Oh look - the Mistral's back

The wind was blowing again this morning. Mike Collett and Will Ellis were in hyperactive mode and beat me to the grid (sacrilege!), launching before 1000. We followed a few minutes later and launched onto Arambre where Dan enjoyed 14kts lift stright off tow. A wander up the spine to the West of the field provided one of the easiest jumps to wave I can remember: a seamless transition from ridge to 6kts wave up to 10,000'.

Sadly back on the ground things weren't going so well for the Duo as the tug had a VERY heavy landing and had to be checked before Andy and Ben were hooked on. Meantime we charged down to Mt Ventoux and then along the Lure to meet the Duo there. Then it was East via Gache, Trainon, Auribeau and Blayeul and out onto the Cheval Blanc. A run South East to Logis du Pin and a turn North set us nicly on the convergence line (again!) which was working really well. The motorcyclists at Cime de la Bonnette appreciated the entertainment too.

More charging around at high speed, swapping between therms, ridge and wave ensued until tummy rumblings drew us down and into the Hotel du Nord. 9 hours in the air for Mike and Will - animals!

Cake of the day: Jaffa (but are they really biscuits?)

Lightning never strikes twice...

The sky was overcast when we awoke today, it was hot, humid and really rather unpleasant. There was talk of a day off and a round of poker was played. One player clearly won this (by a country mile - but that was forgotten later in the day for the second hand, not that I'm bitter). By 1330hrs I could see a clearance on the satpic so took a launch anyway, along with Andy and Ben in JTU. The climb on Arambre was easy up to 5,000', there was a ridge climb to 5,500' on St Genis and it was off to Chabre. The ridge here was working OK but therms were a better bet to 7,000' and then it was off to the Lure. Here there was a clear Cu Nim building but we figured we had a good half hour before it got really active. WRONG!

A bolt of lightning 500m from JTU's wingtip encouraged us to depart pronto and head back North to a wave bar forming near Serres which took us to 8,000'. A bit of meandering around bars out to Pic de Bure and it was time to go home and have a dip in the pool, a good meal and a second round of poker (that was reset and ignored those who had clearly been winning earlier, not that I'm bitter).

Cake of the day: Eclair (for all you French speakers)

Convergences

Stylish French instructor and tow pilot...

... and, Oh dear

As predicted the day was hotter still today: 33 degrees at least. Launching started at 1130 and it was much, much easier to get away. That said, there remain those who will take a tow behind the 180 HP tug VH, and those who insist on the 235HP tug WZ. VH has a habit of dragging its sorry ass into the air and has a skid fitted apparently for this specific purpose. I can only say that the tows I've had behind VH have been just fine.

The 4 kt climb on the local ridge went to nearly 8,000' making the jump to Pic de Bure easy. Similarly, the cross to the Ecrins all happened well above the tops and we were quickly past Glacier Blanc and up to the Sollieres valley. Cloudbase was now 13,000' and it really looked we were on for a run into Switzerland again. However, as we passed Grand Roc Noir and approached Gran Paradiso the weather to the North East looked rather soft and whilst we could have carried on it seemed a shame to leave such good conditions behind us. So we instead turned and headed South towards Castellane. The climb of the day was encountered just abeam Briancon and was a healthy 11.5kts from 10,000 up to 13,500. The run from there was down the convergence line on the Italian border and led us straight on down to the turn. A run back up to Bardonecchia gave us 557kms at 91 kph - not bad given we travel at the speed of the slowest glider - which changes continuosly. Slower but far more sociable!

The glide back over the Ecrins was very straightforward and we arrived back on site with plenty of energy for the necessary procedures. One maxi entrecote later and it's time to grab a few hours kip before it all starts over again...

Cake of the day: Battenburg

Please Lord, a rest day

Man are we getting tired. 27 hours in 4 days is enormous fun but does need some stamina. We've tried to let our chums know this at the Standards in Bicester, but for some reason Vodafone seem to be blocking messages to those phones.

Weird that.

La Suisse

Wow.

It was tricky to get away (yet again) with stable air in the Serres valley, but perseverence on Aspres, then Pic de Bure saw us at 10,000' for the jump across to the Ecrins. We (Ben, me, Dan and Mike Collett) arrived well above the tops and were able to run up a couple of feeder ridges to small Cu that gave 3kts to 11,500'. Then it was on past Glacier Blanc, the lake at Val Cenis (with awful air in the Po valley to our right) and on to the Gran Paradiso.

By now climbs were 5-6kts and cloudbase was up to a very respectable 13,000'. We ran over Verbier and on to the ridges facing Sion, then further East past the Matterhorn and on to the slopes of Monte Rosa. An enticing view of the Aletsch Glacier made the decision at 5 o/clock a tricky one: carry on to turn it or head home. Given tomorrow is forecast to be another very good day we turned and headed for home, some 250kms away.

The run home was no problem until we reached the Ecrins. By now it was 7 p.m., we'd been airborne 7 hours and the sun had turned onto North facing slopes that take a while to heat up. Fortunately the valley breeze was setting up so when we arrived on Guillaume at 6,500' there was a weak 1knot of ridge lift. It took a while to work this up to 8,300' but we could then run down Malaup & home via the Cretes des selles. The beatups were good stuff, and the local gendarmes who were at the bar were good enough not to comment (too much).

For our Southern hemisphere readers (morning Tony!) the rollcall is: Ben Flewett, Dan Pitman, Geoff Tabbner, Mike Collett, Will Ellis, Andy Perley and Steve Archer Jones. A reduced team but quality makes up for quantity.

Cake of the day: Swiss roll (what else?)

The high pressure builds...

Sunday dawned with a crystal clear sky, dew on the wings and still air. By 1030 it was really cooking up and the search for shade was underway. Launching commenced at midday and after a scrabble away locally we were away onto Pic de Bure and North onto the lower slopes of the Ecrins. Another scrabble around to Guillaume and we could finally get across to proper cumulus on Morgon and the Parcours. Once more we ran South East down to Castellanes with 5-6kt climbs to 9,000'. Then it was North over Allos, Siguret and Vars up towards Mt Viso where cloudbase was 13,000' and climbs were stronger still.

Will Ellis spotted a wreck in a tight gully up at 10,000' which we called in as it had no red cross or similar to denote it as old and already known about. After a long while the rescue helicopter showed up and pronounced it old and inaccessible (so presumably it will be reported another time sadly). By now it was time to run home so a run round the Barcelonnette valley, a weak climb on Dormillouse and a long and gentle glide home brought us back overhead at 2,000'. Dinner was superb and all against a backdrop of stunning mountains and a picture perfect sunset. Time for bed said Zebedee.

Cake of the day: Lemon fairy cakes.

The day after the Mistral

Local lore has it that the day after the Mistral is generally not that great. And so it was.




Briefing was punctuated by the beeps and squawks of vintage iPaqs as Ben manfullly struggled and failed to load the right turnpoint files.


Launch was delayed until 1300hrs and was into a crystal clear blue sky, still air and not a single Cu in sight. However, when the tug hit lift at 1000' above the field the red mist came down, auto-reflex took over and I released, then struggled away from the therms kicking off the local hill. It took a while for JTU and KV to get launched but we eventually met up and headed East. A couple of weak climbs near Malaup, Les Monges and Blayeul and we were onto the slopes of Trois Eveches. We scraped over into the Allos valley and one further East into Cime de Pal, using the ridges to around 9000' as the good looking Cu didn't seem to work. Even the Buzzards were taking the mickey as under the best Cu of the day one was folding its wings, diving, pulling up and I swear was practising stall turns.





Around 1730 the more sensible of us pushed off home for the first beat ups of the week. Dan pushed on to Guillaume for a scrape home and then the evening disintegrated into a retrieve for Ben Crook (again) and a few other bits of excitement - which fortunately all ended well. Thank goodness.


Cake of the day: Blueberry muffin

It's lift Jim, but not as we know it

The forecasted Mistral didn't really live up to expectations. There was a brief flurry of excitement yesterday evening when the possibility of a really early start (0530 a.m.) was discussed but ruled out as the wind forecast just didn't look good enough. This morning the wind kinda held at 20-25kts at site but weakened dramatically to the East where things looked really rather stable. So it was a late launch after all, around 1100, on to the Arambre ridge and out to the West around 7-8kms to the local wave hotspot and sure enough after a little perseverance there was 4-5kts up to 9500'. There was a distinct lack of imagination on my part regarding what to do next but in the end I ran out West to the end of the Alps and Aubenasson ridge. From here West it's the flatlands so that was far enough thanks. Here the wind had veered to a NE'ly which was confusing, and the wave just wasn't working so it was a return trip by therms and ridges back via Col de Cabre. Then it was a trip down the Lure with Ben Crook in 580 and Mike Collett/Jane Moore in 315 and home for another trip up to 10,000' in wave and a few photos with Booker's K21.

This evening Dan, Ben and Andy have showed up so we're ready to rock and roll from tomorrow...

Cake of the day: Blackforest Gateau

Is it all working?

I do believe it is!


It was a little tricky to get away from work this year so a delayed departure and shortened trip meant calling on the services of Wyld's Logistics - or retiree Boris to be more precise. Boris did an excellent job of getting the trailer here which left me the simplified task of flying into Lyon and collecting the car to arrive at site Wednesday night. Thanks Boris.

Thursday then dawned dreary, grey and wet. The Klaus Ohlmann briefing was short and subdued so I did wonder if we'd fly at all, but lo and behold at 3 o/clock it looked just about good enough for a launch. Cloudbase stuck stubbornly at 6000' amsl, the breeze refused to go above 10kts Westerly so it was all rather weak but good enough to check the kit all works. Plus it's always educational at Serres and on weak days like today there's always stuff to learn and local nooks and crannies to explore. A little run out West to Rosans, South beyond Chabre and back to St Genis still felt like a cross country and it was good to be back.

The weather for the next week looks like it could be good: lots of blue and little wind but is that the sound of Swiss Alpine Horns calling - could it be a trip to the Aletsch Glacier this year?

Cake of the day by the way was Victoria Sponge