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White Sheets
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The weather is now starting to revert to traditional
Sisteron values. We towed to Trainon and immediately found a good climb,
and we were soon at cloudbase on Blayeul. The higher bases appeared to be
towards Allos and the Barcelonnette valley, but we did find it a little
tricky to get past the parcours, which was not delivering (for us at least)
the thermals we had been expecting. A retreat back to the valley for a top
up allowed us to fly over the top of the Trois Eveches to view its northern
slopes.
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Trois Eveches, north face
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Queyras
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We climbed again at the Chapeau de Gendarme, south east of
Barcelonnette town, and then cut across to the Grande Berard for another
climb to 12,000ft. Mont Viso was again wearing its cloudy hat but we headed
in its direction anyway, running the peaks from the col de Vars to the col
d'Agnel.
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Italian Border
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Once again, the Italian side of the Queyras lay under a sheet
of cloud and we enjoyed a short run looking over the edge of the high
mountains. Ariane remarked while floating over the white sheets below that it
was rather like flying in an airliner.
We turned north-westwards towards Briancon on a wave hunt,
though now we had installed the oxygen it was clear that we were doomed to
failure, and so it proved.
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A scenic tour into the glacier Blanc was still worth the
effort, and we decided to return home via the pas de la Cavale, though not
without a teensy-weensy whimper of alarm from Ariane while pointing at the
into-wind ridge in 8 knots of sink. The situation resolved itself satisfactorily and
we passed over the col with a huge margin to final glide back to base.
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Through the pas de la Cavale
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