11 Jun 04

11 June 04

Lac d'Allos

Le lac des 9 couleurs, in the Queyras

Local Flying

After the excitement of the previous few days the weather started its decline, and today saw a more 'local' flight that explored some of the Mercantour to the east of the col d'Allos. Cloudbase over Mont Pelat was over 12,000ft.

Conditions looked good towards the Queyras. My track took me to the east of the Barcelonnette valley to Jausiers and along the eastern edge of the col de Vars. Once in the Queyras I headed east as far as Mont Viso where I noted that Italy was once again wearing its cloak of cloud.

Back to the west, a storm was brewing over the northern areas of both the Queyras and the Ecrins. I decided it would be best if I headed back towards the sunshine of the Gap valley so as not to get caught out. I spent a little while exploring some sort of convergence effect over the middle of the St Crepin valley before carrying on back to the security of the parcours.


The parcours des combattants is a series of ridges that are aligned in just the right manner to offer 50km of exciting dynamic and thermodynamic soaring. The trick is to stay above the ridge line but low enough to be able to use the strong lift streaming up both sides of the ridge. Eight thousand feet at Morgon is enough to get you to Puismosson when the parcours works well.	Behind les Trois Eveches

All too soon a call came out from mission control at Sisteron warning all gliders of strengthening north-westerly winds followed by advice to return and land. A few high-level wave clouds were evident on the way back, but they were not usable. My circuit and landing (as was everyone else's) could best be described as 'exciting' and I was happy that it was otherwise uneventful. Distance achieved was about 280km.

	Prize Giving The Duo Discus competition ended this evening with prize-giving. The winner was M. Cornu from Fayence. As you can see, Jean-Marc Caillard (left) was distraught at having failed to reach the top spot. In great French tradition, he still won a pot, though.
Incidentally, the Duo competition is held every year at about the same time, during early June. It is open to all-comers from all countries, so if any visitor fancies their chances in their own Duo, just contact the club.