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| Ooops... |
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Synchronised Towing
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| It was
mid-day, we could see gliders thermalling and cumulus in the distance, so
we persuaded our Israeli friend to take a launch towards Trainon. I went
next, behind the more powerful Robin BH, which is why my tow overtook his
tow. I released at 6000ft over Trainon, reasoning that Authon is easily
reachable from that height and the Vaumuse would save
me if Authon didn't work.
Well...Authon didn't work, and neither did the Vaumuse,
which is why, 35 minutes after take-off, I was enjoying the company of the
CNVV instructors at St Auban. |
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| They
kindly agreed to give me a tow, but I had to wait until 30 other gliders
had been launched first. Fair enough, though as they only had three
working tugs, it would take some time. Then one instructor had a good idea, and
pushed 245 in front of a short queue to get me off sooner. A tug arrived
in front of me, I hooked on, and the tuggie was then told that he wasn't
supposed to be launching me, and off he went to tow someone more
legitimate (glider CC, in fact: see later). A classic
example of management French-style: they all have great ideas, but they
don't always join up... |
Oh B*gger!
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| When my
tow finally arrived, it was behind a small, 100hp very light aircraft,
which actually gave me a perfectly smooth and powerful tow. I was dropped
at the southern end of the Vaumuse in a 5-knotter, so my world returned to
normal. The next 30 minutes were excellent, jumping from one 6-knotter to
the next towards some multi-level cumulus over les Monges and Oratoire. At
one point as I climbed to 10,000ft in a very strong thermal I saw lumps of
cumulus forming below me.
There was little point in stopping at Dormillouse or
Morgon, so I went straight to Guillaume, encountering some suspicious lift
halfway across the lake (...wave...?). Climbs were getting harder to find,
although cloudbases remained high. At the tete d'Amont I reached 12500ft
and carried on to the col d'Etroit to see if there was any future in
continuing further north. But, it was 5pm; to the east, the Bardonecchia
valley lay under low scraps of cumulus, and the higher cumulus looked
rather a long way away, so I turned back towards the Ecrins. |
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Maurienne
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| There
were great views of the Barre des Ecrins as I entered the cirque from the
east. A short tour of the glacier blanc was followed by a useful climb on
the usually reliable southern face of Pelvoux, which gave me enough height
to cross the pas de Cavale with a huge margin. And that, believe it or
not, was the last piece of lift I saw for the remainder of the flight.
Over 50km of flying over the usual hotspots returned absolutely nothing.
On landing (yes, at Sisteron this time), I noted that
there had been a landout from a St Auban glider, and was most amused to
see that it was CC, the glider at St Auban that I still believe took
"my tow". |
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Barre des Ecrins
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