sailplanes from Aspres airfield, not to mention ‘aeromodelistes’, but it is plenty big enough for all. Top-landing at Aspres is relatively easy which is unusual for a French site whilst the automatic weather station is generally the most reliable one around! Again, the wind often swings around to the West in the afternoon but due to the shape of the ridge and the West facing take-off, this is not so much of a problem here as long as its strength is not too great.

St Vincent Les Forts:

St Vincent Les Forts is the furthest site that we fly from on a regular basis being about an hour’s drive to the take-off. However, it is an extremely valuable site due to its unique and amazing micro-meteorology. The site is sheltered from the strong Northerly Mistral winds and on days when this wind is howling down the River Buech and River Durance valleys from the North at 100+ kph, St Vincent Les Forts is often still quite flyable. The biggest problem is staying up in the melee of pilots who descend upon the site from far and wide!

It can often be the only flyable site in this part of the Alps during Mistral conditions, which accounts for it being very busy at times. You will be happy to note that it is also the only site in our region that compares with Northern Alp and British sites for congestion at take-off and in the air.

The St Vincent Les Forts take-off is quite interesting and has become even more interesting with the addition of a hotel just to the right of take off! Most British pilots seem to cope reasonably well as the take-off is reminiscent of many British ridge-tops but watching the antics of some visiting pilots can be most entertaining! Landing is either in a field beside take-off (a fairly technical top landing) or on the lakeside beach 450 metres below or in a newly designated field within the forest below.
St Vincent Les Forts in the right conditions offers the opportunity to fly up to the Dormillouse peak behind (at 1,200 metres above) and thence XC to who knows where - St Andre and Digne via the Tete de L’Estrop mountain being favourites if experience permits. Again, this is a site used regularly by schools for training, particularly in the evening.
OTHER FLYING SITES
Whilst the above sites are the ones we regularly use, there are numerous others in the area which occasionally fly. Digne, Les Richards and Banon are under an hour away and St Andre-les-Alpes is just over the hour. Orcieres-Merlette is a recent discovery giving direct access to the Ecrins and the opportunity to ski and fly in the Winter. You can see that the area where we are situated has great potential for cross-country flying and site “bagging” for the more seasoned pilot or for expanding the experience level for lower airtime pilots. We feel that the local topography with its numerous mountains, big wide open valleys (generally without strong valley winds) offering lots of out-landing potential and the exceptional weather conditions here have proven to be absolutely ideal for learning and developing cross-country flying skills safely.