Are we having fun yet?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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