The weather was due to change into a Mistral pattern for a day or so; this is a strong Northern wind blowing down the Rhone valley that can 'blow the ears off a donkey'. Friday is a day of transition - a petit Mistral - where we thought we might fly La Chabre on the North side. We were worried the wind would be too west to do so, and that's how it proved. Rachael, Chris and I managed to get off; there was lift (I got about 150ft over launch at the start) but the thermals were all being broken up by the wind. We landed 15 minutes later, in the same order we launched in, but in different fields.
The others bagged it and we decided to head to St-Vincent-les-Forts - an hours drive away, but a site that works well when the Mistral is not too strong. We arrived and the wind was strong on launch, but gliders were flying and a few were high. Straight off launch I got a good climb and just kept pushing out and thermalling up until I was level with the mountain we wanted to get onto - the Dormillouse. Chris and I headed across and waited over the summit for Karen who had a slower climb; I lost quite a lot of altitude in the process but was able to rebuild it. The others didn't get across to the Dormillouse or, in the case of Johan, only arrived much later and we left them behind.
We pushed South under threatening clouds; we had to work hard not to go into the 'dark gray room'. When we emerged from the clouds we had to build some altitude on a spur to cross the next, higher mountain. Chris got in tight to the terrain and did so, Karen and I struggled a bit. Karen slowly slid down the mountain but I managed to find a thermal to get the job done. Chris and I headed South; Chris flew much nearer the terrain than me and was able to ridge soar. I was a bit too cautious and lost altitude compared to him - given it was after 6pm the danger of turbulence was pretty low but I was still in 'midday flight mode'.
We crossed the mountain and I looked for a thermal and didn't quite find it; we headed to a mountain on the glide out into the valley. Chris managed to get above it but I didn't arrive quite high enough to do so. This extended his flight a little and he got 'one village further' than I did. As I was walking to join him Rachel arrived with the retrieve vehicle and the other pilots - we had a beer in Verdaches and an interesting drive through the Clues de Barles and a nice meal at Digne. We got back to Rebinelle after midnight.
Tracklog -> http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/260720
Pics -> http://picasaweb.google.com/DMMullin/StVincent29August#
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