Another BSD (Boring Sunny Day) in La Motte.
Despite potentially the best forecast since we arrived and a twinkle in Christian's eye at briefing, JB decided to have a day of rest, in preparation for the promised epicness to come. I suspect this was a mistake. Admittedly the day started with bands of high cirrus damping the thermal activity. This 'made for some struggles to get away but then "boom". Matt and Phil were off like 'robbers dogs' leaving Matt Deux (H5) to experience his first flight in the Alps. We'll leave him to relate his experiences later. Needless to say he went nearly everywhere we went, only faster and lower, with the expert guidance of Christian.
In reply to the question "where did we go?", the simple answer is, we didn't go to Mont Ventoux. Phil will have to leave that particular target 'till next time as he is homeward bound tomorrow.
If you are going to end a gliding holiday on a high then this was the way to do it. Superlatives all round. 250 km triangle, if you're counting, and over 350 k on Matt's cheating OLC meter. The point is, we romped and soared around the familiar area. Matt's attempt to draw Phil into the dragon territory failed due to the severe turbulence in this area and Phil's desire to protect his gel coat.
 |
| 611 heading south towards Mte de Feraud |
At the north western extremity looking down toward Grenoble and the long ridge which always look so tantalising as we stop for tea on the drive down. Toward the evening, when the sky everywhere, particularly to the south east, looked like something out of a text book. The duo pushed south into uncharted territory (for Phil at least); finally turning north for home at the southern end of Lac de Sainte Croix, halfway to Cannes! The flight finished with a calm evening cruise at 7.00pm for a slow decent to home. Six hours of fantastic fun and fear. Roll on 2016. - Phil
 |
| Lac St Croix |
Matt Deux
 |
| Towing out MC La Motte's K21 |
After a car, a plane, 2 trains, a cancelled train, a bus, another car and 16 hours of travelling H5 Matt finally got to La Motte and was met JB, M5 Matt and Phil. The site is surrounded by fantastic looking mountains, making the hills in the UK seem like mere bumps in the road. Phil cooked a lamb bhuna and then it was straight to bed to be fully rested for excellent forecast for the next day!
A fantastic first day of flying! I launched just after lunch with the instructor Christian, immediately remembering just how intimidating mountains are when you are flying only feet from them. We worked our way around all of the local mountains, Christian keen to show me the area, the local clubs and emergency landing fields.
We climbed up to a 60km long ridge called Parcour, which runs North / South across the alps, at 10,000 feet the wind was blowing directly on to it created lift so strong that the needle of the variometer got stuck on maximum and needed a tap to free it!
I quickly found that Christian is a hard task master, the whole flight I was interrogated on our position on the map and French mountain names, after 4 ½ hours they all began to start looking alike! A great first days flying and brilliant introduction to the alps. - H5 Matt
A fantastic first day of flying! I launched just after lunch with the instructor Christian, immediately remembering just how intimidating mountains are when you are flying only feet from them. We worked our way around all of the local mountains, Christian keen to show me the area, the local clubs and emergency landing fields.
We climbed up to a 60km long ridge called Parcour, which runs North / South across the alps, at 10,000 feet the wind was blowing directly on to it created lift so strong that the needle of the variometer got stuck on maximum and needed a tap to free it!
I quickly found that Christian is a hard task master, the whole flight I was interrogated on our position on the map and French mountain names, after 4 ½ hours they all began to start looking alike! A great first days flying and brilliant introduction to the alps. - H5 Matt
