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Pair Flying
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Ariane and I decided to do some pair-flying
today, hoping to reach the Ecrins and the Glacier Blanc. It was not easy to
escape the cuvette, but after a brief struggle I managed to get to
Dormillouse under some good cumulus at 9500ft. Ariane was not so lucky and
spent some time at circuit height before scraping away to Malaup and
pressing on towards Colombis. I descended to join her back in the blue to
help her along, choosing a route that took us back to Malaup, Ceuse, pic de
Bure and the mouth of the Orcierre-Merlette valley.
Ariane didn't feel inclined to go further
into the mountains and flew off towards the parcour, leaving me to cross
over the pas de la Cavale into the St Crepin valley. Cloudbase went to
14,000ft, which is pretty good for any time of year, and I decided to fly
towards the col de Carro at the head of the Sollieres valley.
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Col d'Etache
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By the time I got there it had already turned
5pm so, despite the attraction of good cumulus further to the north, I
decided that now would be a good time to turn back.
On the way back to the col d'Etache, I was
busy minding my own business in a 6-knotter when I was joined by le Petit
Train des Alpes - Klaus Ohlmann and his gang of 4, returning from some
distant part of the Alps. Having 5 gliders at the same height in various
angles of bank was extremely effective in concentrating the
mind...
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Col de Carro
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Back in the St Crepin valley I flew along the northern edge
of the glacier Blanc, and around the peak of the Barre des Ecrins and the
western face of Pelvoux, with the added excitement of finding each of their
peaks stuffed into cloud. My escape was to the west along the Valgaudemar,
up to the pic de Bure and then home.
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Knife-edge near the pic de Bure
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