Even if I had the chance to spend several dozen of hours in the Alps, I’m by far not over with it. The temporary reduction of my flying budget, and move to Frankfurt will not help, but I’d really like to go back there for more. May be with Axel ? Who knows ? I even have a list of things to fly in the Alps:

Fly the Simplon Pass. This can seem pretty basic, but as I already told you in a previous post, I never could do that, because of serious discrepancies between forcasts and actual weather.

Land on a glacier. England has a national IMC rating, Switzerland has a national Mountain rating. Pilots holding it are allowed to land on mountains, at some designated places, outside any infrastructure. Getting the rating is quite demanding: 250 mountain landing, and many of them between November and March. Depending how cooperative weather is, this takes a couple of winter seasons. I’m not sure I want the rating, but landing in front of the Matterhorn with a certified pilot is definitely on my list.

Courchevel is not the sole french Altiport. Interestingly, It’s also not the more tricky to land at. I never went to Meribel yet, but I heard about it. The runway is also quite short, and in a dead end. The major difference is that it is flat – no slope to help stopping the plane.

One of my plans is also to cross all Switzerland – ok, it’s a small country – from Geneva to Sion, and the up the Rhone Valley to the Furka pass, down the other side and then the Rhein Valley to Altenrhein.

There are many Alpine routes that I did not had the chance to fly, including the Wallensee. This is a lake, south-east of Zurich, which is in an narrow valley, enclosed by high cliffs. Really tempting.

If you’re from a flat country, or fly in other mountainous region, I’d like to know more about your view on mountain flying. Do you have projects ? Memorable experiences ? Leave a comment…

Read more about flying the Alps:

Personal impression from flying the Alps – Tips for flying the Alps – Courchevel