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Pelvoux from above - a rare sight...
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...the
smog has gone... At last, the hot,
humid conditions of the past week or so have moved on; the air is much
fresher and we can actually see the mountains to the north, rather than
the dirty brown smudge that we have become accustomed to. The northerly
wind made the Gache the obvious destination for launching, and when I
released I immediately found good thermals that tempted me to try the Lure
ridge. This turned out not to be a
great choice; I passed below the summit expecting to find strong lift to
its west, but that never came. So I turned tail and ran back along the
ridge, feeling slightly more comfortable when I eventually found myself
above the ridge line at its lower end. |
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Crossing to the Gap valley
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Back
to Sisteron town again, I decided to aim for the parcours, collecting
climbs at the Vaumuse, Auribeau and Blayeul. I joined the parcours at
Couard and headed for the Cheval Blanc, where cloudbase was a satisfactory
11,000ft. The shape of the cumulus lying over la Blanche hinted at wave,
and sure enough, I quickly found myself climbing up its leading edge to
13,000ft. This made reaching the
Ecrins most comfortable. As I descended I saw clouds over Clotinaille and
Furan but, boy were they rough! On a couple of occasions I found my
70-knot airspeed drop instantly to 40 knots, and pushing hard on the stick
did absolutely nothing. I was happy not to be too close to the mountains
at that point. I found a climb behind
Prachaval and made my way up to the tete d'Amont. The cumulus further
north looked better and higher, but I didn't really fancy another spell in
the tumble-drier so I stuck with a good climb over the tete d'Amont that
turned into strong wave slightly closer to Pelvoux. At 14,000ft I took the
opportunity for a stress-free descent into the Gap
valley. |
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Lac de Serre-Poncon
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I
found a little wave near the col de Bayard, and a bit more still closer to
the pic de Bure. At 12,000ft I set off for a mini-tour of the pre-Alpes
which turned out to be a slow but scenic descent into the Sisteron cuvette.
It so happened that this evening we were hosting an informal get-together
for the British contingent at Sisteron and Gap, so an early landing was
called for. Typically, I found 4 knots of wave over the village of Sigoyer
and it was with a slightly resigned air that I opened the airbrakes and
landed. |
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Party time
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The
party was a great success. Ariane had done an excellent job organising a
cold buffet with all the beer and wine that anyone could drink. We had
over 20 guests, including a contingent of Usk pilots, most of whom I last
saw over 30 years ago (odd how they seem to have all changed over the
years, while I've stayed exactly the same...). |
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