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à Laver |
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En-route to Vinon
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| Another
noticeable difference this year at Sisteron is the quantity of met.
information provided at briefing. Apart from the computer-generated PC-Met
forecasts, we get animated visual satellite images, UK Met office
synoptics, relative humidity charts, elevated pressure surfaces and a
whole lot more - WeatherJack heaven, in fact. However, with the
best will in the world it isn't always easy to reconcile conflicting
information, which is why we all launched relatively early just in case we
were washed out of the sky by storms later in the afternoon. |
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Tete de Cuguret
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Team
220 decided to go south again to give the parcours cloudbase time to lift.
From the lac Ste Croix we reached Vinon before heading back north again to
the mountains. The parcours was working very well, and there was no need
to turn from the montagne de Coupe all the way round to la Blanche.
Cloudbase here was about 9000ft which was enough to cut across to the
petite Seolene in the Barcelonnette valley. |
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Here, Bridgie made his regular
one-mistake-per-flight and we ended up in heavy sink, in the wind- and
cloud-shadow of the Seolene looking for a climb at the only reachable
sunny spot over the ski-resort at Pra-Loup. A couple of knots got us
motoring again and we carried on the the Grand Berard, north of the
valley, and attempted to look round the corner to the col de Vars. Cloud
was low over the col so we turned back to look for a climb at the tete de
Cuguret, at about the level of the fort on a spur of the main mountain. |
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Escape to the parcours
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I have to record
that it was a bit rough
- we endured huge 10-knot surges followed by heavy sink and, conscious of
the proximity of sharp mountain rock, my speed control was rather on
the high side. As the thermal broke away from the mountain we found a
smooth climb to cloudbase and decided to head back to the parcours. Ariane
later revealed that she had been low at the tete de Cuguret before, in a
Pegase - her instructor nicknamed the mountain "the washing
machine". |
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A climb to 11,500ft at the col d'Allos got
us high enough for a glide to the south of the Trois Eveches, above its
cloudbase, and from there we flew home, landing in time for the club's
aperitifs. |
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Aperitifs
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