Dave managed to persuade Sara to look after the kids, Ciska was away. We steal off a bit late but by 3 I'm ready to go. Off the ramp into an elevator, smooth though and two 360's later I was whooping 50m over Dave's head as he stuffed battens. Up I go to the usual 1350m or so and across to the Brusciatta.

2/3rds of the way there, and I see what looks like a PG under an emergency parachute, the coloured one mostly deflated and rotating round. Getting closer indeed it is, someone under a white pull-down-apex. Now, the zone under Monte Nudo is all trees, mostly chestnut and beech, on various slopes, some very steep (cliffs and gullies, in fact). There aren't really any paths visible from the air, and few clearings. So whichever way this one went, it was a tree landing of sorts, with maybe a 50m drop if it went wrong. In the end it drifted towards me (west) and just cleared the main spine coming down from the Nudo take off, onto the steeper side of the Brusciatta in a bowl. It then swirled around in a "nice" vortex, just remaining away from the slope until finally it headed into the trees, the emergency chute deflating quickly and then both bags of washing entering rather faster as the pilot obviously cascaded a bit between two trees rather than hitting one crown or another. Finally the canopies appeared to catch and all went still.

I was already pulling in, I was probably 500m away when this happened, so I headed over fast and started circling above looking for movement (none). Couldn't see the pilot. No one else came to look. No people running down from take off. I got maybe down to 100m overhead then I decided to head up the ridge and try and see what people at take off were doing. I just went straight up, lift was ample, and came over them about 30m. Despite my waving, no one moved... headed back down the ridge again, into the bowl and this time decide I have to get low. Again nothing.

I take my radio out, I had it with me but idiotically not turned on, no headset (never again). I'm in a +2m/s up trying to dial in the preset frequencies (at least those were set), calling "prova radio prova radio". Finally I pick up someone asking for information on the deployment, plus someone replying they didn't know exactly where it was, maybe they were on Sasso di Ferro. I manage to get in, but probably I sounded rather fraught, I'm spinning with one hand on the control bar, the other hand shoving the radio up the inside of my helmet trying to speak and listen. (In addition I'd forgotten to rotate the dingle-dangle on the hang point, so I had rather stiff roll response.)

I give the position best I can, explain I can't see the pilot nor any movement, and by the time that is over I've climbed - incidentally - 300m and I'm much too high, over 1300m. And starting to feel sick... I head off out into the valley, get down near 1000m and make one really low pass through the rather turbulent bowl. Again nothing.

At this point I consider going back to the club - but for what? Maybe better to wait here, if someone heads down from TO, at least I could guide them. But there's no movement. And no one else is coming in for a look...

So I try and climb. The Brusciatta is too rough so I leave and head round to Nudo, low. Not any better there, cycle has changed, I head back and across to Sasso. But I'm nearly vomiting now... cinnarizine is obviously crap. After fighting at Sasso for a bit, two choppers come in so I decide to land like everyone else. ('Course I have to search for sink to get down from 900m to 250m in the LZ.)

I'm feeling sick, and psychologically disturbed by the deployment. But two hours later the pilot is in the landing field explaining her voluntary decision to deploy due to a lack of control (entangled lines?). She looks and sounds in a better state than me... What a gamble. 100m further out in the bowl and she landed on a 100m cliff... crazy.

It's not a "reserve" chute. It's an emergency chute. Did she think she would have more control on the emergency chute vs. the PG with tangled lines?

Lessons for me:

• always put the headset on. Tune to the most common frequency, or that of your buddies. Maybe leave radio on.
• don't expect my fellow club members to chase after me and rescue me.
• get the clubhouse telephone number
• stick to the airsick drugs I know
• revise better communication protocol for emergencies
• to get position, fly over and press "mark" on the GPS. The position screen will appear on the Garmin and then I can radio in the exact coordinate.

But let's hope I don't see another deployment for a while.

Dave of course went over 2 grand and flew 2 hours. We've still never managed a flight together.

9:15:58 PM