Snow Shoeing Weekend

The weather continues to be dry, sunny and clear. It's wonderful, but I would like a bit more snow! I bought snow-shoes just before Xmas and have been waiting for a chance to use them. Since the snow hasn't come to St Andre, I decided to go to the snow. So I drove my little car into the bigger mountains just to the North and had a couple of nice hikes over the weekend.

It was a lot of fun. A bit slower than XC or randonee skiing (or even walking in the summer), but easier and with less messing around with gear. I was impressed how easy it was to tackle relatively steep slopes. I really enjoyed myself and I'm looking forward to doing more. The snowshoes should also make some higher hike and flies possible. 

Pics from a somewhat overcast Saturday and an extremely sunny Sunday

PS Can we have some snow please? Preferably delivered overnight!

Shirt Sleeve Hiking

At this time of year, a good day is very warm in the sun and absolutely freezing in the shade. From a clothing perspective, layers is the name of the game - you can spend a lot of time adding or removing them.

Today was glorious, with almost no wind, and I was on a ridge almost all day. No shade so shirt sleeves were the order of the day until the sun started to set. Absolutely beautiful - a great way to end the year (I'll be away for the next few days).

A few pics.

Xmas Thermals

The last 2 or 3 weeks in St Andre have been cold, sunny, clear, dry and windy. There's still very little snow - even on the higher peaks - and things aren't predicted to change in the next week. I've been doing quite a bit of hiking and some hike on flies in the less windy days. When the weather is this nice, winter is very bearable and Xmas has almost sneaked up on me.

I'll be away for the New Year but I was glad to sneak a flight today. Little sharp-edged thermal bubbles were good for a hundred meters or so above launch. I didn't fly for very long, but it was nice to turn in some circles and admire the scenery. The Xmas duck is in the oven bubbling nicely now.  

Practice Day...

You don't really expect decent flying just before the winter solstice. But today's forecast looked very promising and I had hopes of a mini-XC. The one caveat was the possibility of high cloud - even in St Andre, that's asking a lot of a December sun.

As I hiked up, cloud cover increased. There was no wind at all until the last 50m to launch. Launch was very cold and deserted, with a brisk south wind. There was at least 7/8 cloud cover (cloud base was about 400m over launch)  and it seemed like a sled ride was the best the day had to offer. 

It was too cold to hang around, so I wolfed down my lunch and got ready. I flew off the S side and found just enough bubbles to maintain. I persevered, hoping the sun would break through and transform the flying. I gradually worked up to 100m above launch but no more. The flying was entertaining, but - without the sun - it was impossible to go anywhere. 

I was pretty cold - another problem when there's no sun - and landed just short of an hour. A little disappointing, but good practice for better days...  

A very compact tracklog.

Fall and Winter Hiking in One Day

Saturday was a hiking day and I headed to La Garde to climb a mountain, les Quatre Termes. This time last year St Andre was under snow, but there is very little snow this year. This is unlikely to last, so it makes sense to climb these peaks when you can. The hike was as I expected - cold, blue skies, invigorating, lovely views - with two notable things.

The first was the weather. The hike started at 900m and the weather was fall-like, lovely for hiking. Conditions were very stable, and at around 1400m I crossed the boundary layer. Suddenly I was into a strong meteo wind and in much lower temperatures; from fall to winter in a 100m. For that point on, I wore all my layers and kept moving until I got back below the boundary layer on the way down.

And, as a complete surprise, I met some horses. I popped up from a steep slope and there they were, just below the summit, near a shepherd's summer cabin. They looked cold and miserable. There were 8 of them, I divided my apple in 8 and tried to share it equally between them. But they didn't form an orderly queue (well, they are french horses, after all...).

Some pics

Hike and Fly Season is Open

Defining a hike and fly is a little tricky for me. I hike up to launch for almost every flight, but today was my first "hike and fly" of the season. Normally, I fly, and hiking is just how I reach launch. Today I hiked with an efficient descent system in my backpack. My equipment and clothing was chosen for hiking, not flying.

The weather the last week or so has been beautiful in St Andre - sunny, dry, clear and very stable. Very warm in the sun and freezing in the shade. There has often been an inversion at launch height - no lift there - but bumpy, hard to exploit, lift lower down. Great weather for hiking, not really that good for flying. The pattern continued today and I made good use of it by hiking the Crete des Serres and flying back to St Andre.

The hike was lovely; once you climb up to the ridge you have wonderful 360 views. But, like many hike and fly sites here, launch is tricky. Not quite a cliff launch (the snow makes it one in winter) but almost. You have to find a spot to inflate your wing that isn't in the rotor and then kite it to the edge. The wind was strong and I kited my speed wing for 2 or 3 minutes before committing to the flight. On the ridge top, the wind was straight in, but once in the air it was very cross and not easily soarable. I didn't insist and instead enjoyed the flight out.

Almost 3 hours hiking for 10 minutes flying, but that's not the right way to look at it. A great hike and an enjoyable descent! A few pics.

My Favorite Hike

I have a favorite hike around St Andre and I did it today for the 4th time - and the first time by myself. It is the Tour de Courradour, a sort of triangular tour around a highish (nearly 2200m) mountain surrounded by higher ones. It's not too long (the guidebooks quote 4 or 5 hours) or strenuous and a reasonable 'stretch' for visitors not really into hiking. It also works well in the heat of the summer, because a lot of it is in the shade.

The variation I do actually visits the summit; the views are sensational and it's a wonderful spot for lunch - sitting on flat grass at the edge of a precipice, with wonderful views in all directions. The bigger peaks were in the clouds today, but it was as special a place as ever.

A few pics.