01 Jul 13

01 Jul 13

Modane


Crossing to the Parcours

After briefing it was decided to move the grid early to RW18, which simply entailed towing to the north end of the airfield and arranging the gliders in neat lines when we got there. The tuggies' definition of 'neat' was not quite the same as Remy's, so we engaged ourselves in a little game of shuffle-the-glider until the tugs arrived, when we started to focus on actual flying.

Barre des Ecrins

Vanoise

The forecast wasn't quite as promising as yesterday's but as we are now in a spell of good weather in Provence, we were all optimistic for big flights.

Cloudbase was around 8,000ft locally so there were no problems getting away to the Blayeul and all points north via Guillaume. I dipped into the glacier blanc for old times' sake and started to take an interest in the Vanoise, above which lay some high cumulus. Mont Blanc stood proud in the distance and was something of an attraction.

At 13,000ft I crossed over to the north side of the Modane valley expecting the same sort of climbs as I had found on the south side, but after sampling three or four clouds I found nothing. Further north there were fewer clouds so I decided it wasn't on for me today, so I trundled off towards Solliere for a climb and crossed back to the south via the Aiguilles de Scolette.

The lift in the south was as expected, which was just as well as large sheets of showers were now dropping over Chaberton, a little to the east. I took a 13,000ft climb near the Barre des Ecrins and flew across to the east of the Ecrins, winding past cumulus tops as far as the valley of Orcierre Merlette where I finally dropped below the local cloudbase. Turning was not required as I continued to Morgon and onwards via the parcours down to the southern end of the lac St Croix.

Glacier Blanc

With another OLC 500km in my sights I decided to turn at the southern-most cumulus and back-track towards the Die valley to take a look at Glandasse. Not having the parcours to rely on slowed me down a little (no change there...) but I soon reached my goal and turned for home to finish the flight.

Glandasse

Only one cock-up today: I forgot my in-flight camera so these images are brought to you courtesy of Mr Apple and his iPhone.