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It was Jurg's fault really; his suggestion that the Matterhorn might be on encouraged me to take a launch a little too soon, which had me exploring the lower reaches of the St Geniez valley having failed to make any of the regular hills work.
As I was judging whether I could make it over the Gourras cables, I was saved by a last-ditch run along the
ridge to the southwest of St Geniez.
Phew! I then started to take my time, eventually getting away to the parcours by way of Jouere, les Monges and Oratoire. At least cloudbase was good, approaching 9000ft as I reached la Blanche. From there I went across the Barcelonnette valley onto the ridges to the east of Morgon, when again I decided to be "clever".
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Viso, cloudbound again
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I thought I would cut the corner by flying direct to Prachaval rather than cutting across to Guillaume or to Grand Berard. Unfortunately, when I reached Prachaval, it wasn't working particularly well. I then compounded my difficulties by crossing the valley to another spur that had worked for me previously, but this time without a result. I was now 2800ft above St Crepin, which sounds a lot, but with no signs of lift I was running out of ideas.
But they were winching out of St Crepin, so at least I could get some help from the locals. The lower ridges were starting to work, and the occasional strong but short-lived thermal appeared. After some time I was back where I started, near the top of
Prachaval, but still without that extra oomph to propel me to the next level.
Again I followed the locals to the far side of the tete de Peyronne, where I found three of them circling in a tiny gulley well below the main ridge. It looked a little
scary and, when I joined them, I found that it was far more than a little scary. But the thermal worked and about an hour after I had first joined Prachaval, I was finally at an 11,000ft cloudbase and able to breathe again.
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Cime de la Bonnette
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After that escapade, the remainder of the flight was far more relaxed. On reaching the col d'Etache, I didn't like the look of the clouds in the Maurienne; maybe I'd had enough excitement for one day. I back-tracked towards Mont Viso (in cloud, as usual) and the Barcelonette valley, running down the parcours to the Valensole plateau before turning north again towards Dormillouse and back to base. All in all, a good day's flying, despite the cock-ups.
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Team GB at the Vue d'en-Haut (photo by Frank/Nicole)
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Dinner was at the Vue d'en Haut, a newly opened restaurant in Sigoyer. The name is entirely accurate - the view from the restaurant and terrace is fabulous and visitors really must give it a go. Although the service was slow, the meal was excellent and we will certainly go back there.
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The view from the terrace
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