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Cervin
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It didn't start very well, truth be told. On launching I
noticed that my Garmin was not picking up any signals, which would have
meant that I would have to go back to traditional navigational methods -
interesting how dependent we have become on technology.
Seeing a couple of gliders struggling at Hongrie led me to
release at Trainon. Authon didn't work leaving me below hill top height at
the Vaumuse. Inventive swearing did the trick, giving me a 5-knotter to
7,000ft and shocking the Garmin into waking up. I was away!
Well, sort of, anyway. I couldn't make the turbulent thermals
work at the Trois Eveches, so I back-tracked to the nearest cumulus (at the Cheval Blanc,
for goodness sake!) for 11,500ft, allowing me a stress-free crossing of the col
d'Allos and a run up to the Grand Berard.
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Maurienne Snowfield...
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I had lost so much time - the other Brits were already at the
col d'Etache and I was eager to catch up. At least there was a healthy
13,000ft cloudbase over the Queyras, although the sink between the clouds
was both large and impressively prolonged. I crossed high into the Modane valley,
and made fairly quick work of reaching the col de Carro, jumping again to a
cloudstreet streaming from the northern Vanoise mountains. Someone reported
having just gone round the Matterhorn, which I took as great encouragement.
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...and another
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I followed the Grand Paradis ridges, finding some lovely smooth lift
over their snow-capped peaks. Entering the Aosta valley I dropped east to
Monte Emilius and then crossed to the north, aiming for a juicy cumulus over
Monte Mary. A smooth 4 knots just to the south-west of the cumulus betrayed
the presence of wave, as did a few other gliders soaring near the cumulus
tops. I headed for the Matterhorn at around 15,000ft, a little puzzled that
I was still not actually able to see it.
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Cloud-capped Matterhorn
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From my altitude, above a layer of cumulus, it
it appeared at first that I wouldn't be able to circle the peak, but as I retreated towards Aosta I took a quick
look at the Cervinia valley and saw that there was enough of a gap between
the cloud and the two passes...it would have been rude not to give it a go.
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Theodule Pass
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It was a magical experience, especially with
the amount of cloud cloaking the mountain. There was only one "oh
f**k" moment as I hit a sharp edge of turbulence that slammed my
Mountain High control box onto the canopy above my head. No damage was done,
and the subsequent lift left me at the same altitude as when I started the
circuit.
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Going round the corner
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Hometime! Despite my earlier hassles I had
still managed to hit my target of returning to Aosta by 5pm. Another
15,000ft wave climb over Monte Mary was enough to get me to the start of the
Val Savaranche. Previous experience has taught me that while the Pointe
Bianco, one ridge to the west, offers good soaring, the subsequent glide
towards the col de Carro is badly affected by sink in the lee of the Vanoise
mountains. So I gave the Grand Paradis a try, although it wasn't until I
reached the lower col to the north of the col de Carro that I found the
climb I was looking for. Phew! The next
challenge was to get through the col d'Etache, although it wasn't until I
was over Mont Cenis that I got the climb I needed, The easterly, sun- and
wind-facing lead-in ridges to the col performed well, and I was through to
the St Crepin valley.
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Lac Cenis
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Nearly home...I just needed one decent climb at the tete
d'Amont and I could finally relax. You guessed it - it didn't work, so I had
to take the long way home, via Vautisse (no good), Furan (a reasonable
climb), Clotinailles (not much happening there) and Guillaume (magic!).
To round off the flight, a 10,000ft cloudstreet led the
way home. What a BRILLIANT day...
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...See the video
(78.3Mb)
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