Serres Bimble

All too soon it's over for another year

2011-07-03T03:22:00.000-07:00

We attended the briefing yesterday morning to watch the logger trace and hear the details of the ASH25 incident: it's always vital to learn from what's happened and here was a very experienced guy turboing back from Sisteron. He appears to have made a series of very strange decisions yet he was in no way a fool. The flight ended with a pass at 4m over the cut field below, turbo running, before a wing struck a tree and the glider ended in the dry riverbed on the right. Really sad.

The option was there to fly for the day but it looked like a replay of Friday so we instead packed up and headed for the ferry, taking 14 hours from Serres to home.

That was another year of very interesting and fun flying. 56 hours in 9 days and something like 3,200kms XC. Wave to FL195, 11kt therm riding , ridge bashing, public entertaining, alfresco dining, poker playing, scenery rubber necking etc etc. It's a fabulous place, a privilege to fly from there with great mates and to learn from the true master of the skies: Klaus Ohlmann. The guy is unbelievably knowledgable, shares all his learning openly and retains boundless enthusiasm and energy. He's unique.

Yes, you need to stay in your limits, always have a series of options to choose from if/when things don't work out as planned, constantly stay on your game with focus and consciously manage the stress to make good decisions. But if it appeals and you get the chance: go.

Final cake of the day: Sue's Kiwi Cake (looks yummy to me)

Diamonds in the sky

2011-07-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

So it's congratulations to Mike Collett on his diamond height. He started the day with a high speed run over the field to get a low point of 2,900' and finished off with 19,500' over Gap.

We launched as a compact team of T6, KV, JTU and HA at 1100 and started with a reconnaisance of last night's tragic dual fatality 10kms East of site. Very, very sad as the two brothers were good old boys.

We ran St genis/Chabre/Gache and out to Authon where there was a tetchy little debate about whether we'd started too early. We did howeverget away and ran down to Aiguines on the Verdon gorge and then to the airfield at Fayence where we got a hazy view of the Med. Then it was a scrabble to get back up and on to Briancon where cloudbase was 13,000'. We ran back towards Serres over the Ecrins (always fun running the spines at high level) and tracked for Serres and photo opportunities. By accident we ran into wave at 9,500' and after a little perseverence climbed all the way up to the airspace ceiling at 19,500' .

Cake of the day: JTC it's Eccles Cake

A cautionary tale

2011-07-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Rule number one is don't hit the hill.

The pictures here are very instructive - thanks to John Herman for permission to share them. John's tale is roughly as follows...

"I was soaring Les Monges with one other glider. On the third beat I moved out from the hill to make way for the oncoming other machine. As I did there appeared a hole in the air and the glider simply dropped with no response to controls, even though I pushed forward and applied full aileron away from the hill."

That really is John standing on the hill just above the glider straight after the impact. Thank the Lord he's alright. Let's be careful out there.

Oh look - the Mistral's back

2011-06-30T13:41:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-06-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-27T13:35:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-06-26T01:37:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-26T00:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-06-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

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

Until next year...

2010-06-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

Chamonix

2010-06-25T10:37:00.001-07:00

The team were dropping fast today. Cockeye Flewett and Mark Holden both left for home after the briefing, Steve Ell had problems with a leaking oxygen system and Andy Holmes was keen to fly on his own so it was down to just me, Dan Pitman and Dane Dickinson to keep the side up. We headed North with some better climbs than yesterday but more humidity around, so by the time we popped into the Sollieres valley we decided to fly with the lower bases out to the West. So we had a nice little cruise past Albertville, Megeve and across to Les Houches before moving onto the slopes of Mt Blanc. There's something about mountains - the crags, the icefields, the grandeur -that's captivating so once more the camera was working overtime. We ran up the Chamonix valley, taking care to avoid the cables on the Aiguille du Midi cable car, climbed over the Mer de Glace and stuck our noses into Switzerland before turning for home. The ridges facing West were still being blasted with sunshine so worked just fine and we had a fairly straightforward run home. Dane wanted to top things up to yet another 500km flight so we turned Serres and ran a street up to the Vercors and town of Die. Then it was home for smokers and derigs. I think that's me done for another year.

What a day

2010-06-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

The met maps for today showed most of the alps looking really good so we packed our passports and

toothbrushes and launched early.

5 of us headed North via Pic de Bure and crossed direct from 7500' to the slopes near Guillaume. We arrived fairly low but a bit of perseverance with the ridge lift and therms got us up to 8500'and away to Tete d'Amont and 10,000'.

We continued North over Bradonecchia, Sollieres and turned right to go up over Tignes at 12,000'. We made our first turn at Ferret, between Blanc and Aoste and crossed over the ski resort of Verbier to the North of the Sion valley. A pair of impressive eagles marked the climb and helped us out. The valley scenery here had changed markedly - much more Swiss precision in the layout of meadows! We ran East past Sion and Turtmann until it was 4 p.m. and we were something like 260kms out from Serres. The temptation to go further was strong as ahead things looked well formed and the valley made a very obvious route but the cost of the aerotows home was starting to look rather pricey - so we turned for home. The initial thought was to go back the way we'd come but the South side of the valley near the Grand Combin had a high cloudbase and we decided to head over there.

Another swift and helpful conversation with ATC at Sion and we were on the South side and once up and back as a group were up in the high snow fields. What a privilege to be amongst such scenery - absolutely stunning stuff with some ridge soaring of peaks up at 12,000': surreal. We flopped over into the Aoste valley and then pretty much retraced our steps home with little drama. After 8 and a half hours we landed back tired but happy.

Aoste and Mt Blanc

2010-06-23T10:34:00.001-07:00

What a splendid day that was!We launched around 1100 and went up towards Grenoble to check out the Vercors but the cloudbase was low there, so instead we went out to Seyne and North from there.

It was fairly

straightforward running past Siguret and up over the Vars to Bardonnechia where we thought at first that the cloudbase wasn't going to let us get much further. However, once we crossed Sollieres and hooked a climb on the far side of that valley things ahead looked a little better so we persevered. We didn't quite get to the Gran Paradiso but instead ran down the spur leading to Aoste and then turned left over the Petit St Bernard pass onto the lower slopes of Mt Blanc where cloudbase was a respectable 12,500'. There was a little wobble on the way home when we dillydallyed in some weak climbs near Bardonecchia rather than pushing on to Briancon where in the end we found a nice 7kt climb. We ran home over the Ecrins and into the Gap valley where it was black and gloomy with a monster CuNim sat over Sisteron. Fortunately we were able to just put the hammer down and run straight home to Serres which was still bathed in sunshine. What a super trip to end Mike Collett and Booker's Duo 315's stay - he had a really good run round with Ben Crook.

Wing camera mountings: discuss

2010-06-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m not doing that again. Today’s bright idea was for me and Flewett to fly with wing cameras mounted a metre out on the wing. What a boo boo. The turbulence created made flying below 55kts a nightmare with all sorts of stick vibration and as for pulling hard into gusts in a thermal: forget it. To be fair we did get some OK shots but was it really worth turning around at Seyne and coming back to Serres to remove the cameras and take a relight? No.
Anyhoo, having removed the cameras and started again at 2 p.m. we set off to Logis du Pin again and had a reasonable run. The Belgian Paragliding Open is on at Laragne and we counted over 80 canopies as we ran in at 90 knots, pulled up in their climb, rejected it and blasted on towards Digne at 100kts. If those guys have any sense they’ll be forcing the chutes into skips and placing orders for 15m gliders tomorrow. We made good time down to Logis and went past the turn to take a climb in a convergence at 8kts. From here we ran North along the convergence, occasionally getting too enthusiastic and getting too far East before realising they do Pizzas in Serres so there was no good reason to land out in Turin. We had a nice cruise past Lake Brice and up towards the Cime de la Bonnette.

Popping into the Barcelonnette valley I figured there was bound to be a Texan climb on Siguret but it let me down badly. Instead we wound up scrabbling around the slopes near Jausieres before finally getting away. We got abeam Briancon at 5 p.m. and it was looking a bit flat in Bardonecchia plus the rest of the group had headed South long ago, so we ran over to the Tete d’Amont for a nice 6kt climb then into the Ecrins for a glide home. The one cloud ahead lay 4.9kms from Gap and the 5km exclusion zone so we couldn’t use that but did sneak in round the Grand Ceuse to appear back over site to find the home ridge still working with a constant 4 kts. That meant I had to go and give Chabres another little seeing to and encourage the remaining parapenter crews to show their appreciation with two fingered salutes before heading home for the traditional smoker. Dinner on site was excellent – 5 courses and oodles of beers and wine for the princely sum of 20 euros. Bargain!

Oh Yeah

2010-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. We set a task of Sederon/Logis du Pin/Aosta for a silly 550kms and all set off as a pack from Serres around midday. We used the ridges to start with

and bounced St Genis and Chabre, turned Sederon and dropped back onto the Lure. We ran that East, crossed the valley to Vaumuse and picked 6 kts off Authon at the top of the ridge. One more climb near Digne and we were across to the proper cumulus and some good climbs on the way South East. Here we were joined by the deserter Hurd in 218 who joined the banter in between checking in with Big Brother at Sisteron. We pretty much all turned Logis together and started North, going West to dodge the showers kicking off behind Par Cours. By now it was pretty clear that Aosta wasn't on but did that stop us? Actually, yes it did. Instead we carried on North via Barcellonette and St Crepin and as if by magic appeared at Glacier Blanc.

It would have been rude not to but after we'd done the traditional glacier run we decided to head for home and beers. The run back was a doddle and we landed around 6pm.

Splendid stuff- more again tomorrow please!

Thrashing round the box

2010-06-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we were stuck in the box again today. We could get North to Pic de Bure, East to Sisteron, and South West to Mt Ventoux but clag and unsoarable conditions set the boundaries.

The whinge over, we did enjoy 7-8 kt wave climbs to FL 115 and Geoff in GA topped out at 15,000' behind the Pic de Bure. The problem was wind shearing and weakening above 12,000' so there were a lot of breaking waves with the attendant strong climbs but tumble dryer motion to deal with. Fortunately most of the good looking lenticulars were in airspace. It kept us entertained for a good 5-6 hours though, and included a belting run along the Lure out to the Mt Ventoux summit, before some exciting landings.

The spectacle of Rod Christie in his Nimbus 4 DT with full right rudder and aileron sailing past the final turn straight and level was tres amusant.

Enough now - less wind, higher cloudbases please Soaring Gods.

Wavy gravy

2010-06-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

Today was entertaining. Cloudbase was only around 7000' but the ridges were working and there was plenty of wave around. The wind didn't keep strengthening with height so we were topping out at around 14,000' but that was enough to get Ben Crook his Gold height and enough to keep us all thoroughly entertained.

We did a little run down to Mt Ventoux again though we failed to stay together as a group. We returned to the Chabre and then set off for Aubenasson on the Western edge of the Alps. The air got really murky out there and the visibility dropped, as did the wind sadly. So we used weak ridge and rotor to return to the Serres valley although Shack Roberts wound up landing out near Luc en Diois. The retrieve story of cars falling into holes, crews chased by wolves and the pilot struggling to communicate with the entire village using the 6 words of French he knows must at some point be told.
Back in the Serres valley we climbed back up to 10,000' near Aspres then checked out the breaking wave behind the Pic de Bure. Weird stuff with patches of 12 up in places but stopping around 12,000' leaving the flying saucer lenticular overhead tantalisingly close. We landed around 6 p.m. and await the return of Shack, Ben and Geoff so we can tuck in to the Chicken dinner from the on site restaurant.

Making the most of low cloudbase

2010-06-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

Friday dawned with good promise. Blue skies, a light Northerly and drying air. The Cu were popping from 0830 onwards so after a short Klaus briefing we launched around 1100 and got away easily. After a quick foray to the North of site we grouped up and headed for Dignes. The Chabre ridge was just about working despite the sinking paragliders and we spent the obligatory 20 minutes entertaining the public. From here we set off across the valley to the Gache but arrived a lot lower than planned.

The damn power cables were in exactly the wrong place so there was an element of dodging them before getting away. Mike in 315 displayed perseverance beyond the call of duty and made an excellent low save not once but twice. Once away we cruised over to Dignes and the end of the Par Cours but the cloudbase wasn’t great at just 7200’ amsl. We ran along the Par Cours tucked up between the peaks and the cloudbase and crept along to Dormillouse. It has to be said the run has worked better! Then it was off to Mt Ventoux, 70kms to the SW, using a great line of energy to arrive with the top tantalisingly only just in cloud, round that and off to Vinon. That involved dodging the St Christol airspace and a cell that was right on the cusp of going BOOM. The run North was pretty straightforward with some interesting thermal induced wave behind the Lure and smooth lift up to 8,000 and beyond. Still air at site provided plenty of scope for giving it large so what else could we do?

And so it begins...

2010-06-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

Well we flew anyway yesterday, but the weather wasn't great. We gridded up under 8/8 cover and took a launch at midday expecting 30 minutes or so local soaring to check out the kit. In the event the skies dried up, there were cumulus to 7300' amsl and the ridges just about worked in the 10kt Southerly. The Booker Duo is out here with Shack and Anne Roberts flying it with Mike Collett. The Duo plus Ben Crook in his ASW had a couple of OK flights working the ridge at Aspres and the hills to the East. My apologies to readers for the poor photo today - this one's from the camera phone. I had a few technical difficulties with the new camera so that when I thought I was taking a photo I was actually turning the unit off. I did say it was a shakedown day!

Dane and I worked our way over to the East of La Motte and Sisteron and landed back around 5/6 pm. That left plenty of time to derig and get to the Hotel du Nord in time to watch Mexico beat France at the footy. Oh dear.

This morning, Friday has dawned very differently. Blue skies, cu's already popping, glorious!

2010 edition

2010-05-31T11:56:00.001-07:00

Not long now! The ferry tickets are booked, the chalets are reserved, the pulse rate is quickening. There promises to be a good showing this year with some slackers and state pension burdens even planning a two week attendance. The qualifying is almost over - who's going to be in pole position for that ferry disembarkation this year then?

They think it's all over

2009-06-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

It is now. The Northwesterly is back and the ridges are humming, there's wave over site but frankly I am shagged out with too much flying.
For the record that was 8 days flying, over 50 hours and 3000kms and an excess of jolly good fun. Klaus, Marta and the Quo Vadis team were yet again unbelievably friendly, helpful and great to be around. Only 51 weeks left until next year's trip...

KABOOM

2009-06-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

It didn't take long for the storms to get going today and when they did they were quite impressive. We launched at 1115 and cloudbase was relatively low at 7500' amsl. we set off as a pack towards Grenoble and the lift was strong. We nipped along the Vercors and wound up just East of Die on a plateau and scrabbled about for a climb. A flock of over 20 Griffon Vultures showed the core and the entertainment of missing the beasts was high - those guys know how to centre!

We carried on over the Vercors plateau which slopes very gently out to the West and gradually it dawned on us that cloudbase was coming down, the ground was coming up and options were shortening. We therefore turned and ran South to the Mt Ventoux and enjoyed 6-8 knot climbs and some good lines of energy. Arriving at Ventoux we entertained our public and ran on towards Vinon. A huge cell was dumping water and electricity on St Auban but was also setting up a gust front that we joined abeam St Auban and ran down the Durance valley. We turned Vinon and headed back up the gust front and then started heading East. For a moment we discussed turning Fayence but Thor the Thunder God had other ideas and the sight of two bolts of lightning striking the ground just 1km from us persuaded us to make like shepherds and get the flock out of there. We ran back over the Lure and up to Serres and decided we'd pushed our luck far enough so landed by 1530. Dinner is on site and Paella tonight!

A day out in Italy

2009-06-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Today was forecast to be a bit iffy with a few showers and potential thunderstorms over the high mountains. Fortunately things were better than expected.

The day started early and we were launching (with two tugs and a chastised tuggie in attendance) by 1115. We set off in various splinter groups and progressed North East. Once again a nifty convergence line helped us from Barcelonnette to Sollieres where we turned right and along the face of the Gran Paradiso. The views here were stunning - running over ice fields alongside jagged peaks and all at 12500'. Sadly we were denied getting all the way to the Matterhorn as one rain cloud had heard the forecast and was raining on Aosta.Instead we went over the the South face of Mt Blanc and climbed to 13,000' before running South, exiting past the ski resorts of Courmayeur, Les Arcs (pictured left), La Plagne and back into the Sollieres valley. We carried on South as far as Barcelonnette and facing another shower decided to run West out as far as Die. I'd almost pushed things too far and had a bit of a squeeze coming home having to wait 20 minutes to get high enough to cross the Col de Cabre and get back into the Serres valley, then decided I didn't need the field I'd picked and could get into Aspres, then decided I could probably make Serres, then decided I had enough energy for a beatup. A perfect end to a damn good day.
Henry and Geoff have nearly got the LS8 undercarriage fixed so we may be full strength again for the last two days. Time now for beer and trough at the onsite restaurant.

Dan's trace shows we did something like 600kms but then we did fly for 7 hours - again. 48 hours in 7 days is probably not bad value.

Are we having fun yet?

2009-06-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Yes we are. This morning we woke to the sound of little birdies which makes such a nice change from the sound of wind rushing past the chalet. Launching didn't happen until 1200 when the cumulus started popping in the Serres valley. It has to said there was a little hiccup with launching as we have two problems. One: a lazy Parisian tug pilot who needs 240v across his tender parts to WAKE HIM UP and Two: only one tug as the second tug - a very asthmatic Rallye was feeling under the weather. This is not so bad as tows behind it really can be character forming.

Anyway, we got away on the local ridge and quickly climbed to 8000' and pinged onto Pic de Bure to climb to the 10,000' cloudbase. From here we crossed into the Ecrins where some did well (Ben), some didn't (me). Ben romped North East up at 12,000' and had a really good run to just 20kms short of the Matterhorn.

I scrabbled about under a stubborn inversion near Prachaval and took ages to find a punchy thermal that let me get back up. Most of us went up to the Gran Paradiso before turning to head South. We stopped off at the Glacier Blanc to give it a little seeing to and carried on South. Jay and I ran down towards Nice and stopped around 1845 to head home. The valley breeze was working nicely so there were plenty of places to top up on the way home and still have plenty of energy for the mandatory beatup. Averaging 6 to 7 hours a day leaves minimal processing capacity in the evenings so once again we were in the Hotel du Nord where Steve Ell had the opportunity to try and work out just where the hell he had been during the day.

Thank the Lord - less wind

2009-06-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

At last - the wind stopped blowing so hard. This morning we had just 10kts Northerly so whilst the launch point at Arambre was still reliable we weren't destruction testing the airframes. I used the trusty T6 wing dolly to tow out still adorned with last year's mustard sachet taped into place in homage to the mighty Dane Dickinson's awesome sense of humour. Jay's undercarriage collapsed on take off which delayed proceedings briefly but we were all in the air by 1230 and ready to head North.

This was a little tricky as things in the Serres valley were pretty stable and we had to jump ridges from Arambre to St Genis to Chabre to Gache always below 5000 amsl to get started. A decent climb on Trainon got us to Auribeau then Blayeul and out to the cumulus where things really got going over Cheval Blanc. Heading North we worked up to the 11,000' cloudbase and into Italy where surprisingly the first person to work out where we were was Ben. There's always a first time.

We poked our noses into the Modane valley and decided it looked crap so climbed over Sestrieres to head towards Mt Viso on the Italian border. Geoff was the first to circumnavigate the peak so the gauntlet was thrown to the floor and it was up to Ben, Andy and I to take up the challenge. We ran round the peak at 11800' and marvelled at the good visibility in the Italian Po valley. After this things got messy. Steve and Ryan were low near St Crepin for a while, Ben opened his brakes to help out Andy and Geoff and I ran for home. I got to the Malaup at 5000 and the day was dying so climbing here wasn't going to happen. I could see a 10kt Northerly so set off across the valley for the Chabre which I reached low down at 4000' on the treeline. The singing vario showing 7 kts was music to my ears and I climbed back up to 5500' and was back on glide to Serres. Geoff joined me later and we were both mighty relieved. A phonecall from Ben advised he and Andy were down at St crepin but were aerotowing home.

The wind had dropped at site so it was ripe for the first decent beatup of the week, made all the better by a beer on hand as the canopy opened as the on-site restaurant was open for the night. The St Crepin dirty stop-outs soon showed up and we feasted on Lardon salad, chicken pasta, cheese and ice-cream for supper as the sun gently set as a backdrop. Tomorrow is at last forecast to be a good day which should make up for the mediocre weather we've so far had to put up with.

For those that missed it, it is worth checking out the Serres webcam for the personalised message service. We have proof.

Yet more wind

2009-06-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

And now I do mean the beer matron - we need to lay off the entrecotes if we're going to be above 10,000' so often.

Today we launched at 1200, failed to swarm and instead flew as a variety of groups. Getting into the wave was easy on the West edge of the Cretes des Selles and 5-6kts carried you up to 10,000' there. So instead I went West and got violently shaken in rotor that gave a 10kt climb rate but shook most of my fillings loose. Eventually I learnt and moved across the valley to join the other gliders. Moving into wind to Aspres gave another 5-6kts up to 16,000' and Ben, Ryan, Dan and I set off North arriving in the lee of the Ecrins at 14,000'.

Another pummeling ensued here as we were too low for the wave and were still in rotor, so given we lack patience we set off West to Aubenasson on the Western edge of the alps. Half an hour later Jay, Henry and Geoff showed how it should be done by waiting to get up to FL195 at Aspres, crossing into the Ecrins 2,000' higher than us and continuing North up to Sestrieres and having a restful, if cold, cruise round never getting below 16,000'.

The four of us turned Aubenasson and crossed via Vaumuse and Cusson onto the Coupe mountain and further East to pick up yet another stunning convergence. This one had a base at 5,800' and tops at 11,000'. Dan and I picked up the system with a 8-10kt climb in the "dags" and with Ben ran South to the Verdon gorge.

Heading North we ran the system back to the Cheval Blanc and then moved onto the North end of the Trois Eveches for a climb in the sunshine to 10,500' and the 70kms final glide home to Serres, landing at 7 p.m.

Just for a change we went for dinner at the Hotel du Nord in Serres where, bless them, they now know the order for 11 biere serieux and start pouring before we walk in the door - what stars!

More wind

2009-06-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, more wind - and I don't mean the effects of the beer, no Matron.

It's gusting 20-25kt NW'ly again this morning which meant a replay of yesterday and this time we'd fully understand what's going on. Yeah, right.

Steve Ell joined last night so we are now 11 strong - Jay and Henry Rebbeck, Dan Pitman, Ben Flewett, Ryan Priest, Andy Holmes, Geoff Tabbner, Mark Holden, Pete Hurd and myself.

We released at 1000' above the field (3300 amsl) onto the Arambre again and enjoyed 4-6kts straight up to 5500' and wandered up the spine to the West. Here we stumbled into wave up to 12,000' amsl and congregated to negotiate the task for the day. Surprisingly this was relatively brief and we agreed on Mt Ventoux/Vinon/Logis du pin/Bardonecchia - roughly 450kms in total.

The run out of the wave down to Ventoux was fabulous - drop over the cloud marker and accelerate to 110kts, punch through the down wave and pull up into 8kts wave in front of the next cloud - and so on. We dropped down to 7500 amsl for the airspace and arrived on ventoux together in order to smoke the summit. Reswarmed we headed along the Lure and had a good run arriving at 120 kts along the smooth ridge and moved out to the cumulus to climb to 7000' before heading for Vinon.
The cloudmarkers were behaving and some good climbs easily led us to Vinon and then on to Logis du Pin. An interlude to allow regrouping was all too brief and we moved on directly North towards the East of Barcelonnette. The summit of Cime de Bonnette also required smoking before we moved toward Bardonnechia in Italy. Dan found us a rather pleasant 11kts climb to 11,500' just before the turn and once again we were - surprisingly - together as a group. Of course, that couldn't last and the run back South saw me go way East, Dan get low in Barcelonnette and Ryan doing his own thing.

Around Blayeul at 1800 the mood changed and the lure of

burnt meat and cold beer was too strong so we headed for home. Landing was once again excellent entertainment and saw Steve Ell check out the very far end of the runway - I hadn't realised it went that far until today.

Another splendid day under the belt - roll on tomorrow!

Mistral magic

2009-06-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

The clue to today's weather was the way the wind kept shaking the chalet last night. A gusty 25kt Northerly was blowing this morning which made launching easy. The tug has time to make a 180 degree turn and is then on the Arambre mountain which sits right behind the airfield. Here you can release and be straight into the ridge lift which today was giving a constant 4-6kts lift.

The other slackers were late launching so in the meantime I nipped down to the Chabre ridge for a little ridgerunning out to the West and met our German friend JJ in his ASH25.

The rest were in the air by 1230 and we swarmed over site and agreed a 400km task to Logis du Pin and Sollieres. In typical style we managed to get all 11 gliders together - briefly, and cruised back onto Chabre then overhead Sisteron onto the Gache mountain. Arriving at 3500' we were below the cliff-face and on the treeline but it was working well and we were soon back up to a comfortable height. A bit of faffing and we arrived on Blayeul in 6kts and climbed to cloudbase at 8500'.

After this things were easy and good climbs abounded on the way South East to the first turn. Best climb en route was averaging 10kts and we made good speed.

From here we tracked North into increasingly good air. More 9-10kt climbs led us to the Cime de la Bonnette - an 11000' peak with a road running up to the summit. A quick beatup and we moved East into a convergence running along the Italian border. The clouds were really sucking well here and we peaked at a cloudbase of 14500'. It looked marginal ahead so we ran over to the Ecrins and home via Pic de Bure.

All in all not a bad day out. Landings were a little exciting in the strong Northerly and varied from PIO through too damn low to "my God Geoff's a bit close - Run!"

Shakedown day

2009-06-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

It is not such a bad drive to get here. Once again the other drivers on the peage were very friendly and regularly waved on the way past - or were they signalling something about snaking trailers?

9 hours from Calais and Geoff and I met up in time to put his "tent" up. In truth the "tent" is an enormous structure that doubles as a hangar for ASH25's and comprises East and West wing sleeping quarters, kitchen, drawing room and study. The construction was complete by dusk and a nice cup of tea brewed in time for Klaus and his lead and follow to appear over site at 2115hrs.

Thursday morning dawned a little too early for my tastes as Geoff was at his laptop loading turnpoints into his Cambridge logger at 0600hrs. By 0730 he had realised he'd made a mess of moving to continental time so we went to rig instead.

We launched at 1230 and had a bit of a scratch to get away from site and headed for Grenoble. Things were a bit weird to start with as the cumulus didn't realise they're supposed to mark lift. However, it sorted itself out and we ended up on a convergence running along the Vercors with cloudbase 6500' amsl in the Eastern valley and 8500' amsl on the West. We turned at Grenoble and set the challenge of running 85kms to Sisteron without turning, which turned out to be a doddle and we arrived on the Gache mountain East of Sisteron at 7000' amsl.

Geoff headed for home as he was a little tired (not surprising given the early start!) and I cruised into the Barcelonnette valley, climbed to the 12,000' cloudbase over the Siguret mountain and checked out the oxygen system.

A big shower was blocking off the valley North of Pic de Bure but the glide home was simple and after a limp beatup it was time to land, derig and drive to Nice for the flight back to London and Friday's business meeting. Hopefully I'll be back in Serres Friday night in time for the rest of the gang to show up.

Saturday is forecasted to be Mistral which means ridgerunning fever and wave - yeeha!

How to add that finishing touch to an airfield

2009-06-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Simple - add a bar at the end of the runway so you can get your cold lager without having to wait to get out the cockpit.

and get fed without leaving the site

Even if you do have to listen to Rod's tales of how much lower he was than everyone else

2009 Edition

2009-05-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

The time is fast approaching for the slackers who comprise the annual soaring trip to the mecca that is Quo Vadis to gather. We're looking like having a dozen competitors, sorry, attendees this year with the old stagers accompanied by a few new faces to the site.

Once again, we're looking forward to the stunning hospitality of Klaus and his team and a week or so in the sunshine beating the crap out of the mountains.

As a little test here's a shot of last year's fun in the Ecrins - the boys showing how important it is always to stay above the tops. Click on the photo to spot the three sailplanes...

...and another to prove that just occasionally we get it right - 17,500 feet overhead Susa, Italy.

If the flying, poker, beer and nuts don't get in the way I plan to update this blog for the week - forward to Dover and the ferry!