Garrett Fisher

Author, Pilot, & Adventurer

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Book #20: Above the Summit: An Antique Airplane Conquers the 4000ers of the Alps

November 5, 2019 by Garrett

Well, here it is: the cherry on top. After six years of mountain flying in the Rockies, Appalachians, Pyrenees, and Alps, after $5000 of aircraft parts installed in 2015 to fly in Europe, planning specifically for Mt. Blanc, after shipping the airplane from Wyoming to Germany, here we are, having flown the list of the highest peaks in the Alps.

Eighty-two peaks can be found over 4000 meters in height (13,123’ to 15,774’) in the Alps, located in France, Italy, and Switzerland. Unlike their cousins in America, these peaks are covered not only by glaciers, literal ice caps can be found on some of these summits.

I must say I have come a long way since that day in early winter 2013, standing at Leadville, Colorado not too long after deciding to base the PA-11 there. I had only recently figured out how to get the engine to take off at such altitudes; getting to the height of a 14er (mountain over 14,000’ feet) was complicated enough. Yet, there I stood, staring at Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado, and I thought to myself: “It can’t be that hard to fly to them all.” Ha! It was quite an experience, both in this airplane and not knowing what the hell I was doing. That was my first aerial adventure book.

It wasn’t long before I was upside down (literally) in the Appalachians. Go figure. Winds can be dangerous there, too. Then back to chase glaciers in the Rockies. How I thought that was the pinnacle of achievement! Little did I know that those piddling snow fields just whet my appetite. The Pyrenees were a bit of a necessary breather, as just about everything I came to expect about European aviation was completely false, so I had a chance to thoroughly enjoy myself and regroup, while also happening to realize the place was filled with rotors and mountain waves. So much for planning…

And then the Alps came. In a way, it was anticlimactic. It should have been more dangerous, yet it seemed to be a relatively rational experience. Now why could that suddenly be? I would venture to guess it’s pretty simple: I had by then figured out what mountain flying was all about.

Honestly, in 2013 when I made that fateful decision to move to Colorado, I thought I would just live there happily ever after. Never in a million years did I expect this to happen.

 

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Blog Posts

  • Flights: Spain, Switzerland: A Crazed Aeronautical Bender…Seven Years Later January 25, 2023
  • Flight: France: Surfing the Wave December 19, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland: A Mystery on the Eiger, 700,000th Photo November 16, 2022
  • Flight: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands: Losing My Flying-Over-Water Virginity October 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Sognefjord, Longest Fjord in Norway September 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Hardangervidda, Largest Mountain Plateau in Europe September 17, 2022
  • Flight: Norway: Galdhøpiggen, Highest Peak in Northern Europe August 20, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Jostedalsbreen, Largest Glacier in Continental Europe August 7, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Flyraseri ikke Flyskam July 17, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland, France, Italy: 2,000 Hours & FL160 July 9, 2022
  • Flight: Day 4: Sweden, Norway: 56N to 59N July 6, 2022
  • Flight: Day 3: Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden: 53N to 56N June 27, 2022
  • Flight: Day 2: France, Belgium, Netherlands: 44N to 53N June 19, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1: Spain, France: 36N to 44N June 4, 2022
  • Flight: Spain: Rock the Casbah, Sierra Nevada, Africa on the Horizon May 8, 2022
  • Flight: Portugal, Spain: Promontorium Sacrum, Last Sausage Before America April 26, 2022
  • Flight: Spain, Morocco: Spanish Africa, Pillars of Hercules, Southernmost Point in Europe April 18, 2022
  • Flights: Spain: The Antipope, Package Holidays & A Clandestine Metropolis April 11, 2022
  • Flights: Days 2 & 3: France, Spain, Portugal: España Verde, Galicia, Aggressive Eucalyptus & Andalucía April 3, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1 of 3: Switzerland, France, Spain, Andorra: Alps, Mediterranean, Pyrenees & Atlantic March 30, 2022

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