DVD Guide to the Best Flying Sites of the Central and Eastern Alps

For Paraglider & Hang Glider Pilots

The DVD Guide to the Central and Eastern Alps is a massive compendium of amazing information, all beautifully presented in motion pictures with accompanying book. 

On 3 DVDs with a total running time of 3.5 hours(!), Burkhard Martens (Burki) and his wife Renate Brummer (Nina) present their "DVD-Guide to the Best Flying Sites of the Middle and Eastern Alps". Pictures say more than thousands of words - under this motto the two authors have put this mammoth work together. 

The 3 DVDs are accompanied by a 84 page book, where each site is accurately described. A lot of tips from above are included in the films. A further highlight are the vouchers for restaurants and cable cars worth more than €100, contained in the book. 

The films present the sites with extensive detailed information, including where to find the first thermals, valley winds, particular dangers and much more. A regions potential for cross-country flying is also displayed, together with detailed tips and guided tours for some sites. Interviews with top pilots who live locally are an added information bonus for most sites. 

Burki's comment: "We found it important to present just the best sites which are also suitable for beginners. In addition, each site should have something particularly special about it. Look at Meduno for super soaring and top-landing, or Jenner, Ötz, Bischling, Molveno and Garmisch for some of the most fantastic panoramas in the entire Alps. The top sites Speikboden, Kobala, Wildkogel, Penken and Levico Terme are excellent for pilots with cross-country ambitions, while Fiss, Walensee and Lienz are more secluded and ideal for family holidays. Watles is great for its views and the hotel of the same name. 

"We started this mammoth project in the summer of 2009, to make a DVD site guide for the flying community. The work was very demanding - 45 days of filming and several months of cutting and laying-out to make the final product." 

The book that comes with the 3 DVDs is a hardcover edition with 84 pages, and is the same height and width as the DVDs - i.e. they make a very nice package together. The book contains more than 300 pictures and also 15 vouchers, worth more than 100 Euros! The 3 DVDs are sent in a digipack, shrink-wrapped together with the book. 

See some excerpts from the films...

Here are a few scenes from different site films. Each film is between 12 and 15 minutes long on average. 

Information on the following is contained in each film: 

• Place of launch
• Landing fields
• First thermals, thermals in the aera
• Valley wind system
• Cross Country tips
• Places of dangers
• There are interviews with locals in the most sites
• Tips from above are in some sites to find

Garmisch Partenkirchen (Site: Osterfelder)

First minutes of the DVD site guide.

Fiss (Site: Schönjoch)

Interview with Roli Patsch. Roli explains about the site.

Sand in Taufers (Site: Speikboden)

Introduction to cross country flying and the first kilometres of the big flights.

Read some pages from the accompanying book...

The accompanying book could stand alone as a normal site guide. All important information are shown. You will find following design: 

• Introduction, journey description
• Landing field with GPS-Coordinates
• Launch with GPS-Coordinates
• First thermals, thermals in the area
• Places of danger
• Cross Country tips
• Info's for hang glider pilots
• Area info's

Excerpts from the site Levico Terme: 

Levico Terme page 1

Levico Terme page 2

Levico Terme page 3

Levico Terme page 4

Which Flying Sites Are Included? 

See the map and list of the sites below:

1: Walensee, Switzerland
2: Watles, Vinschagu, South Tyrol, Italy
3: Fiss, upper Inntal valley, Austria
4: Hochötz, Ötztal valley, Austria
5: Osterfelder, Garmisch-Partenskirchen, Bavaria, Germany
6: Molveno, Lake Molvenosee, northern Italy
7: Levico Terme, northern Italy
8: Speikboden, Sand i.T., South Tyrol, Italy
9: Penken, Zillertal valley, Austria
10: Wildkogel, Pinzgau, Austria
11: Jenner, Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany
12: Bischling, Werfenweng, Tennen range, Austria
13: Lienz, Osttirol, Austria
14: Meduno, Friaul, northern Italy
15: Kobala, Tolmin, Soca valley, Slovenia

Vouchers Worth Over 100 Euros! 
The book contains several vouchers. For example, some cable cars offer free tickets for partners, many restaurants offer free drinks and some hotels offer reduced prices for an overnight stay. You find the vouchers at the end of the book. 

Important Information About The Vouchers! 

There are several vouchers in the appendix. Each voucher may be used once per book. Please cut out the vouchers and present them while ordering, not when it comes to paying. 

All vouchers are only valid when regular prices are payed, and not in combination with other special offers. 

Vouchers will not be reimbursed for cash. 

Vouchers for free drinks (up to 4 Euros): if a cheaper drink has been chosen, no cash refunds will be given. 

Should vouchers no longer be valid due to unforeseen changes at restaurants or companies, then no reimbursements will be given for them. 

About The Writers...
Both of them have been flying paragliders since 1989 , and possess several national- and world records in the sport. They both live in the beautiful Isar valley in Lenggries, Bavaria. 

Intro Burki
Some time ago, when I didn’t know where to fly in the Alps, I purchased several different flying guides, which were helpful to varying degrees. In some cases I was really taken for a ride – dangerous launch sites or even launch sites that didn’t exist! The best way to judge a flying area is to look at lots of different photos, or better still, look at it all on video. This is the flying guide I wanted to make. My wife and me chose the sites according to the following criteria: they should be suitable for every pilot, and they should be special in their own way. For example the super soaring site at Meduno, or the wonderful scenery at Jenner. Other criteria were that the sites shouldn’t be overused or crowded, and we wanted to include more from the lesser known site. Bischling for example, is well known to the locals, but often passed by other pilots who don’t know what they’re missing there. 

We didn’t think making this film would involve quite so much work. My wife and I spent 45 days on location filming, and a further 10 with the DHV film crew. There we made the “Thermal” film – luckily, we could use some of the material for this project. As a rule of thumb when cutting, it takes two hours work to make a minute of processed film, my average is somewhere around three to four hours per minute. Al together I have cut about 250 minutes of film – all self-taught, first filming and then cutting. I chose license (Gema) free music for the background to help keep costs to a minimum. Writing the book was easier as that is no longer something new – my “Thermal Flying” book has been translated now into seven different languages, “Cross Country Flying” is even available in Russian. 

DVDs can be copied easily – we hope that the additional information and the important vouchers in this book will make the two inseparable, and that copying won’t be worthwhile. The Pilots who will visiting only the sites Speikboden, Oetz and Lienz in the next years, and will convert the vouchers, they have the price of the book back!!! 

I’d like to appeal to all buyers of this DVD not to copy it anyway. The flying community is relatively small and I make my living from selling books, giving presentations and seminars, and hopefully now also from selling DVDs. If this enormous project turns out to be financially worthwhile (in spite of my underestimation of the work involved), then I will make more films and books for the flying community. If you like the material here – please be honest and don’t copy it for anyone else. 

Intro Nina
Flying, mans’ greatest dream. A different dream for everyone.

For many pilots flying often means cross-country flying. Flying long and far, counting every kilometre or point for the DHV-XC Cross Country competition. Flying further and longer than everyone else is the way to go. 

Flying means something different to me, for every season that comes and goes in the year, or the time of day it is, just to let go, have fun, enjoy the nature around me and re-charge my batteries for everyday life. 

What’s better than thermal flying in Garmisch in the autumn, enormous rocky mountains in the background and the deep green-blue Eibsee lake in front of you? When your pulse runs high flying the wild rocky faces, when you almost hold your breath realizing how small you are in comparison, that’s when you know you’re alive. 

Things really are so beautiful in the Alps in which we (can) live – we ought to save and enjoy every little one of these moments, no matter how kitschy they might appear.

Of course, sometime I get ambitious, and want to fly far, but this is still not really MY way of flying. Even on a 100km cross-country flight, I enjoy myself and love to soak up the scenery along the way. At the same time it is stressful – decisions constantly need to be made – which mountain should I aim for next? Where’s the wind coming from? at I still on the windward side? How at I going to get back home again? I need a …. All these things keep going through my head. 

If I’m soaring in laminar wind then things are different – here I can enjoy the flight 100% and don’t need to think about anything else. Playing with the canopy in the wind, taking off, top landing, having a bite to eat at Georg’s restaurant in Hotel Watles, chatting with friends, taking off again – this is MY WAY OF FLYING! 

In this book, the sites we’ve chosen are such that everyone can fly the way they want to. It doesn’t matter if it’s a breathtaking thermal flight, a spot of relaxed soaring, a peaceful glide down at the end of the day or a good cross-country flight that you’re looking for. Here there is something for everyone in the somewhat lesser known, but very scenic flying sites we’ve chosen. 

Have fun with this guide, and I hope you find YOUR WAY to fly with it.

Pilots Comments

Here are some comments from pilots about the "DVD Guide to the Best Flying Sites of the Middle and Eastern Alps" and accompanying book... 

That's sensational... That'll be the next flying bestseller for sure! My congratulations for all the hard work - I've never seen such perfect information on different flying sites... Cheers, Bernd 

Fantastic! I've not seen such excellent information before! And the vouchers at the end of the book are a real hit - a free trip up the Speikboden for my wife, and a free second pizza at the best pizzeria in town - brilliant! Thanks for all the super work! Best regards Jorg H.

Really a fantastic job that would help people flying in those sites.Regards. Luigi DS 

Your book and DVDs are amazing! Brian, Mt. Shasta, CA, USA 

Love the flying guide. Martin P. 

The book is wonderful - all the compliments and thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Marko