Today's weather brought a light westerly wind with significant amounts of cloud, particularly to the north, but with fewer showers than yesterday. Our escape route to the mountains was via Hongrie, Trainon, Auribeau and Blayeul, which gave a 9000ft cloudbase, easily enough to reach la Blanche on the parcours. Ten thousand feet at le Mourre Froid in the Ecrins was enough to squeeze through the col de Couleau and on towards the glacier Blanc and Plampinet. I crossed into the Sollieres valley via the col d'Etache to find that the upper cloud was nearly 8/8ths mid-level stratus with embedded cumulus. Italy, as usual, spewed up its cloud from the valleys to the east.

Lac Cenis, on the border with a cloudy Italy

 Near Charbonnel

Cloud Spill

The fascinating aspect of flying here today was the amount of cloud that lay on the Italian side of the ridge. A solid sheet of stratus lay to the east, occasionally spilling over the ridge onto the French side. At times, as I flew over the flatter ridges, I felt as if I was flying in another world containing only rock, snow and cloud. I constantly felt the urge to check behind me that the French valley was still there, and I felt no incentive whatsoever to explore the Italian side.

When I reached the col de Carro itself I soared its nearby ridge for a while before retracing my steps along the border to pass through the col d'Etache once more.

Cloudy Ecrins