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Today was forecast as the last good day before a short spell
of poor weather, so I took advantage of the opportunity to try to get back to the
Aosta valley. The getaway today was not that easy,
with some serious rock scraping required on Authon, Auribeau and Blayeul,
all conducted under a cloudless sky, before I was able to reach the parcours. On Morgon I took a climb to 9500ft
and flew direct to Prachaval, the magic mountain near St Crepin, where I was
rewarded with a good climb back up to 9000ft. Shortly afterwards, near
Briancon, I found the highest thermals of the day (13,500ft) which spurred
me onwards to the north.
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Col de Liseran (and an out-climbed Nimbus
4D!)
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There was a small amount of cumulus over the Vanoise,
and reaching the col de Carro was easy enough, but further north into the
Aosta valley the cumulus was lower and less well defined, and mixed with
multi-level congestus, leading me to abandon my original plan of trying to
get to the Matterhorn. Instead, I could see that the Mont Blanc was fairly
clear of cloud and close enough to the higher cumulus of the northern
Vanoise to make it worth a trip.
After I had taken a few photographs I set
off for Sisteron, retracing my steps towards the col de Carro. I will admit
to some difficulty in finding a decent set of climbs from 9800ft in the
Aosta valley but as I climbed higher up the ridges the base went higher too,
until I found myself at the col de Liseran in the company of a Nimbus 4D.
Back in the Sollieres valley the base was high enough for a straight glide
to the col d'Etache and a climb near St Crepin. After a long glide in sink
to Guillaume I was happy to find that it was going like a train, strong 6
knots of thermodynamic lift and a thermal at the top, enough for me to get
home.
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Result!
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