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Three frustratingly stormy non-flying days have passed, each with impressive displays of towering cu-nims and deluges of rain. We had all but given up hope for the remainder of our stay here, but this morning we were happy to discover that we had some decent
prospects for the day. The playground was forecast to be small, but at least it was usable.
An early launch was called for, and I lined up behind Mike in M8. We each towed to Trainon via the newly opened Jouere route, and then spent half an hour on Authon looking for any lift that could get us close to 6000ft. The thermals improved slowly, and with small cumulus appearing I managed to
inch my way to Blayeul.
I took a chance to get to the parcours by eyeing a large cumulus en-route to Seyne. If it hadn't worked then I would
at least have had Seyne to land at, but it did work and I arrived at la Blanche with a healthy 8,500ft.
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Seyne Airfield
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Guillaume was the next target. I arrived at 7000ft to find a
wonderfully solid seven knots of ridge-lift, boosted by a fat cumulus sitting at its summit. After three or four passes I was back at 9,000ft and heading for the St Crepin valley.
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Col d'Etache
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Vautisse did not impress, so I crossed the valley to find that the gulley to the north of the tete de Peyron was still working its magic, and the next ridge north got me to 11,500ft.
The rest of the flight was fairly easy. At the col d'Etache I decided to show my face in the Modane valley. Although I could see high cloudbases 20km away, there was so much "heap" cloud about that I decided not to push my luck. I turned back at Mt Cenis after taking a closer look at the lac Cenis, and flew back towards the Glacier Blanc.
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Lac Cenis
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I gained entry from the northwest rather than using the traditional
run-in from the tete d'Amont, effectively crossing via the highest part of the
ridge at the pics d'Agneaux; one has to experiment sometimes.
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Glacier Noir
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I conducted a scenic tour of the
glaciers blanc and noir, and then bounced southwards across the eastern ridges of the Ecrins, each capped by useful
cumulus. I was keen on avoiding having to get back via Guillaume: a large cu-nim had grown over the Barcelonette valley and there
was always a possibility that its out-flow could have affected local ridges (such as Guillaume) rendering them useless for lift.
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Pelvoux
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So it was the pas de la Cavale for me, that handy col in the middle of the Ecrins that allows passage to the Gap valley. Cloudbase was 10,000ft-ish there, and the col is 9,200ft, so there was plenty of margin for me to squeeze through.
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Ooops - hometime...
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Reaching Chabrieres I could see that the parcours was now out of action, so I headed via Colombis and
Grande Gautiere towards la Bigue, beyond which attempts at further progress would have been unwise. I rounded off the flight by exploring the Jabron valley as far as Sederon.
Returning to Sisteron, a lightning bolt at Trainon prompted me to land without further delay. An unexpectedly good day.
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