Eigertour 2021 – Anne Jan Roeleveld, Helios RS
A report by Anne Jan Roeleveld.
Eigertour 2021 Edition 4 is over, what an experience again! This time it was particularly challenging due to the weather conditions. We had everything: sun, rain, hail, snow, thunderstorms, wind. The first 2 days were a challenge due to the rain and lots of clouds. The last 2 days we were able to fly thermals and cover longer distances. A few statistics from my race: 8500m, 75km run and 8.5 hours in the air. Got 11 turnpoints.
Day 1:
The race started in the rain and we arrived at the first TP First in the fog. Unfortunately, my cell phone was locked for 30 minutes because it got wet on the way and tried to log in automatically with the wrong codes. As I need my cell phone for navigation in poor visibility, I continued towards Bussalp and started at Furggenhorn.
Männlichen (TP2) was also in the clouds, but luckily it was completely cloud-free right after take-off and I was able to land under the Lobhornhütte (TP3). There I was warmly welcomed by Irene and Talak with lemonade and cake.
As a rain front was approaching, I immediately ran to Bällehöchst and flew to Saxeten. By now it was 19:00. Some decided to climb the Morgenberghorn, but I thought that would be too risky. If you can’t fly away, you have to switch off the trackers at 8:30 pm and then go to sleep and go up again the next day. That’s why I descended into the Suldtal with Stefan Zaugg and spent the night at the Hotel Pochtenfall.
Day 2:
It rained all night. At 6am we immediately set off in the direction of the Renggpass. After 5 minutes, our dry shoes were completely wet again. We glided from Standflue to Frutigen. A special moment when you see your home town again. Quickly packed up and on the way to Elsigenalp, the next turning point.
Along the way, there were numerous supporters from Frutigen, such as the Inniger family and Lilian von Känel, with bread, cheese, chocolate and cola. That was very motivating!
On the Elsigenalp (TP4) everything was in the clouds again and unfortunately we couldn’t start. I descended to Adelboden from there. I had problems with my knee on the descent. The “runner’s knee” injury came back. On Thursday, the race was interrupted from 3 pm to 6 am on Friday due to heavy rainfall and the risk of landslides. That suited me fine and I spent the night at home in Frutigen.
Day 3:
My neighbor Martin Rüesch-Herren brought me to Adelboden early in the morning. I was very happy about that so that I could start again at exactly 6 o’clock. I was very lucky that day. After an hour I was up on the Tschentenalp (TP5) and was able to start straight away with clear visibility and a light tailwind. Half an hour later, everything was cloudy and the north wind had picked up.
After a glide to the Bergläger middle station, I walked to the Hahnenmoospass (TP6) and was able to take off with a moderate tailwind (15km/h) and closing clouds. After landing above Lenk, I walked to Betelberg (TP7) where I ate something and waited for good thermals. That worked out well. Many pilots were unable to fly all the way to Engstligenalp and landed below the Ammerten Pass. At Metschstand I was able to fly up towards Adelboden and gain height again at Chuenisbärgli. It was a bit of a detour, but it worked out well and I was very happy to give my knees some rest.
I took off again from Engstligenalp (TP8) and flew over the Lohnergruppe to Bunderchmi. After a short hike to the Bunderspitz together with André Glauser and Christian Zumbach, I took off again towards Oeschinensee (TP9).
It was now half past three and the sun was beautifully positioned on the rock face at Fründenschnuer above Lake Oeschinen. All the pilots were walking up to the Bluemlisalphütte, but I was ready to take the chance to fly. After a short hike to Winteregg (the start of the Fründenschnuer) we took off and I was able to do 500 meters of altitude in the air. The rest went up. At the top of the Bluemlisalphütte (TP10) there was still fresh snow and I had to be careful not to slip with every step.
Day 4:
The thermal forecast would be even better than on Friday, but the wind at altitude would be strong (30-40km/h). As I wanted to fly as much as possible, I waited until the thermals started. I took off from the hut at 10am and flew over the Bire to the Elsighorn. I got very low there, but luckily I was able to regain altitude over Kandergrund. At 1800m I made the crossing to Mäggissere, where I got low again at 1300m. At Zismas I was able to catch up again and landed 300 meters below the Niesen (TP11) and went up together with Samuel Trummer. There we got free drinks from the mountain restaurant.
The next turning point Glecksteinhütte was far away, the question is, do you fly left around the Reichenbach airspace over the Morgenberghorn or right over Frutigen and Kiental. I chose the route over the Morgenberghorn, Schynige Platte and Männlichen because the cloud base was quite low. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a connection in Burglauenen and ended up running on to Grindelwald until the race was stopped at 5pm. An exciting final spurt with Renato Späni in the last 10 minutes.
Happy with the race! On to the next adventure.