Today is Thursday, August 9^th, 11 a.m. and my 'Rudy baron' Fiat Bravo parks in Lienz near a square. I claim a team number in a race office and I'm registered after a checking for my pilot licence. The lady informs me with a light smile on her face that I can't sleep for long time tonight because of an early departure at 8 a.m. We are leaving for Amlach camp and I pay a fortune to its owner then. My car, a tent and two people - 18 Euros per night. We took a nap and went to see Lienz from in-lines. Just enough for today - I drank five Pilsen bears for the pleasant night and set my alarm-clock for 7 p.m. punctually.

    Friday morning is comming. I'm trembling from head to foot, too lazy to fetch warm trousers from within my car. Anyway the alarm-clock is ringing in a while. We have light breakfast and rush to practise. My friend supposes to get into a bus easily and takes his camera and videocamera with him. I throw my bag on a hill of the others at 7.55 a.m. and a helicopter will transport our bags to a taking of point. Austrian army with a huge vehicle look after us and a strange soldier commands to board. My friend effectively pretends to be a paragliding pilot and soldiers board him too.

    Six of us are sitting against another six people in a rear and the car climbs narrow roads up the hill. I'm satisfied and watching gorgeous nature around us. A driver stops the car at 9.30 a.m. and turns off the engine. I hop out to have a look at a taking off area. I can't see anything and after asking one of Czechs I realize that it's placed about one kilometer higher and it means two hours walking. And tomorrow again! I'm thunder-struck, I didn't suppose this at all.

    Shortly said - our trinity strayed and that's why I can enjoy a beautiful view of the col which we had to pass, unfortunately from the opposite side of a valley!!! My mobile phone is lost after changing my clothes near the helicopter which brings our bags. I realize my worse as late as on taking off point which is located on a steep rocky slope half a kilometer afar from the helicopter. Some elder Austrian pilot interrupts my thinking about the phone. He forgot to fasten leg straps and now I can ineffectually watch the situation which sends a shiver down my spine. Pilot is gardually drawed out the harness but he constantly holds brakes. The canopy is madly decelarated it brokes to a shoe and the full-stall is unavoidable. Suddenly pilot comes off the harness once for all and falls down to a steep rocky slope from eight meters height roughly. All pilots rush to him immediately including me. We can't see him, he fell into a gash. The first Austrian saver stares to the gash and does nothing. I feel tragic myself, maybe he is dead. Nevertheless I go on running and eventually I can see the lucky pilot sitting and talking. He seems to be contused only without any injury and he can move ale his extremities. He complains of a chest pain and the helicopter transports him to the hospital.

    I play back previous moments im my mind and I'm sure to waste some time by checking my harness before take off tomorrow. Now I know he was the lucky man as he didn't leave hold of brakes and didn't try to keep himself in the harness upon any terms. If he flew five seconds longer he'd be too high to save his life by the fall to the very steep slope which helps him to survive without doubt. But let's come back to my phone. I slowly approximate, hungry and thirsty, to the helicopter and what a surprise! My '5210' smiles at me on a grass (maybe it laughs at me). I climb back to taking off point again. Everybody flew away meanwhile except the last Austrian pilot. I try to explain him in my 'fluent German' that I find myself in this area for the first time and ask him to wait for me and fly with me the unknown route. Fortunately he understood my sign language and so we can fly together.

    We fly along a valley, around fabulous rocky towers and after that above a main valley on the west side of Lienz. The Austrian pilot turns back and so do I. We are crossing the valley at full speed. We experience light turbulence during the flight and I have to appreciate my stable wing Intox. The ears of the canopy swish from time to time but that's all. Now we are close to a ski slope where we're going to land. But we are situated lower than an interlanding zone level is!!! I can't believe this. It means I'll have to uprise myself. We turn back and fly towards a goal of today's discipline - the pitch in Leisach. I sink in an easy spiral but the dehydration is coming and I get a severe cramp in my right leg. I change a direction of my flight to a straight line and begin to knead the leg. Furthermore I try to fly above the pitch but a strong wind turns from the east to the north. That's the reason why I toss in the turbulence above trees which border the pitch. I decide not to take a risk and I preferably land beside the pitch near a windsleeve. The Austrian pilot lands too and apologizes for his mistake. We flew too far from Lienz else it'd be easy going. I feel bad about not seeing the point which will be my landing zone tomorrow. But what to do now - nothing at all.