Day 1 Filzmoos Balloon Fiesta- Arrival
Finally the 29th Annual Filzmoos Balloon Fiesta kicked of on the 12th Of January, with 40 Hot Air Balloons taking part in the small village of Filzmoos (South Salzburg, Austria). I joined Alba Ballooning for this even
After arriving at Salzburg airport we drove south up into the Alps to the village of Filzmoos and ’signed in’, collected our hot air balloon banner, gassed up and went to the weeks briefing in the local centre. Once the administration was complete we had a quick drink and pizza before retreating to our apartment.


We woke the following morning (Mon 14th January) to a clear and beautiful blue sky, so after the “all clear” at the briefing we marched to the launch field with eager attitudes and inflated our Alba Balloon. A flight of 1hr 30mins took part that morning for ourselves, due to a heavy load and indecisive winds. Meanwhile however our Dutch friends flew for 3hrs!

worse. Low cloud was now all around us and visibility was less than 500metres meaning there was no chance what so ever of flight.