8 Jun 04

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8 Jun 04

Endurance

Ariane had her name down to fly today with Hervé Perrin, former French team trainer, in the Duo competition. The director announced a 7-hour AAT, which led to raised eyebrows amongst the men and serious concerns amongst the women about 'plumbing issues'. The time limit was subsequently reduced to 'only' 6.5 hours but, since Ariane is unable to say no to a flight with a proven genius, they were both on the grid and ready to launch by midday. Hervé is also the type of instructor that makes P2 do as much of the flying as possible, so Ariane would be kept busy for most of the day.

The day was another excellent opportunity to explore the mountains of the Maurienne. As the photo shows, cloudbase was high, well above the peaks, making the flight a visual treat as well as easing their workload on this part of the task.

As good as it gets in the high mountains

Hervé noticed some cu-nim build up over the Vanoise and made a tactical decision to retreat back to the south, turning near Bonneval in the Sollieres valley. This gave the best chance of increasing the distance flown by not getting caught in any storms. When they reached the Ecrins they had to pick their way past a storm that covered the entire range, reaching better weather again in the Gap valley. They continued to the lac Ste Croix before landing back at Sisteron.

Warning signs


Threading a path through Ecrins storm...	...to the clear weather in the south
Having spent so long airborne, the resulting distance covered (420km) seemed surprisingly small. However, their logger file reveals that it took them 1 hour 40 minutes to get away and, with other problems later on in the flight (not least the weak climbs they had to take returning from the lac Ste Croix), on the whole they did quite well.

Mont Blanc

Meanwhile, I was back in my own LS6 heading north. As I passed the col du Carro I could see the cu-nims start to build up but nevertheless decided to carry on as the surrounding cumulus in the sunshine was well-separated and looked good and high. I managed to reach the Mont Blanc and, after turning back, realised that the storms over the Vanoise had grown rather larger than I would have liked. I decided to retrace my steps to the east rather than risk getting caught out over the heart of the Vanoise. I managed to escape the worst of the weather but it wasn't until I reached the Gap valley that I felt secure enough to get home.