rielle had been taken to the hospital by one of the workers. Her arm was broken.

I asked Marielle about her landing.  She described her set up and approach, which seemed normal.  She said she simply dropped to the ground.  It sounded like she had dropped out of the backside of one of the LZ thermals without enough airspeed to recover the landing.  The result was a broken arm at the elbow.

With my flying companion out of commission for the duration of my visit other flights were made alone.  Most of the time I was the only hang glider in the sky.  The Northern Alps flyers are predominantly paragliders.  Often there are more than 12 in the air at any given site at any given time.  Sadly, I heard more than one hang glider pilot say "hang gliding is dead in France."

WHERE IS THE LZ?!?     Samoens, with 2600' from launch to landing, is a popular school site for both paragliding and hang gliding.  There is a water park for children next to the LZ so parents are able to learn to fly while their kids play on the waterslide.  I marked the LZ by the waterslide and we drove the 15 minutes, on paved roads, to the launch.

The LZ was not visible from launch.  I was told that once I cleared the point of the mountain that I would be able to see it.  I set up and we waited for the thermals to settle more "in" to launch.  Finally, a thermal blew nearly straight in.  I had Franck motion to the paraglider pilots on launch that I was ready.  They have a habit of launching in any order of each other but generally respect the need of the hang glider pilots to launch clear of paragliders.  I cleared my launch and took to the air.  I worked the thermal above launch but then lost it closer to the ridge than I was willing to go.

Moving around the point of the mountain I figured I would hunt for another thermal once I spotted the LZ.  The point of the mountain came and went.  I saw farms, fields, a few buildings, a river, but no LZ.  Where did it go?  It has to be here.  Look again for the bright red waterslide.  Don't panic.  A few heart thumping moments later I spotted a paraglider and followed his trajectory.  The LZ was across the river.  Okay, now I could breath again.  I tried to work a weak thermal but lost it again in the trees. Over the LZ I picked up another thermal and worked it for a few turns but then lost the weak lift.

ANNECY, CHAMOUX, and CHAMONIX.     If you ever have the opportunity to fly in France, Annecy has my highest recommendation.  There is even a snack stand in the LZ.  The lift is a bit weak but workable if you know how to thermal.  I saw hang gliders and paragliders soar the three ridges surrounding Annecy nearly all day several times.  Perhaps after I learn to thermal I can come back and get one of those dream flights.  A warning though, I also saw several paragliders get plucked from the trees.  Two of these were helicoptered out to the hospital.  The lift here is dangerously close to the heavily treed ridges.

The flight at Chamoux began on the backside of the ridge.  The launch is very flat and ends in the trees so if you are not airborne you are tree fodder.  I waited for a decent thermal that came bouncing up over and off of the trees at and around launch.  Once safely in the air I climbed and rounded the point of the mountain.  The lift dissipated at the top of the ridge so I spent the remainder of the flight soaring up and down the length of the ridge riding the weak late day heat.  I outlasted the many paragliders that had launched just before and after me.

While I was not able to fly Chamonix I wanted to write about it.  There are several launches all around the valley.  The cable cars are equipped to handle hang gliders and give a discount to pilots.  The hang gliding LZ is completely surrounded by trees.  The south flow to the wind the day I was there meant there would be rotors above the trees and in the LZ.  Franck opted to help me live to fly another day and advised against the flight.  Perhaps with more experience I could have landed there, but not as a Hang 2.  I took the cable