The "War Games" images from the "Action gallery" have been taken at the annual Axalp Swiss Air Force training and demonstration. The pictures of "War games I" have been taken on October 12 / 13, 2005 with a Nikon D2x camera and either a Nikon AF 300mm f/4, a Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR or a Nikon AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8D lens. For most shots the 300mm lens was used. A 400mm f/2.8 or a 500mm f/4 would have been even better for taking images of jets while the 70-200mm is great for the Patrouille Suisse Show.

The pictures of "War games II" have been taken with a Fujifilm Finepix S3 Pro camera on October 11, 2006. The same lenses as mentioned above have been used most of the time with the exception of a few images taken with the Nikon AF-S 500mm f/4 (Version I). The pictures of "War games III" have been taken from October 8-11, 2007 with a Nikon D200 camera (and a few with the Fujifilm S5 Pro) with the same lenses as the year before. 		Exposure times were mostly shorter than 1/1000s to freeze the action. The camera was set to ISO 400 in the morning and ISO 200 in the afternoon. The autofocus selector was on "Dynamic area AF" and the focus mode selector on "C" (continuous servo AF, AF-C). A digital storage device is a good idea considering the 3600 images taken in two days... I've used the Epson P-2000 multimedia storage viewer (a second battery would have been great).

Location of Brienz and Axalp village in central Switzerland. Berne is at the top left, Lucerne at the top right. © 2005 swisstopo
Almost every year in October, a rather unique two-day event takes place above Axalp village near Brienz, Switzerland. The Swiss Air Force pilots practise with F/A-18 & Tiger F-5 jets, Alouette 3 & Superpuma helicopters. The F/A-18 and F-5 jets fire at several mountain targets and helicopters are used for rescue operations or firefighting. The exact date of the two-day event is published on several aviation sites (check my aviation links) and depends on the weather conditions. Training takes place in the morning (usually from 8:30am to 11:00am on both days) and an impressive demonstration is set for the afternoon (usually from 2pm to 3:30pm on both days). While not much is published about this event, people from all over the world seem to find their way up to Axalp - I've met people from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic.

If you want to visit this awe-inspiring event, here are some details. Stay either in a hotel in beautiful Brienz or directly in the Axalp mountain village. If you stay in Brienz, a private bus (travel agency Flück, +41339521545, situated in Brienz, leaving at around 8:35am and 9:35am - make sure to check this and take the earlier bus) takes you from Brienz train station up to Axalp village (1500m above sea level) on the days of the event. In Axalp village, take the Windegg chair lift. It takes you to 2000m above sea level. Now comes the tough part: You have to walk up the mountain (there will be thousands of people doing the same so you can't get lost) for another two hours. 		This is not a walk in the park - make sure you have warm clothes and trekking shoes with you. You don't have to hike but it's pretty steep and if snow lies on the ground it's dangerous. Take an extra shirt, water and a little food with you but keep your bag as light as possible (especially if you take your camera & one or two tele lens with you).There are three observing platforms located 2200m above sea level, platform 1, 2 & 3. Each platform is good for taking photos, but I favour platform 1 (at the top) because it's closest to the mountain targets. Unfortunately if you come from Brienz by bus you will miss the morning training. You will be up at platform 3 at approx. 10:30am. But still this is worth the trip. You will see a lot during the show in the afternoon.

If you are a hardcore photographer you will take a private car and leave Brienz at 5:30 am (yes, at the latest). You will be in Axalp village in complete darkness (after driving up a typical Swiss mountain road) at 6am (you have to pay for the parking lot) - ready to take a coffee at the hotel next to the Windegg chair lift. Leave the hotel restaurant at 6:30am and get in line at the chair lift. It will take you up whenever the lift people feel ready (between 6:30am and 7am). You can see the stars while on the chair lift if the weather is kind to you. If you go up this early (a lot of people do), you will need a flashlight for the first hour walking up the mountain.

Map showing way from Brienz to Axalp village and to the training site. Platforms 1, 2 and 3 are marked. The straight blue line is the chair lift. Red lines are walking routes. A walking route without chair lift is also shown. © 2005 demo.axalp@vtg.admin.ch
Now walk up and make sure you are on platform 3 before 8:30. It can still be pretty dark. Don't walk up the mountain too fast. You will be punished by your lungs. Why do you have to be on platform 3 before 8:30? You are a hardcore photographer, right? You want to be on platform 1. After 8:30 you can't go from platform 3 to platform 1 anymore. Planes are shooting at you. So if you make it to platform 3 before 8:30 you can make it to platform 1 before the training begins. Now enjoy the mind-blowing show. On the two days of training and demonstration, there are toilets on all three platforms and food and drinks can be bought. But don't expect a first class restaurant - rather imagine being in 0.5m deep snow at -10°C drinking coffee and eating a hot dog. You get the picture. If this is too tough for you, here is another option. Plan early and try to get a bed in Axalp village. This way, you can get up at 6am and be at the chair lift at 6:30am. Or you can sleep to 10am and only visit the demonstration. It's up to you. What else? If the weather is not good, the event takes place the other day. The two-day event will be postponed during that week until the weather is good. In 2003 for example it didn't take place on Tuesday or Wednesday but on Friday only - because of bad weather. The pilots train during the whole week whenever the weather is ok but only on two days there is a show and only during those two days the chair lift can be used. If you don't want to take the chair lift, you have to walk 500m up from Axalp village to Windegg (taking you at least another hour) and then up to the platforms. The shows and trainings are free of charge. But the chair lift costs approx. SFr. 10.- (two way ticket), the bus approx. SFr. 20.- (two way ticket). Parking will be approx. SFr. 10.- if you come by private car. P.S.: If you have taken the bus from Brienz to Axalp in the morning, the bus will take you back to Brienz of course (usually leaving Axalp around 6:10pm - it takes forever to get back from the platforms to Axalp because of all the people taking the chair lift). Hope this information helps.

Axalp and mountain range for Air Force training as seen from Brienz. © 2005 utopia-photography.ch