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| Small
Playground |
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| Today's
exercise was a study in extended local soaring. We launched on RW18, Bob going first in L58. Being
Bob, he elected to release at Sigoyer at below optimal height only to
find his thermal hadn't waited for him. So he returned to (somewhat below)
circuit height where he did find a thermal and managed to get away. We
knew what he was thinking: "Why did I spend that extra money to
release so high?" I learned later that Mike in 615 went one better,
and he managed to get away too. Me? I wimped out, took a higher tow and
released near Malaup under a building cumulus, so not as much drama for
me. But a bit more dosh.
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La Sauvagine - Heart of the Lure?
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The forecast indicated that the Briancon area might not
be as good as we had hoped, and by the time I climbed to cloudbase I could
see why - messy overdevelopment apparently on the tops of the Ecrins. I
was happening to listen out on 130.4 to hear if there was any local chat
from other Brits in the area and came across what I assume was Gatfield's
Gang (Hi Jon!), flying south out of Serres on a mission to Vinon. As they
know what they are doing, I thought I would lean in that direction,
reaching the summit of the Lure before deciding that cloudbase looked a
little low for me. So, instead, I took a picture of the restaurant "La
Sauvagine" (just beyond the Lure summit), still hosted by the delightful Audrey (I must go up and
see her - sorry, I mean have a meal there - very soon).
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| The clouds looked good to the north, so off I went in
the general direction of the Vercors, peeling off as I was abeam Obiou,
where I thought crossing to the east towards the col de Noyer might be a
good plan. As I was a minute into the 10km or so leg, I noticed that the
wind speed was now indicated at 20kt southerly, and I was now north of the
massive pic de Bure. I managed to find extended sink which got the heart racing,
but I reached the cumulus with enough margin not to require an emergency
escape into the Grenoble valley. |
Lure ridge
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| I
then flew
south again, and across the Gap valley to Colombis where the climbs became
very soft. The Ecrins still looked a poor bet, so when I eventually got
away again, I headed for the parcours as far as some low cloud on la
Blanche, and turned south for the Blayeul. West now looked best, so I ventured into the Barronies as far as the Rosan valley and
called it a day there.
Oh yes: when I said the Ecrins looked out of bounds, it
wasn't really. John Clarke flew with James Metcalfe from Gap to the
Maurienne. So much for what I know...
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Obiou Ridge
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