February has been very cold but mostly clear and sunny. All very scenic, but I've been getting fed up with all the snow and ice - winter has been dragging on. The last couple of days have been a little warmer and today was positively spring-like. Even better, spring-like with a decent flying forecast at the weekend!
I considered flying locally but I wasn't sure if the road to the top was clear of snow. I would walk up anyway, but if the road was blocked I'd be flying by myself and that feels pretty lonely in winter. So I headed to Greolieres, where I met a bunch of Nice based pilots and also Frode, a Norwegian I've flown with a couple of times.
Greolieres is a very special site; you can read more about it here. It's a hard site to get away from (because of airspace restrictions), and most flights are rather relaxed affairs and mine was no exception. I flew E along the main ridge, with lots of lift and wonderful views (snowy mountains to the L, the Med to the R). On one side of the ridge it's almost springtime, and warm air is coming up the Loup valley from the Med; on the other, skiers are waving at you and there's a cold meteo wind from the N. After almost 90 minutes I landed for lunch before catching the last flight of the day - 30 minutes ground skimming in much lighter conditions.
Some more pics.
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