The header image is a panoramic view of the local flying area, viewed from the south. It’s usual for cross country flights, whether free distance or triangles, to start off heading east, towards Bellwald, mainly because  the Goms valley has slopes with a more easterly aspect which work better earlier than the more southerly faces to the west.

The “milk run” is a 60km out-and-return, out along the south-facing side of the Goms to the Sidelhorn, the final peak before the Grimsel pass, above Oberwald, then back again, and continuing past takeoff to the Riederhorn before turning around again to head back to Fiesch.

This flight can quite easily be extended to a 90km flat triangle by continuing past the Riederhorn into the main Rhône valley with the second turnpoint just before the Sion TMA:

The classic free distance flight is straight along the main ridge of the Alps to Chur, 120km to the east.  This is a great option when the general meteo drift comes from between south and west, not only due to the assistance of a tailwind, but also because several critical sections of this route are much easier to negotiate with the high cloudbase and inhibition of disruptive northerly winds which are associated with airflows from this direction.  The next six pages in this section, from Fiescheralp to the Surselva, can be read as a sequential step-by step guide to flying this route.

In the example above, conditions were more or less ideal, with a light south-westerly tailwind and base rising to around 4,000m. Swiss crack Seb Benz has created a superb timelapse video of a flight along this route (and even further, into Austria) in classic conditions, and after UK vol biv guru Tim Pentreath and I flew to Flims together in 2018, he put together some highlights which capture the flavour of the trip.

Most pilots come to Fiesch intending to fly triangles, and the ambitious usually have the classic 200km FAI in mind (Rhône Glacier, Les Diablerets, Saas Fee, Fiesch). It’s best to attempt this route when the general meteo flow is as light as possible. I have yet to achieve this feat, so the route below is not one of mine.

Partly because I am based in Andermatt, I have a bias towards flying in that direction and beyond, rather than lower into the Rhône valley – hence the much greater detail in this website concerning routes to the east than to the west. For advice concerning the latter, I would recommend Burki Marten’s book, Cross Country Flying, which contains a section on Fiesch with the opposite emphasis.

My advice on how to tackle the various elements of the routes is coloured by my flying style, which by today’s standards is rather slow and cautious, by which I mean that I love thermalling, getting as far away from terrain as possible, and enjoying the view. I also tend to avoid lee sides and like to stay within easy reach of landing options, so if your style is to point your 2-liner on full bar in the direction you want to go and only 360 when absolutely necessary, you will probably find many of my suggestions here hopelessly old-fashioned and pedestrian!

For a more expert approach than mine, check out Chrigel and Michael Maurer flying through many of the areas in this section in a stunning recording produced by Swiss TV of an entire flight which they made together from Zermatt to Klosters, in conjunction with their XContest track logs.  However, be aware that this was from quite early in the season – 3rd June 2015 – so their decisions are influenced by snow cover at a much higher level than is found later in the year (as well as the high performance of their comp wings).