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Bardonecchia
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Eastern Ecrins
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Poor weather meant no flying for the past
three days and we had to resort to the almost unbearable hardship of having
to watch the rain pour down from the security of a series of well-stocked
restaurants. Happily, today dawned with sunshine, a blue sky and high
expectations for flights to the north.
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We towed to St Geniez behind one of the most underpowered
tugs (TU, as it happens) in the south of France. We released too early,
having lost the will to live, and spent a frought 20 minutes or so scrabbling
away just over the edge of the Gache. When we got away we tried Authon,
which wasn't working too well, and then finally chose Malaup, Montserieux
and Colombis as our route to the Ecrins. Cloudbase was around 7500 - not
brilliant, but enough to get us to Chabriere with a good margin to get back
to Gap.
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More Ecrins
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From Chabriere we took a climb at the tete de Lucy and then
headed down the main Embrun valley to Prachaval which, puzzlingly, was not
actually working on its face, though there was smooth 4 knot lift about 1km
off it into the valley. Wave, possibly, though my C4 was giving a only a 2
knot wind from the west. After reaching 8500ft we drove on further north,
getting into the next layer of thermals on the tete de Peyron. Even now the
thermals were still broken and difficult to use but after applying more
effort we managed to get into the more user-friendly band up to
11,500ft.
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Pas de la Cavale
(small grey hole middle right, between the cloud and the hard bits)
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Now that the conditions were easier to use, we followed the
valley from Briancon towards the col de Galibier, and then cut back to
Plampinet and then over to Bardonecchia before plotting our return. The
cloud was well down onto the main spine of the Ecrins and we took a careful
look at the Pas de la Cavale before deciding that it was possible. A
climbing run along the ridge to its south put us in a good position for a
fast, airbrake-assisted passage through the col, though it is fair to say
that we both held our breaths until we had scraped through. Although the
cloud was low on the other side, it was well broken, so no problems
navigating our way back to Sisteron.
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After landing and stacking the glider for the
night, we attended the club's apertif party, held at the Pegasus clubhouse,
where we were able to compare notes with the other pilots who had flown
today.
And so to dinner: true to form, le Janus
restaurant on the airfield continues to plough its own furrow, only offering
what they want to serve us rather than what we want to eat, so eight of us
met up at the Lou Pebre et l'Aiet in Sisteron instead, for another of
their excellent meals. |
Home again
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