Hang gliding - Page 2 - Clubhouse

Hg .

07/08/2008 at 12:42

Lawro: stick "hang gliding" in youtube and you'll get a good feel for it.

fat buddha

07/08/2008 at 12:54

so standard gliders are now called sailplanes?? never knew that

you can climb Mt Blanc in a day - overnight in a refuge, early start (2am or so), on top by 9am, back in Chamonix for a beer by mid-afternoon. there are a number of routes - some very technical - but the 2 main ones are no great difficulty. you need to spend some time before getting acclimatised and learning how to walk with crampons and roped to others - loads of week courses available that will cover this.....

it's the weather that's the intangible factor - we were lucky on our 1st ascent; 2nd time high winds curtailed it at 4000m so we turned back without summiting

Edited: 07/08/2008 at 12:57

Hg .

07/08/2008 at 12:58

Since gliders also encompasses hang gliders and paragliders, it's easier to use sailplanes to distinguish them. I'm not sure who uses which term, but people who fly hang gliders definitely refer to "standard gliders" as sailplanes.

Hg .

07/08/2008 at 13:01

FB: out of interest, how much would you have to budget for to do an ascent of Mt. Blanc?

IronM.in

pirate

07/08/2008 at 13:05

Quite like the idea of that too FB!

Lawro

07/08/2008 at 13:07

Thanks Hg - its amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ac0TKVLIhQ

I soooo want to do this.

fat buddha

07/08/2008 at 13:27

cost of Mt B - depends on how you go about doing it.

we knew a guide so booked him direct and he arranged everything including refuge booking (we had our own accomodation in Chamonix). there's a number of companies that will arrange an all-inclusive package (accomodation, guide, training etc) - about £500 for a week?? getting to Chamonix is easy by car or plane and loads of places to stay. just don't go in late July/August as the place is stacked and very little in the way of places to stay - even the campsites will be full

the other cost is equipment - suitable clothing, high mountain boots, crampons, ice axe etc but you can hire most of this (bar clothing) in Chamonix.

mail me if you need any more help

Blisters

12/08/2008 at 23:45

Did Mt Blanc twice as a student, on consecutive years. First year solo - you don't need to hire a guide - it's just a high altitude walk in crampons. However it's not risk free. There are a couple of risk factors: altitude at 16000 ft the air is a bit thin, and you can get altitude headaches, snow blindness, nausea etc. The second is that you have to cross a water-ice glacial flow on the way up and down the Trog's route. Not difficult, but it's a stonefall missile run. Every year a few people die on it, basically because they get shot by a stone. But then, all life has risk factors. I would compare the risk as being similar to walking across a motorway. Done carefully and the risks are minimised. Or you can be stupid.

For the second ascent I had a mate and we took a challenging route.

In climbing terms I got my biggest buzzes from rock climbing in Tremadoc, North Wales. Now we are talking low cost.

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