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| Ready for action |
By about 2.00pm we were beginning to doubt
the wisdom of yesterday’s self enforced day of rest. Baking hot and no
thermals. After several abortive attempts to get away by the local experts one
or two finally made it. So around 3.00pm the three amigos hurled ourselves into
the air and after a bit of a struggle (for some) moved by the accepted route to
Dormillouse and thence to the north side of the Barcelonnette valley. From here
northward along a ridge with cavernous valleys on either side across the Col du
Var toward Briancon (the highest city in Europe situated at the eastern end of
the ski resort of Serre Chevalier). At the head of a valley running west from
here lies the spectacular Glacier Blanc our secondary target for the day. The
primary target, Monte Visio, just over the Italian border, lay shrouded in
cloud and looked a bit too adventurous even for our brave boys.
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| Phil Climbing the Barre des Ecrins |
At the head of
the glacier lies The Barre des Ecrins; climbing just above this to 4,100m
(13,500ft) we set off back to return via the miniscule Pic du Bure, a mere
2,700m high. It was at this point that the parties got separated and JB took an
alternative route whilst Matt closely followed by Phil tiptoed down another of
those craggy ridges waiting for him to catch up. Matt back tracked at one point, to try and find JB, leaving Phil to wait nervously in a decaying thermal only a few meters above
the ridge. In reality more worrying than dangerous because if he had fallen
below the ridge line he could have flown out along the valley to arrive a mere 2,000
or so metres above St Crepin a local airfield (as long as he chose the correct
side, that is!)
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| Sense of scale |
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| 4000m |
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| Going South |
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| JB over Glacier Blanc |
In the mean time JB had slipped past screaming down the valley
of sink (his words) and somehow managed to pick up some wave to fly over the
top of us. Re-united at the top of the Pic du Bure, Matt, followed by his
faithful hound in 611, decided to investigate a dark cloud further to the west.
Encountering a sustained attack of “off the scale sink” (a definite candidate for
the record so far) the pair scuttled back to the comparative safety of the Pic
cruising the southern flank to return to a sensible height for the final 30km
glide back to La Motte.
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| Heading for Pic de Bure |
As it was fairly obviously where to go and he was on
familiar territory Phil took the lead and was soon calling “La Motte, six cent
onze, zone de pert altitude pour trente six” and landing up hill with a gentle
tail breeze; standard practice for La Motte. Phil just had time to make a cup
of tea, but not drink it, before Matt and JB returned from their customary tour
of the Auribeau Race Track.
What a day! Phil’s first ever and JB’s
first solo to the Glacier Blanc, you can only begin to get an idea of the
spectacular views and breathtaking soaring from Matt’s photos, a lifetime
experience!
Bloody epic!
Phil.
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| Traces - Phil red, JB blue and Matt green |
