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Cloudbase
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Bird-watcher
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Ariane and I flew together again today.
Although there was a small difficulty in getting away, we found the
conditions to be much better than on previous days, and we were soon
climbing away on Blayeul with our thoughts directed to the north. While
there was a distinct absence of cumulus, the mountains were now working as
one would expect, with strong lift in all the expected places.
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One of the more appealing features of this
holiday is the abundance of raptors to be found patrolling the mountains.
Like us, they wait until it gets soarable and then launch themselves onto
the slopes, either to search for food or maybe for the sheer pleasure of
flying... Encountering a squadron of kites and vultures while soaring at
12,000ft is really something special, not least because they show us where
the strongest lift is to be found. And they appear wholly unconcerned about
the big white plastic birds that fly past, and are manoeuverable enough to
make way if we get too close.
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Pelvoux
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We left the parcours for Guillaume, which worked well enough
for us to get to the cumulus over the tete de Lucy and onwards towards the
col des Terres Blanches, through which we squeezed with feet to spare. We
encountered some difficulty at the tete de Vautisse where the slope lift on
one side didn't quite meet up with the thermic action on the other, but
applying a few swear words did the trick and we were able to fly on to the
glacier Blanc.
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Barre des Ecrins
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Was cloudbase high here! Topping up to
14,000ft at les pics d'Agneaux we did a circuit above the summit of the
Barre des Ecrins, which was Ariane's preferred target for the day. The
visibility to the north was superb, Mont Blanc standing proud over 100km
away under a totally cloudless sky. We heard reports form the more intrepid
pilots who had gone to the Aosta valley, but we decided to stick to our
plan, turning Mont Chaberton for a trip along the tops of the eastern
Queyras en-route to Viso.
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Po Valley
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Once again, the Po valley lay under a low
inversion, cloudy near the mountains and nothing but a blue haze to the
east. Cloudbase was now 14,500ft as we ran towards Mont Viso, this time well
above its summit. We had company too, circling in 8 kts of very
user-friendly lift with a Nimbus 4D and an ASG 29 in attendance.
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Mont Viso
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It was time to head for home, although there
is not much to report here. Still at cloudbase with only 100km to go, a
straight glide was all that was required to get back, routing via the lac
des Neuf Couleurs, col de Vars and Dormillouse to arrive over the airfield
at just under 6,000ft. A truly
memorable day.
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Home for beers
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