"Hey, aren't you a little short on those supplies?"
"What do you mean, short?, this has got to be more than enough for six days."
"What six days, - we came here for two weeks!"

    Following clarification of certain little misunderstandings of an organizational nature, other unexpected difficulties soon arise. Even though the temperature on the landing ground is up to a pleasant 16 °C, nighttime temperatures are below freezing, complicating our morning food selection. Coca-cola with ice doesn't seem so strange, but the frozen water canisters for the morning soup cannot be opened. We are dependent upon our freeze-resistant bread, which we brought from home. Also usable are the Czech meat spreads, evidently made from good quality crude oil, so they can be spread in the frost. But at this moment another, unexpected problem arises, which is the pain of biting into a freezing layer of spread. The method of a deep exhale just before biting, causing at least a slight warming up of the spread. But just remembering the minus 20 degrees back home in the Czech Republic and Moravia, and right off things are seen in a different light.



    In contrast to the landing area, finding the starting ground turned out to be a simple task. All one needs to do is to leave the city of Cassino in northern direction and stick to the sporadic arrows, pointing toward the mountain village of Terelle. This village lies at an elevation of almost 1000 meters above sea level and on the way there you have to drive by both starting grounds. The glider ramp above the left serpentine at an elevation of 520 meters is virtually un-missable, and thanks to its excellent position in a thermally distinct area will almost surely get most glider pilots to unpack their gear here, on the nice grassy, wind-shielded plain. In light of the 70m elevation of the landing ground, the over-height of this place is a decent 450m.




    Another 4km later along the way up through the serpentines the road winds around a distinct peak, the southeast side of which serves as a runway. It must, however, be accessed on foot from the western side, by an unassuming 200m path.

    The landing ground, however, is a story in itself. Besides indubitable advantages, (a flat meadow, windsleeves, great visibility from both runways, camping areas, covered area with benches, a volleyball net, a trash can, swings for the children, etc…), it also has some disadvantages. Firstly, it is difficult to find for the first time, and without a GPS it might be better to ask the locals. The only reliable signposts are the little yellow signs with the words, "Volo Libero Cassino", that can be picked up along the route from the city of Cassino, towards the village of Terello, roughly in the middle of the village of Caira. As soon as the landing ground has been found, this disadvantage, of course, disappears.

    The second disadvantage, however, is immediately apparent. This concerns the layout, shape and the adjacent surroundings and it is above all a disadvantage for gliders. A paraglider can take this paragraph as purely informational or skip it altogether. As can be seen clearly on the photographs, the immediate surroundings of the landing field are cut up by an irrigation system in the form of relatively deep canals and long cement ditches protruding about one-half meter above the ground. Trees, varying in height from two to eight meters, grow around each canal. The longer, "runway" runs north - south, that is, roughly parallel with the crest from which you take off. It is apparent that the overwhelming direction of thermal streaming throughout the day will be pulling towards the slopes of the crest from which you take off, and that is perpendicular to the longer side of the landing ground. Not only the surrounding slopes, but also the entire valley is a powerful source of thermals in the sunny afternoon and to fly onto the runway with the wind perpendicular to landing direction is certainly a greater experience for a glider pilot than flying itself. The current balance consists of two broken cross bars and one broken end of a laminated wingtip. Fortunately so far there have been no bodily injuries nor damage to the local shrubbery or irrigation system.

    Wednesday's rapid change in cloud development surprised everyone by noon. Everyone except maybe Honza who took off at the last sunny interval, caught on quickly above the base and from there radioed his -8°C. And so Jazzman, Yehuda and I patiently collect the weak risers beneath the overcast sky, east of the starting ground, at barely 200 meters above the runway, while enjoying the scenery and trying to ignore the light snowflakes swirling around us.

    The following day no one leaves anything to chance and everyone is ready to take off before noon. Thermal activity, however, starts up much slower than yesterday and the only thing to do is wait. The result is afternoon risers at speeds of over 6m/s up to an altitude of 2100m, where the temperature drops to -10 °C and from there beautiful vistas open onto the snow mountain crests, scattered stone mountain villages and lonesome herds of grazing horses and cows.



    Friday is a rest day and simultaneously the first without morning frost. The sky clouds quickly with a high cover and the northern wind picks up. While only Norbert takes off from the ramp over the valley today and lands 15 minutes later in the strengthening wind, the group of Para gliders prefers to take off on a trip. Remo Merucci, President of the local club,"A.S. Volo Libero Cassino", with whose kind permission we're flying and camping here for free and invites us to fly tomorrow in the neigh boring, as yet unknown, terrain. Even though the weather doesn't look good at the moment, everyone agrees. The snow-covered peak of Monte Cairo becomes slowly shrouded in mist. The night will be warm, but windy.