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Grand Paradis
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After
the trials of the past few days it was really good to get back in the
saddle again. The weather locally remains hot and stable, calling for long
(expensive!) tows towards the bigger ridges to the east. My tuggie, in
charge of possibly the lowest-powered Rallye in the whole of France,
seemed confused as to why I wasn't releasing over the non-working Trainon
in favour of an even longer tow to Authon. That
wasn't working too well either, so I crossed over to Auribeau, which was
working to around 8000ft in the blue. I reached the cumulus at Blayeul,
which went to 11,000ft, which is good enough for anyone. Ahead to the
north I saw even higher bases, so that was my direction of choice. I have
to say that flying at 13,000ft over the Queyras was an absolute joy -
much, much easier than pausing every now and then for a spot of
rock-polishing. No decision needed to
be made about whether or not to venture into the Maurienne, as cloudbases
rose even further. Over the col de Carro, it was an easy, and stunningly
beautiful, flight past the Grand Paradis into the Aosta valley. |
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Matterhorn
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On
the north side of the valley the conditions deteriorated slightly, with
messy looking cumulus and lower cloudbases. I didn't want to dawdle about
too much here so, after trying and failing to make the last cumulus
before the Matterhorn to work, I abandoned thoughts of getting closer to
the mountain. Instead, I thought that
while I was in the area I might as well take a look at Mont Blanc. The
route there coincided with some excellent 14,000ft streets, so it was an
easy job to get close to the mountain. When I got there I was reminded of
the time that Ariane and I pair-flew to the Mont Blanc, each in our
respective LS6s. It had been an emotional moment for her to see the Mont
Blanc - she had done really well to get there. |
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Mont Blanc
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For
the return trip I briefly considered using the west of the Vanoise, but
with fewer clouds in that direction than in the east, I decided that it
would be prudent to stay cautious and follow my outbound track. There
were no real issues in getting back over the col de Carro, with continuing
strong climbs and high cloudbases. There was no need to detour around the
lac Cenis and the col d'Etache was almost indistinguishable from the other
passes exiting the Maurienne. The
remainder of the flight was one, long 100km downwind slide towards home. I
saw the last of the cumulus over the lac de Serre-Poncon, after which the
air became totally stable and the visibility deteriorated markedly. You
know, there are times I quite like flying here... |
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Lac Cenis
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Ps: I was later told that no St Auban
gliders flew anywhere to the north today. The reason? The whole area south
of Authon was stable and unsoarable... |
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