El Peñon Classic Race 2023

El Peñon Classic Race is coming up this February 2023 featuring Sport Class and Open Class.
This event will be held in El Peñon, Temascaltepec, Mexico from Sunday 19th of February to Saturday 25th of February 2022

El Peñon is a World Class Hang Gliding competition venue located near the town of Valle de Bravo.
Every year we have lots of fun in the best XC conditions, with strong and experienced competitors from which you will learn many ways to improve your flying.
This competition is organized by vuelolibre.mx and is a FAI event registered with FAI CIVL.

This is a must-do competition if you are looking to improve your flying and gain lots of flight time and XC distance.
Every year we have lots of fun in the best XC conditions, with strong and experienced competitors from which you will learn many ways to improve your flying.

Visiting Pilots, there are Hang Gliders for rent available. Glider list and reservation link will be uploaded soon.
Note due to the short landing fields the open class fly King Posted Hang Gliders. Not a requirement but it has been a common practice in this comp and is strongly recommended.

Flying site

El Peñon, in Temascaltepec, near the town of Valle de Bravo "Valle" is known for being a consistent site with more than 300 flyable days a year.
The best season starts on November with cloud bases over 4500MSL / 15,000 ft.
The peak season starts on January and it goes until April when the rain season starts. Rainy days are also flyable for a few hours. Rain season ends in September and from then to December days are usually very mellow and nice to fly, perfect conditions for students, beginners or just relaxed flying.
The area is always referred as Valle de Bravo "Valle" or "El Peñon" in reference to the +1000 feet vertical rock formation infront of the launch. Valle is a beautiful lake town with great hotels, restaurants and great street food. Launch site is a 30 min drive from Valle near a small rural town called Temascaltepec. When you plan your trip always look for a stay or activities in Valle de Bravo.

Launch Site: This site has hosted several international and world competitions. The launch site is wide, with plenty of space for parking, setup and lauch. Public restrooms available.
GPS coordinates, Launch: 19°3'41" (19.0616)N; 100°5'27" (100.091)W - Elevation : 2336 m / 7,664 ft

Landing: Official landing (LZ) is a large grassy field 2.5 kms in front of the launch. Snacks and drinks are available at the LZ.
GPS coordinates, Landing Zone: 19°2'45" (19.0459)N; 100°6'32" (100.109)W - Elevation : 1775 m / 5823 ft

Getting to Launch from Valle de Bravo Town: Take the road from Valle de Bravo to Temascaltepec and turn right in the Albarrada road sign. Follow the signs on the dirt road to the launch.

Weather Hazards: Strong thermals and rough air are common during this month. You must be comfortable flying under these conditions.

Flight regulation: Basic VFR rules apply. See and Avoid!.
Valle is an area with lots of flying activity. You most always be aware of other pilots flying near you. Pay attention to the small airstrip on the plateau were the landing field is. There's another small airstrip for small airplanes on the way to Valle de Bravo.
Please be vigilant at all times. Look around, look up, look down.

Interesting info:
You will find plenty of local young adults at the LZ offering you to break down your glider and put all your gear back into the harness. Most pilots will reject this because they will not trust the this task to anyone else but themselves and specially not to a bunch of kids. These kids have learned from different pilots and you will find that most of those kids can break down your glider much better than you do!. Use this service if you can, make them feel useful, they are just trying to work, earn some money and hang out with us pilots. They hugely admire us. Share some words with them if you can, they will really appreciate it. The usual "fee" for the service is couple of dollars or 40 pesos.

Selection and entry fee

$180 USD payable at Headquarters. Cash. (USD or equivalent in Mexican Pesos). Mastercard or Visa.
Registration fee includes Competition entry and weekly pass to El Peñon Flying Club during the competition days.

Selection:
H3 or foreign equivalent
Experience flying in the mountains
Experience flying in turbulent conditions
Experience landing in short fields

Note: Due to the short fields in the area, the open class fly King Posted hang gliders. Not a requirement but strongly recommended.

Documents required at registration

The organiser requires you to present your National flying licence.

National Licence
You will need to sign an applicaton form at the venue. Usually the organiser will provide it on arrival.

Signed Application form
You will need to sign a waiver or release document to show you understand the risks. Usually the organiser will provide it on arrival.

Signed Waiver/Release form
The organiser wishes for you to provide a summary of your experience on arrival.

Experience summary required
You will need to provide photo ID on arrival. This could be Passport, Driving Licence or National ID, for example.

Identification documents needed

Cancellation Policy

Payment is during checkin at Headquareters. Therefore once registered and paid there are no refunds
Headquatrters: Casa Regional de Cultura

Prize fund and scoring categories

Awards for the first 3 places of each category (Open Class and Sport Class)

General schedule

Sunday Feb 19
08:00 - 19:00 - Official Registration at Headquarters
11:00 - 19:00 - Practice Day

Monday Feb 20 to Saturday Feb 25
08:00 - 10:00 - Registration at Headquarters (for those arriving late)
Contest flying days

Feb 25
17:00 - 22:00 Award Ceremony. We will host a closing event party at the Landing Zone.

Daily schedule

09:00 - Depart from HQ
10:30 - Meet Director / Task and Safety Committee meetings
11:00 - Pilots' briefing / Previous task official results / Task definition
12:00 - Launch window opens
17:00 - Scoring office opens
21:00 - Provisional results (Also broadcasted daily via WhatsApp)

Accommodation and Activities

There are plenty of hotels and AirBNB's. We recommend you find something close to downtown Valle De Bravo. Anything walking distance from the main Pier "Embarcadero" works.

How to get here

By Plane:
You can arrive at either the Toluca International or Mexico City International Airport. From there you need to arrange transportation to Valle de Bravo, which is a 3-hour drive from the Mexico City Airport, and 1.5 hours from Toluca.

Bus from Mexico City:
To take a bus ride to Valle from Mexico city go to the bus station named "Observatorio" (Observatory). Taxi from Mexico City airport to bus station cost $200 Mexican pesos (approx $10 USD)
Time schedules for the Valle the Bravo bus may vary, but basically you will find daily departures from 5:00 AM up to 5:00 PM, one every hour. (For example, 5:15, 6:15, 7:15 and so on)
Be sure to buy and to ride the "Libramiento" bus route to Valle and *NOT* the "Amanalco" route. The new "Libramiento" route will take you to Valle in less than three hours via the toll road system or the new highway

Transport and Retrieval
Those who don't have transport during the competition, we have arranged with local friends transport and retrieval service for $180 USD for the 7 days of competition. This service includes bringing your wing from the HQ's to launch and track you and pick you up from where you land and take you back to the HQ's. This is a group service so you will be riding with others. We have plenty of spots available so you can arrange for this service during registration.
If you are renting a Hang Glider from Vuelo Libre/Rudy, the rental includes retrieval service during the race.

Headquarters:
Casa Regional de Cultura, near the main harbour in Down Town Valle de Bravo

We can help organize transportation from the airport. Soon we will post the details to arrange transportation from/to the airport