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Into the Maurienne
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Getting
to the Ecrins was a little bit technical today. I launched on 17 to Malaup
where I had to deal with several gliders who were, annoyingly, quite
unable to keep in the best part of the thermals, but eventually I escaped
to a more glider-free zone at Colombis. Cloudbase was around 7,500 ft
here; the conditions looked a mess towards Dormillouse and Morgon, so the
only real choice was Chabriere (which "never works" according to
popular folk-lore). This was almost
true - I sank lower and lower along its face until I felt the surge of a
growing thermal at its southern end. After much to-ing and fro-ing I
managed to climb above the top and onto the tete de Lucy, after which the
flying got a lot easier. |
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Viso
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I
bounced the ridges towards St Crepin and then headed north. Interestingly,
there was a line of weak lift directly over the middle of the valley (weak
wave?) which maintained my altitude at 8,200ft until I turned towards the
tete de Peyron. It took a little fiddling about but I soon connected with
the high stuff (~12,000ft) and carried on towards the Maurienne. I crossed
over to the edge of the Vanoise, near St Michel-de-Maurienne, but the
conditions to the east looked a bit messy, so I abandoned my intended trip
to the col de Carro. |
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Cumulus shadows on cloud tops
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Some
lovely clouds were hanging over Rochebrun, in the centre of the Queyras.
Further south, higher cumulus led the way to Mont Viso. From 13,000ft I
saw some fantastic scenery as I flew over the white sheets that were
covering the Italian plains. From there it was pretty much a straight
glide via the Barcelonette valley, across the col d'Allos as far as the
southern tip of Blayeul and then back to the club for a landing. The
day was rounded off with the club's regular Wednesday aperitif evening at
the Pegasus. A fairly good turnout, too. Though who would have thought
that it would be the Swiss who would gobble up all the food so quickly? |
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Italy is on the left...
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