It seemed to be a normal flying day with friends. Stefan and I met halfway to the Pizol and drove together in a car to the valley station. The flying weather was not ideal: way too much moisture in the air from the previous rainy days. Once we reached the top of Pizol, the clouds of fog moved up the slopes from the south and north and became denser already below the launch site. A southbound launch seemed unsafe because of the looming clouds. We decided together with a few Airpole students to go back down on the north side to the middle station to take off below the base.
Right next to the station Laufböden we found a short, sloping meadow, which had to suffice as a runway. Above us, the fog continued to gather and we waited impatiently for at least a few rays of sunlight to penetrate the cloud cover and hopefully produce some thermals. I was the first to take off.

Flight

To make up for the reduced takeoff altitude due to our descent to the mid station, I tried to fly as quickly as possible over a sunny ridge to find thermals there. My goal for the day was a valley crossing over Sargans to the Gonzen - as so often before.
Immediately after takeoff, I headed for the highest sunny spot, as close to the terrain as possible, so as not to give away any altitude unnecessarily. The calculation worked out and I quickly caught the first thermal separations on the slope and was able to cross to the sunny side without losing much altitude. However, the thermal tubes were quite difficult to center for a summer day: The strong north wind shifted the tubes against the slope and the thermals were also hard and rough, almost spring-like. I turned up over the ridges, but had to keep getting staggered close to the terrain to be able to turn out the thermals. It was a real rodeo ride with some intercepted side flaps. Doggedly I tried to keep every meter of altitude gained and fought my way up along the relief.

Crash

Suddenly I heard a "FLAPP" above me and my forward speed abruptly reduced to zero. I jerked my head up to see what my glider was doing. As always, I was prepared for side collapses, which are always announced by the brake line and can be prevented by active flying. But I was not prepared for the heavy frontal collapse above me. The strong north wind created strong turbulence in the rugged relief, which I had obviously underestimated.
My glider slipped sideways and I tipped away as if in slow motion to the left below. I tried to pull my emergency parachute but was already aware in the movement that the height was not enough. I tensed all my muscles and thought: "Sh... only not on my broken knee". A few seconds later, I hit the ground, flipped forward once, and lay curled on my side. My breath stopped for a moment, but immediately I tried to move my legs and thought, "Okay, everything's not so bad, I can still move my legs." But my hip hurt. And I could no longer lean on my right hand. It must be broken.

Persevere

I slowly straightened up and looked around. I was lying in steep terrain tangled in lines. I only saw the lines disappear into the bushes above me, but without much pull on them. I slowly started to slip on the wet grass in the steep slope. I tried to hold on to something with my left hand, but I could only just hold on to the grass. When I turned my head to the right away from the slope, I was shocked... only about 1.5 meters below my fall point me was a rock edge to make out and the steep slope seemed to merge into a vertical wall. "Now you have to pull yourself together again. Don't make a mistake now!" I said to myself.
Somewhere from my harness came Gabi's voice and the radio message "Pilot crashed... alert Rega immediately!". I could not answer - had to secure myself first. I thought about whether I should stay in bed to protect my back. But I couldn't hold on for long with one hand. The slippery harness on the wet grass offered simply too little hold and I had to act. So I tried to peel myself gently out of the harness and the canvas with one hand holding on to the grass, which I fortunately succeeded in doing. I even managed to fish the radio out of the harness.
Relieved, I saw a somewhat flatter spot diagonally above me and began to crawl backwards up the slope, leaning on my elbows. Hip, back and right hand hurt and I could find with the hiking boots only with difficulty halt in the grass. But I made it to the flatter part of the slope where I could at least sit on my elbows with my hiking boots on the tufts of grass. But even the flatter spot was still steep enough to slide toward the edge should I pass out after all. I radioed that I was "fine" but that I needed Rega as soon as possible. Not a word about my predicament - apart from Rega, no one could help me up here anyway.

Recovery

The minutes passed slowly. I tried to breathe deeply and tell myself that everything was half as bad. After only 30 minutes, which nevertheless felt like an eternity, I heard the rattle of the Rega helicopter. The helicopter flew directly towards me, turned to the side shortly before me and paused to assess the situation. A few seconds later, the helicopter turned again and flew sideways upwards - probably because my paraglider was still open nearby and so a direct abseiling of the rescuers was out of the question. So I had to hold out until the rescuers had descended above me and secured themselves with ropes to me. My relief was enormous when the two emergency doctors finally reached me. Finally secured and provided with painkillers I was hoisted into a net, in which I was pulled up a short time later by the helicopter together with the helpers. On top on a flatter place, where the helicopter could land, I was then put out of the net on a bar, fixed with air cushions and loaded into the helicopter. Afterwards it went schnurstracks Richtugn hospital Chur.

Findings

When I arrived at the hospital in Chur, I was immediately palpated on my back: At first everything seemed to be okay, only the hand was broken. But the following more detailed X-rays unfortunately showed two broken vertebrae in the upper lumbar region. "Sh..." the detailed description of the operation scheduled for the next day then definitely shocked me: four vertebrae have to be stiffened with 8 screws, which can be done with an incision from the back. In addition, two "cages" must be inserted between the two fractured vertebrae as a support, which would require another incision on the left side of the rib cage, because the insertion of the cages can only be done from the front. To get to the site, the lung must be collapsed and later reopened through a hole with a tube and negative pressure. The fractured vertebrae must also be supported with bone from the hip. So results in yet another incision at the hip in the back. I was glad Stefan and my family was there for support.

Findings in hospital: two broken vertebrae.

After the operation: 8 screws and two struts.

The cube-shaped "cages" as washers are clearly visible.

Gave two long scars on the side and back.

The spoke on his right hand was also broken.

Fortunately, no cartilage in the joint was affected.

After the operation: 6 screws and a plate.

And one more scar on the underside of the hand.

Conclusion

Fortunately, the operation went very well. The pain afterwards was within limits. Only the nausea from the morphine was troublesome. But with the rehabilitation I have meanwhile already practice. So I consciously went back to normal life step by step. And already after four days I could walk the first steps by myself again. On the fifth day I was already enjoying the view from the roof terrace of the adjacent hospital building. What a stroke of luck I had again!!! However, I did not want to think about flying for the time being.
And even now, half a year later, the shock of the surprising crash still sits deep despite 10 years of paragliding experience. The chapter of flying is closed for me. But fortunately there are still other beautiful things to discover in life - next time, I promise, something with less residual risk.

PS

On the same day as me, a female paraglider pilot crashed in Schänis - unfortunately with fatal outcome. 20Minuten reports (very inaccurately) about it: Crash with paraglider: Pilot dies - man lives. Even if I didn't "touch a rock with the paraglider" as claimed and one could argue about my "light injuries" ;-)