In some ways, it is surprising that the early calendar month record of flying 65.0 hours in September 2015 stood so long. The PA-11 and PA-18 have gone to many corners of the Western world and have broken many annual records since, but not yet the monthly one, despite multiple glacier binges.
I had an inkling before leaving for Bodø, Norway that the record would be in danger. An essential component to smashing a record is to have an obtuse series of flights covering a lot of territory; photography alone doesn’t suffice. Why? Photography is limited to the best hours of lighting, where as a flight to and from a distant location is a death march of flying from morning to evening. In the case of the first record, I flew from Alpine, Wyoming to Colorado twice, and to the Canadian border, plus a host of “local” flights (lasting up to 8 hours in a day).
In this case, I had left for Bodø in late July, arriving at Trondheim, Norway on the evening of July 31. Ever the stickler for autistic fixations on a definition…the record can only count August 1 to August 31. I took off on August 1 for Bodø and undertook the flights mentioned in the last post, taking me to 26.7 hours flown by August 11. On the 12th, I took off to head south, flying 20.9 hours in three days to get to Switzerland. Who needs a functioning arse anyway?
That put me at 47.6 by August 14th, and I knew the record would fall.
I hadn’t exactly planned what would come next, though I had an idea when I was making the plans for the summer. Since my time in Norway was so short, I knew I’d have a chance to hit up some glaciers in the Alps again. When I initially planned the Global Glacier Initiative, I completed the photography of all glaciers of the Alps by 2021, and assumed it wouldn’t be worth it to consider them again for a minimum of 10 years. However, in 2022, 2023, and 2024, an astonishing 1/8th of ice mass existing as of 2021 was gone….well more than the last 30 years of melt combined. That meant that everything I had photographed was totally different, and I should go after it again.
A study later in the year came out and confirmed that the Alps, relative to the year 2000, have the greatest percentage of ice loss out of any glacier regions in the world. I literally have a front seat to the fastest glacial recession presently happening, so it is no wonder why I’d go at it again.
The next 10 days featured 18.5 hours of flying, some of which was out of Zweisimmen, continuing the summer sunset medieval Catholic tour of terror. Total: 66.1. The record had fallen on the 26th of August!
The mathematical pragmatism of autistic benders is this: for each additional hour that the record is smashed, the probability of repeating it drops by an increasing amount. Since I got that far, I might as well go for the gusto…plus the weather was good for glacier flying, and the photographs were incredible.
I flew daily through the 31st….glaciers, glaciers, and more glaciers. On the 28th, I smashed another record: the longest single flight without refueling. I had set it in the US in 2015 at 4 hours, prodigiously almost running out of fuel like a moron. It was broken again in 2022, then 2023, set most recently at 4 hours 36 minutes. The Super Cub has 36 gallons of fuel. Cruising at 10,500 feet, running lean of peak on a hot summer day, I was able to fly 5 hours 5 minutes. I had left with full fuel and fueled upon returning: 111.1 litres consumed out of a 136.3 litre tank. 25.2 litres left operating at 21.85 litres per hour (5.77 GPH) = 1.15 hours left over, less modest unusable amounts. The law requires a 30-minute reserve. The law does not pay for proctologist consultations after sitting in the same seat for so long.
The pursuit ended on August 31 at 87.0 hours. My record for one year is 350.1. A person can obtain a pilot’s license in 45 hours.
Although my neurotic obsession with calendric amusement was forced to a conclusion by the arrival of September, the pursuit of glaciers had not. I continued with gusto until September 10th when a mechanical issue rained on the parade. I was able to swap the PA-11 as my sturdy aeronautical steed, though the weather spat in the face of my illusions, and it was time to pay the Piper (literally and figuratively).
If one sets aside the obsession over calendars, the period July 29 to September 10 featured 116 hours of flying…all of it related to glaciers. I had basically covered almost every glacier in Switzerland again, with some additional work in France and Italy.
Select images in no particular order.
Griesgletscher, border of Italy and Switzerland.
Somewhere above the Diemtigtal, looking at the Bernese Alps.
Allalingletscher & Hohlaubgletscher.
Matterhorn. I saw a paraglider doing aerobatics at the summit….above me.
Sunset at Mt Blanc from 15,000 feet. I had to turn on the afterburners to get back before closing.
Glacier d’Otemma. The PA-18 is more challenging than the PA-11 in terrain like this.
Fieschergletscher.
Mer de Glace, north face of Grandes Jorasses, and Mt Blanc.
Tiramisu glacier patterns on the Aletschgletscher. I have so many zooms like this I can’t keep track of them.
Ischmeer in evening. I notice the wall of rock more than the glacier in evening light, and the reverse in midday.
Turtmanngletscher and the Weisshorn. Matterhorn in center right distance.
Nestgletscher and Bietschhorn after late summer/early autumn snows.
Tschima da Flix (peak) with Vadret Calderas (glacier). Near St. Moritz.
Aletschgletscher with Aletschhorn in the foreground. An unusual angle as I am generally drawn down toward the glacier and not above this summit.
Mönch.
Spitzalpelifirn, with Clariden. Its not that far away, yet I don’t get over here so often.
Triftgletscher.
Fieschergletscher after early snows. This photo was a minute after a modest “holy shit” moment due to nasty downdrafts. I am generally good at avoiding them though I guess I don’t know everything.
Ghiacciaio del Basodino, at the Italy/Switzerland border.
