|
     
| |
|
|
Frozen lake
|
|
|
It was really windy on the ground yesterday, and my
inclination was to give it a miss. I am informed that at briefing, when
asked who wanted to fly, only one timid Frenchman put up his hand. They did
fly in the afternoon, but we decided a far better option was to visit
Audrey, who runs La Sauvagine restaurant near the summit of the Lure, for
lunch. Very much a day of "I'd rather be down here wishing I was up
there than..." etc.
|
|
|
Col d'Allos
|
And so to today's business. The wind had dropped, though
there was still enough north in it to make the Gache work. Catching a
thermal near its summit I worked the usual route to Blayeul and the Trois
Eveches. With plenty of high cumulus over the Barcelonette valley that was
the way to go, so I headed over the col d'Allos.
|
|
|
Queyras
|
|
|
Cloudbase here was over 10,000ft so crossing over to the north side of the
valley was straightforward, and I was soon climbing to the east of the col
de Vars, over the beautiful high peaks running along the south side of the
Queyras. Running out of cumulus, I decided to run back south, following the
Allos valley that runs to the east of the parcours.
|
|
|
Lac Castellane
|
|
|
The conditions are often better here than on the main
parcours ridge, but with very few outlanding fields available, one has to
exercise a little caution. Today, with cloudbases around 9,000ft that wasn't
going to be a problem. I passed over the lac Castellane and turned at the
edge of the Canjeurs zone, taking a look at the north-easterly end of the
gorge de Verdon. The vis was good enough for me to be able to see the coast
from here.
|
|
|
Mt Viso
|
|
|
Back northwards again, I dropped onto the montagne de Coupe
and ran up the parcours, back to the Trois Eveches, pretty much following my
earlier track. The cumulus had developed closer to Mt Viso and, at 14,000ft
I called it a day and final glided the 90km or so for home. A really good
day out for an "average" day in the Alps
|
  |
|
