I guess it was at the col d'Etache that I made my first mistake: never, ever follow gliders that 'look like they know what they're doing'. The sky in the Maurienne looked very different to all the other occasions I had been there before - the only high cumulus was well over the Vanoise and not on the ridges to the south of the Modane valley. Still, I crossed over to the north of Solliere and, like the other gliders, failed to find much of use.

Well, I was not so lucky this time. It was about an hour before I reached 8000ft, but the thermal refused to go any higher, forcing me to make a number of sorties to other likely thermal sources while giving myself enough height to get back to the hotspot.

While waiting for the tug to arrive a nice Italian family came up to the glider and, as one of them spoke English, I briefed him on how to hold a wing during an aerotow (just support the wing, don't push forward, don't hold back, take two steps and let go, you know the form). We saw the tug arrive, sportingly landing downwind and uphill to minimise his turnround time. The tuggie, Patrick, gave the same aerotow briefing to Luigi and I repeated it yet again just to make sure.

You can guess what happened - yes, mistake number three: after briefing the wingtip man, tell him to walk away and not come near the glider under any circumstances. I failed to do this, which is why, two seconds after all-out, I was pointing 20 degrees off track heading for the hangar. Just as I was about to release, the wing was snatched from Luigi's grasp and I now had to deal with a glider that was rolling and yawing in a most novel fashion as it was being accelerated down the slope. I must confess that I temporarily forgot the advice and guidance kindly provided by the BGA for just this circumstance, and relied on a shed-load of gliding hours to get me straight and level (kids - don't try this at home). Order was restored within seconds, and all I had to do was hope that the rope wouldn't break before we had climbed a couple of hundred feet.

The trip home was terrific. I had never been through the col d'Etroit so low and the views of this wilderness were unforgettable. Sadly, as I was hanging on the end of a 50-metre rope over very hostile terrain I decided against setting up the camera for more dramatic photographs. Patrick dragged me to 12.500ft at the tete d'Amont which left me well above glide to get through the pas de la Cavale and home for last landings at 8:00pm.