The planning for our vol bivouac trip continues. We’ve just about got our route nailed down. For the last few months I’ve been studying maps of the Alps, getting acquainted with paragliding sites and flying regions, reading forums and generally madly trying to soak up as much information and I can about how a couple might sky camp their way from France to Slovenia around the alpine arc. I’ve learned the names of many a valley and have become truely inspired by the kind of hiking, flying and adventuring Melody and I will be doing this summer. The Alps look really amazing!

So here’s the route in brief. We’ll start in France, most likely just north of Grenoble at a place called St. Hilaire which has a famous paragliding site that is the host to the super fun looking Coupe Icare flying festival. From there we’ll head north to Annècy, a town with a reputation for being the paragling mecca of the world. From Annècy we’ll work our way up into the Haute Savoie past Chamonix and Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in the Alps. From there we head north-east in Switzerland to Verbier and then hike and fly just south of the Rhonè Valley past Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Next it’s on to Fiesch where we’ll hope to get a spectacular flight with views of the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps, flowing down from the Jungfrau. From here we’ll keep pushing east to Chur, Switerland’s oldest town. From Chur we’ll head into Austria and the Tyrol. We’ll pass through Innsbruck, an outdoor paradise, and then on to Rastadt where we’ll turn sharply south and head for the Austrian state of Carinthia which is famous for its incredible hiking routes. We’ll traverse a section of the Drau Valley and then make our way further south into Italy. On our brief passage through the north-eastern corner of Italy we’ll travel through Tarvisio and then enter into Slovenia and the Julian Alps. We’ll have our first opportunity for an XC flight in Slovenia at Log Pod Mangartom and then we’ll hike and fly the valleys south finally ending our adventure in Tomin!

The prevailing summer winds in the Alps blow from the north-west so with any luck we get blown down our route line for much of the trip.

Just thinking about this route is incredibly exciting for both Melody and I. We can’t wait to experience it first hand!