Axis Mountain Masterclasses

So much has been happening.. where to start? !
I truly am quite hopeless at keeping up to date while I'm travelling around. I will try harder!

The Mountain Masterclasses in Mayrhofen & Chambery went well.
We had a rough intro to spring mountain conditions on the first day in Mayrhofen as Kelly and I hit a 8 m/s leeside climb out from launch. After battling north trying to keep everyone airborne and heading more or less on course, Kelly cancelled the task after getting hoiked skywards in yet another of those psychotic climbs. The following day we were hit by the foehn wind and offered a perfect theory lesson in why not to fly the foehn as the lake showed the rotor patterns marching across the surface. Within minutes the glassy surface was turned into a seething mass of white foam.
The weekend brought much more fun with a local league competition. The first ever comp for most of the guys. We spent an afternoon talking comp strategy and tactics and explaining the ins & outs of GPS's until strong wind chased us to the bar again!
Congratulations to Joe Dart for becoming our Mayrhofen Mountain Master, after a week of very determined flying.
Tom Payne met us in Chambery with a heap of site options already scouted. 3 flying days and 6 sites saw everyone well briefed and beginning to understand the ups and downs of route planning in the Alps. An evening restitution flight at Chamouse saw us recreating the Axis Mountain masterclass logo as Colin Hawke on his Vega II posed with Mt. Blanc in the background.
The final fling was a tour of the Petit Lac in Annecy before the weather sent us scuttling away. Adam Stanfield flew away with the 'Mountain Master Tshirt' after proving that he is prepared to stick with anything.
After 2 weeks of 'work' I was physically & emotionally knackered so hid out at Dave & Rach's while the wind blew & the skies poured forth biblical quantities of water. It was a relaxing few days catching up on work and doing laundry before heading off to Italy.