Norway had long been on my list of places to visit and fly.....the fjords, the bracing air, clear skies, friendly natives and wild landscapes but on the other hand - the less than reliable weather and expense always relegated it to somewhere near the rear of the list.
Anyway. this year, I came across a competition on the FAI calender - The Vaga Paragliding Open Championship taking place July 19th - 26th, dates that just happened to fit in with my week off work. The bait was set!
Vaga is situated approximately three hours north by train from Oslo and is home to the Norwegian Flugsportssenter where the competition was to take place. The centre is set in a wide valley and has its own landing field and two launch sites at 2500' and 3500' on the mountainside above. The centre, built in 1992 with the aid of government funding when the European hangliding Championship was staged here, is a large alpine style chalet with accommodation, lounge, kitchen and dining area, lecture room and garage for storing hangliders. The inclusive fee for the competition, accommodation, breakfast, packed lunch and all transport seemed very good value so I booked up on the website and booked a flight from Heathrow and a train ticket from Oslo to Vaga.
Arriving at Oslo airport on the sunday morning, I made my way to the train terminal below, stopping to pick up a small bottle of water and a pack of chewing gum on the way - 370 krona "eek, there must be some mistake, thats £3.70 or thereabouts!" I stared at the receipt in disbelief - "no it's correct!" The train journey was very smooth but I could not see much of the countryside as it was peeing down! "Oh well, I'm here now" I mused and I contented myself with a coffee and sandwich from the buffet carriage :the shock of the price was lessened thanks to my earlier shock with the water and chewing gum!
The train took me as far as the town of Otta, where I took a twentyfive minute bus ride to the Vagamo. Arriving at 19:30, I stood in the rain wondering how to get to the flying centre which was a few km out of town. I lingered at the bus stop for a while hoping to catch the eye of a passing pilot but everything seemed very quiet so I walked across the road to a petrol station to ask if I could get a taxi from somewhere. In, the petrol station, a guy heard me talking to the attendent and offered me a lift to the centre. His name was Cristos, a pilot from Greece who had driven all the way up through Europe with his family. Ten minutes later, we were at the centre and my mood lifted as I surveyed the surroundings. The place was warm,dry and immaculately clean and the scent of pine made for a very homely feel. I met the host and competition director Arne Hillestad and he showed me to one of the bunkrooms. In the kitchen, cold beers were available for 20 kronas(£2.00) so after a long day, all was well!
It rained all day on monday and all I could think of to do was to go out for a walk in the rain. Tuesday - more rain! However, it stopped in the afternoon and to my suprise, the call went out for some flying at a place called Boverdalen where it is possible to fly in windy conditions as the area is sheltered by high mountains - scepticism crept in but a couple of hours later, I was pleasantly suprised to be launching into a picturesque valley! Arne had driven us up from the valley floor in the minibus via a road that leads up to a summer ski area dominated by the Galdhoppigen - Norway's highest mountain at 8000'. There are a number of launch points alongside the road on the way up. We drove to the top but then had to retreat to the lower launch. Here we could happily soar along the side of the valley while the prevailing wind howled overhead. The conditions were quite ok - I would not have believed it!
Wednesday - no flying all day but conditions mellowed in the evening so we loaded up the minibus and went up to the takeoff called Vole which overlooks the flying centre from 2500' on the mountainside above. We lobbed off at 22:15 for an extended glide along the valley and back to the landing field. At this latitude, summer days are long!
Thursday - no chance of any flying so a full minibus went off to visit a Wilderness Area in an isolated valley one hour to the north. There, we walked through woodland and up a mountainside to a spectacular gorge, wading though an ice-cold river on the way - boy was that water cold!
Friday - a sunny day with light winds and in the morning, everyone was feverishly checking and preparing their equipment. I'd almost forgotten about the competition! We all went up to the takeoff at Vole for some customary parawaiting. A task was set - 53km southeast to a goal near the town of Otta. It started off oh so well, with plenty of room in the air for the seventy plus pilots. Alas, a shower brewed up and swept across the course line, forcing the task to be abandoned. Still, it was good while it lasted and I managed to get some photos of the spectacular norwegian landscape. Thankfully, most pilots were able to make it back to the main landing field although a handful who were on the other side of the shower went off XC and flew about 40km.
Saturday - my last day and it was blown out! However, the minibuses were going up to Boverdalen to fly in the shelter of the wind. This time, it seemed ok to launch from one of the other launch points which gave us 3800' of altitude to play with and we could soar along the valley high up while the wind howled overhead - I wouldn't haver believed it!
Sunday - I had a train to catch so I said my goodbyes and left before everyone went up to Boverdalen again in a last ditch attempt to fly a competition task. I wished them luck - the weather looked grim!
On the train back to Oslo, I reflected on a week that I had enjoyed immensely despite the weather. I had not expected to fly everyday but a couple of good days would have been nice. I had felt very welcome at the Centre and the organisers put in a great deal of effort to get us up in the air. The landscape is breathtaking and huge flights are made here when conditions are good: some pilots showed me clips of their 1ookm + flights on their laptops! It is on the whole, an expensive country to visit but stayng at the Centre in bunkhouse-style accommodation with breakfast and lunch thrown in proved extremely good value. Vaga is perfectly accessible by train and bus so there is no need to hire a car.
I flew from Heathrow to Oslo on a reasonably priced flight with Scandinavian Airways. The air is clean and water pure. There are no crowds or queues and the open spaces and wilderness areas are immense. The flying scene is very active and welcoming(Acro and XC) augmented by a superb National Flying Centre.
Yes, Norway is do-able : you just need to get lucky with the weather!
Nick Roberts
