Day after day the moon waxes and thanks to the reflection of sunrays from its surface, we don't need a flashlight at night. Night after night, however, the red Merlot Veneto wanes and the Czech bread we brought is only good for toast now. The night frosts have gotten slightly milder and it's possible to sit up late into the night in the glow of the campfire.

    Beyond all expectations, Saturday morning it is clear and the sun is shining with unusual strength. Following the necessary look at the plastic wall map posted at the local club, "A.S. Volo Libero Cassino", in the neighboring village of Caira, six Czech cars with 8 glider pilots and 6 paraglider pilots follow the black Volvo of the local boss, Remo Meruccio northwards.



    Roughly 33km from Cassino, at an elevation of 430m, lay another broad valley, beneath the town of San Donato, surrounded by a mountain chain with peaks at around 2000m. At first glance the terrain reminds us a little of Castelluccio, with the difference that the floor of the valley is not nearly as high and flying is possible here year round. Finding the valley is not at all complicated, all you need to do is leave Cassino heading toward the cities of Atina and Sora and approximately two kilometres after going through the mountain tunnel, turn right onto highway SS509 toward S. Donato. The landing ground at N41°42.079' E013°46.838' is then reached directly from the town along highway SP94, toward Sora, and the starting ground is reached by continuing on across the town, along highway SS509, toward Opi and Pescasseroli. The landing field is flat as a tabletop, incomparably bigger to than the one in Cassino, and furthermore without any complications in its vicinity. A roofed shelter with benches and a table is in the middle, as usual, and over it is a windsleeve on a pole.



    The experts on local conditions are Armando Montuori (Pietro) a Marcella Onorio (Santos) and according to them, within several months a super runway, one-half kilometre closer than the current, provisional runway, will be built for a large sum of State funds right by highway SS509. Today the only thing the paraglider pilots can do is to head out on an hour-long hike through the snow, while the glider pilots set up their machines right by road, under the gazes of people driving by, at coordinates N41°43.550' E013°47.312' , at 1170 meters above sea-level. For paraglider pilots, this area is unusable, as the take off is from a sharp break in the terrain and there is no room for a running start. It's just a jump over the edge and a show for the tourists.

    Shortly after 13:00 the paragliders take off high in the mountains, while almost at the same time the gliders take off from the starting ground by the road. Due to the rapid cloud development above the crest, the thermals are slightly suppressed and the risers only occasionally exceed a speed of 3m/s. The upper sections of the crest are covered in snow and cloud base today lies at around 2100m. It is possible to fly along the crest without difficulties, 50km there and back and flying from here to Cassino is nothing unusual here. The valley is known not only as the San Donato terrain, but also as, "Valle di Comino". The locals here have marked routes in excess of 100km and with the upcoming building of the new, spacious starting ground, they are preparing to host the Italian Championships.



    The temperature over the crest is, as it is every day, far below freezing point, and Martin Pacejka has a face so frozen when he lands, that he cannot form an understandable sentence. Even so, later on the landing ground, we all agree that the San Donato terrain is unbelievably amazing and that we will definitely have to come here for a longer time one day. But sometime when it's a little warmer. Although, the local residents insist that this February is unusually cold and they don't remember anything like it. Those who were here last year and spent most of their time in shorts and T-shirts confirm this.



    The following morning the sky is once again clear blue and sharp rays of sunlight rapidly change the white covering of frost to sparkling drops. "We have to move it", says Tomas Hrabal and the Czech paraglider pilots pack up unenthusiastically and head off for home. I will certainly miss Yehuda's audibly chattering teeth every morning. Every time I looked at him, I realized I wasn't that cold after all.

    At the stroke of eleven we head up the hill. Following our bad experience with breaking off icicles when getting spring water up at the village of Terelle, we decide to fill our canisters in the garden of a young Italian girl under the mountain instead. She's actually a Canadian from Toronto who married a local Italian with a view to a tranquil life in a village house. Now she has a four-year-old son, a jealous husband and she misses the excitement of the city. She considers her marriage a mistake and most of all would prefer to pack her bags and run away. I don't even know why she is telling me all of this. Anyway, there is no reason not to believe it as a spirit of adventure just emanates from her. We leave her to her destiny and rush up to the starting ground. The wind begins to pick up noticeably.