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Recent News

Domancy, Plaine Joux and Chamonix Valley - March 23rd

Winter and skiing

The sking continues but the warmer weather recently has melted away the snow on the lower slopes, though the pisteurs have been working hard to maintain reasonable cover: hats off to them...

The forecast is currently a little wintery and mixed for the next few days, possiblities of storms and some snow/rain that should top up the slopes nicely!

On the bright side, there has been some good flying..

Check out our Passy-Plaine Joux webcam for the snow at 1350m asl. Plaine Joux WebCam

Most of the ski areas are open. Chamonix webcams

The Flying

I've been flying my new Advance Omega ULS and what a beautiful wing it is.. Can't wait for some more nice flying weather.

Omega ULS

This past season! (2023)

Despite a wetter than normal summer we had a great flying season with many good flying days: 235 days between January and the end of October. see the details on the chart at the bottom of this page!

As per normal it was hot at times and upper 30's weren't unusual. The weather has definately been changing in the Alps over recent years but it hasn't affected the number of good flying days we have. In fact our season feels a little longer with less cold weather and sadly shorter winters.

Throughout our season we've had a good mixture of Beginners and many Pilot Development days, setting some short, local and interesting tasks for those pilots wanting to learn more with task/XC/thermal flying.

We had a number of Rusty pilots visit this year and its really satisfying helping them back into flying..

Our beginner/teaching has finished for 2023 and will start again in April 2024.

Our Fly Guiding and Pilot Development and Progression continues throughout the rest of the Autumn and Winter. Granted, thermal activity is sparce from now until late January but there are some spectacular flights to be had in the high mountains once the ski lifts open again from the middle of December. Our drive-up-to flying sites are always readily available.

For those interested in Pilot-Development and Progression, Advanced Post CPC and Pilot Training, please see the relevant page. 'Pilot Development' - We are now taking bookings for 2024.

More details can be found in the links below:

Winter Flying

Pilot Development and Progression

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Equipment sales and de-taxing for none EU citzens (including the UK)!

We mainly sell Advance and Kortel products and our standard discount off new gear is 15%. Please don't hesitate calling/emailing if you are after other makes/products/equipment and we can lay our hands on most flying gear!

Just a reminder: we can also de-tax the TVA (VAT) removing the 20% tax on top of the 15% discount making this a 35% discount on new gear. The Paperwork and de-tax procedure is simple and straightforward. Please don't hesitate calling/emailing me if you would like further details.

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Weather, Wind, Webcam links and Cable Car information..

Here are useful weather links for this area:

Chamonix Valley Meteo: Chamonix Meteo

Meteo Blue for Passy-Plaine Joux Valley: Passy

Wind and Weather Stations for many flying areas in France: Wind and weather in France

Check out the 'Plaine Joux' take off site webcam: WebCam

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2024 Flying Season

We are a British BHPA Registered School:

We are a BHPA registered school offering EPC and CPC courses with Personal one-to-one Instruction. BHPA

Personal one-to-one Instruction is a great way for the beginner pilot to train all the way to CPC as results happen quickly. The training includes all the BHPA tasks plus we add a number of mountain and thermalling tasks into the course, ensuring the new pilot is ready for mountain flying in the high Alps.

On average it takes a new pilot around 8 or 9 days to completes their EPC and CPC ratings and the training concludes with a number of hours of airtime, plenty of soaring and some long thermalling flights.

This form of training means you have your own instructor exclusively and it costs only 260 Euros a day for one pilot or 230 Euros a day each for 2 pilots. Please see our pages for the details.

Pilot-Development and Progression:

Pilot-Development/Progression tuition/coaching is available most of the year, and is ideal for new pilots wanting to develop their skills in the high alps. Check out the details here:'Pilot Development'

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2024 Bookings...

We are now taking bookings for 2024 see our 'Calendar' for available dates.

Spring, Summer and Autumn Paragliding...

We run Beginner and thermalling courses and fly guiding from April to November!

• Pilot-Development and Progression tuition/coaching is available most of the year.

• Keep an eye on our Facebook for updates!

Also, don't forget to check availabilty here: Availability Page..

Winter Flying:

From early January to mid March is our winter flying period and we offer fly guiding in the mountains for all pilots wanting to experience the beautiful high flights within the spectacular winter surroundings!. If required we can teach you to Ski launch too! Check out our Winter Flying page

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Latest gear updates:

Advance Iota DLS

Iota

I've been mostly flying the Advance Iota DLS size 23 (EN-B+) flying it between 81-84kgs all up. It handles really well and its sweet to fly. It's stable, responsive, accurate to fly, very easy to position even in the most difficult thermals. It has a lovely glide and a good turn of speed. All I can say is try it, I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

I have two harnesses I use with it. Advance Impress 4 pod and more recently for convenience the new Advance Boundless, their new med/lightwweight open reversible harness that's a real pleasure to fly with. Check it out here: Advance Boundless

Check our shop for special prices on new gear and don't forget if you live outside the EU we can De-Tax the TVA for you saving another 20%. Flyers Shop.

Annual Flying...

We have kept a record of all the flying days we've had in this area since 1996 and you can see on the chart below the number of flying days doesn't change much each year. The mid winter flying window is around 2-3 hours extending to 11 hours in the spring and summer. Some mid summer days have strong thermic periods where pilots become grounded for a few hours, otherwise the annual flying conditions are very good. It has to be said that not all the days produce fantastic flying conditions but it's not bad here and realistically we fly for about 65% of the year: the chart speaks for itself.

PLEASE NOTE - On the chart below some months are shown as n/a (not available) this is because in the winter we are skiing or flying tandem and not registering our flyable days and in summer it would be because we are away from the area, normally flying somewhere else.

DateDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctTotal
1996n/a20152325162220212620208
19971117172625242125272720240
1998n/a19261917302424271915220
19991713111819232329222417216
2000222131718262617252519210
20011914141017282025251928219
200217301222231727222327n/a220
20031117202820222724262216233
2004156211622222526272719226
20051920162517262827202725250
2006424171219233030192320221
20071816132130212523242226239
20082016241218271822282514224
20091217102025181827282927231
2010101311162519*17*292223n/a185
2011n/an/a222728252529262725234
2012n/an/an/a2015262228252020176
2013n/an/an/an/a17232229312727176
2014 n/an/an/a2527262422262321194
2015 n/an/an/a2222242629283022203
2016 281772222192328292723245
2017 27n/an/a2625282425n/a2527207
2018 n/an/a132225272930292926230
2019 n/an/a212225232627282925226
2020 n/an/an/a2726282226282726210
2021 1117262926172729272625260
2022 n/an/an/a2625272829282723213
2023 n/a21222121272221292724235
2024 n/a19

Contact us - Office: +33450545963 Mobile: +33 610634558 email: alpineflyingcentre


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