...and so it was to be.
Forecast blue skies and NW wind increasing with height caused mutterings of wave to ripple though the assembly at briefing. The relaxed NH contingent decided to have a leisurely morning, they prepared their chariots, checked their orifices for earwigs and dragged them to the south end of the field, your scribe of the day was seen fitting his oxygen bottle; well you never know and its no use on the ground, and "nor is your camera" said Matt as he handed it to me.
Our trio then settled in to a Gallic style lunch (without the wine) before taking to the skies.
Matt was first away as usual (l'agneau sacrificiel) but this time it was relatively easy the NW wind giving dynamic lift off of the local hillside. A little thermal off the top, then back to Jouere for more ridge soaring, although on this occasion it did not work with its usual alacrity. Clue, push forward for a big fat thermal off of the small hills and gullies in front of it. Good height, so head toward the Gache and Sisteron (the town). Arrive well above both, so with Matt's encouragement cross the river and along a small ridge to the Roc d'Aigle. At this point I'm joined by a bunch of gliders from Sisteron, also on 130.1, with some guy giving an almost continual running commentary interspersed with nervous bleats from his flock.
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| The ridge of Montaine de Lure |
I start thermaling over the Roc d'Aigle only to be joined by these guys. Getting a bit crowded, so push on along the ridge to higher ground only to be met by horrendous turbulence. After bashing my head on the canopy a couple of times I heaved down on my straps and returned to the Roc with my tail between my legs. The Sisteron boys had left so I managed a climb to 1900m in relative peace and dropped back to the Lure; a large and dominant ridge running west from Sisteron. This was working well. I joined Matt and several others near the mass of dishes and aerials, looking like something out of a James Bond movie, at the highest point. We then ran the ridge to the far end and back (Matt had already been down and back waiting for me and JB). From the far end we could see the tantalising peak of Mont Ventoux in the distance to the SW, but not today.
JB has been having radio problems this week and establishing contact was proving troublesome, however we eventually all met up back at the Roc d'Aigle on the way north in our search for wave. This involved crossing several ridges with small climbs in ratty (rotor) thermals. It's hard work climbing three gliders in these small broken thermals made only marginally easier by the fact that we know we can trust the other guys. Any foreigner joining in will soon split the pack.
Eventually over a wideish valley a little smooth lift, only brief and weak but enough to push on to the next valley, 4 knots and smooth, Matt and JB spread out. Over here, 8 knots! We both join Matt in a climb to the base of the airspace (FL115). Push forward; Pic du Bure here we come.
Now, where is it? We can see gliders way above as we approach from the south west: we fan out, each encountering turbulence and nerve wracking off the clock sink. JB who has been here before is first to find it, just off the south eastern corner. I scramble in next remembering the waterfall clouds of previous years as a vital clue. Matt hits such bad sink in the lee of the Pic that he seemed (and was) really "down in the weeds" but had the sense to drop back and managed to establish as well.
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| Waterfall cloud next to Pic de Bure |
I know these Blogs are a bit overloaded with superlatives, some of you may be a bit fed up or even jealous, but come with us on this one. Vario banged against the stop at times, smooth clear blue sky with the massive Pic du Bure off your left wing tip which rapidly falls below you as you climb to 18,000ft (5500m). Indescribably awesome!
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| Against the stops |
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| Couldn't resist a selfie |
At this point JB does a JB and looses us from his Flarm. We put this down to Matt and I being some way directly below him and our signals are shielded by his carbon fibre cockpit and he later told us that he heard a radio call suggesting I had gone south and so had followed suit. (plus, a recent thought from your scribe; Flarm aerials are not designed to work in the vertical direction! and the call was probably the Sisteron guys heading home.).
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| Looking Over the Ecrin to Mt Blanc |
Minus JB, Matt and I flew N E from the Pic over the Ecrins (the real gnarly stuff as Matt would say). I was going to say into the Ecrans but that would be inaccurate for from 5000m they are spread out beneath us with a bank of cloud to our east and scraggy bits on the tops of the mountains below.
Not loosing much height we fly within spitting distance of the Barre d'Ecrin (4100m) with the Glacier Blanc hidden behind it. This is just silly, the Oudie says we can get home with 3,000m in hand requiring a glide angle of 12:1. With 7.00pm approaching and thoughts of the traditional Friday barbecue in mind we turned for home. Matt cannot resist playing with the clouds on our left and his faithful wingman duly follows, dipping a wingtip in, zooming over turrets: just pure champagne (not that I like the stuff).
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| 611 Over to the Ecrins |
Clear of the clouds and out over the valley, calm evening air now, just an occasional ripple, I notice we are still higher than the Pic du Bure away to our right. It takes some time to loose this much height unless you pull the air brakes and who wants to do this on a beautiful evening like this?
We eventually land around 7.30 clean up and cover the gliders and enjoy a barbeque and a few beers or a glass of wine or two in the cool evening air.
Now that's what we came for!
-Phil
