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QI
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The launch was fun. Alex was doing his usual
great job lobbing us skywards, and when my turn came there were three or
four other gliders on Hongrie, busy trying to scrape away. Alex towed me
well above the wires on the top of the hill, and the next thing I saw was
him doing an uncharacteristically sharp dive, prompting me to a quick
release. "Did you see the other
glider?", he asked over the radio. I replied that I hadn't. A detailed
search of my immediate environment yielded no sightings, so I carried on
with my flight and Alex set off for his next tow. The
good news was that I had been dumped into a 4-knotter which was enough to
get me away from the cuvette via Jouere, Authon, Auribeau and the Blayeul. I
flew to the Cheval Blanc under completely blue conditions and was tempted to
make my first visit south to the lac Ste Croix. The lure of the north drew
me to turn left, rather than right, at the mountain and I headed up the
parcours towards les Trois Eveches.
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Geology in action at les Trois Eveches
Lac de Serre-Poncon from 14,000ft
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The parcours was working really well. I picked off a good
thermal at la Blanche and carried on via Dormillouse to Morgon. Another
thermal got me to 9,000ft, at which height the other two gliders that were
keeping me company set off for Guillaume. And
then a quite interesting thing happened. A surge just to the east of the
Morgon got me turning again, and again, until I realised that I was in some
wave kicking off from the Ecrins. Switching my SeeYou mobile to its 2km
scale I was able to return to the best lift again and again, finally topping
out at a surprising 14,500ft.
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Searching near the col des Terres Blanches
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I cheerfully set off Guillaume-wards and was
somewhat bemused to see my FLARM pinging me about a fixed obstruction ahead
(that is, not a collision risk with another glider). Seeing no evidence of
pylons and wires at 14,000ft, I continued with my search for the next piece
of wave, but it wasn't until I was abeam of the col des Terres Blanches,
having lost 3,000ft in the transition, that I picked up the next bar. I
worked that for another 1,500ft, and the next ridge north, until I was in
the lee of the main Pelvoux ridge. After some time, I managed to find some
very strong lift at the head of the valley that took me once again back up
to 14,500ft.
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Mont Blanc, 100km away
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I then headed west, along the Valgaudemar, the pic de Bure
and other likely wave spots, but the day was getting late and it was time to
return for home. The following morning,
I had a chat with Alex because I needed to understand what had happened
during my tow today. It soon became apparent that what his FLARM was warning
him about was a fixed obstruction, most probably the wires at Hongrie. Even
though we were well above them, and I had received no such warning with my
FLARM. So, two false warnings from two
separate FLARM units today. Faulty software? L' Armee de l'Air playing silly
buggers with GPS scrambling? Answers on a postcard, please...
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Western Ecrins
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