Learning St Andre

I've really only flown St Andre by myself and I've been gradually learning how the flying works. There is a classic XC north about 50K to St Vincent (it can be done in either direction) that I'd like to do. I've done the first third or so from St Vincent, and today I managed to do the first bit from St Andre. The problem is that the middle part is over pretty high-mountains and I don't know the terrain very well. If you sink out in the middle, you can expect an 'interesting' hike out.

I made a decent start; although I was flying by myself, there were enough gliders around to help finding the lift. However, after around 5 miles, they all seemed to turn round together and fly back towards launch. I continued a little further, but when I got to the start of 'tiger country' (the Cheval Blanc mountain) my radio was announcing wind maximums of 30k, so I turned into a nice broad valley and landed at Thorame Haute.

I really enjoyed my flight and had a nice little hike before a local stopped for me and gave me a lift back to Ray's place. Tonight I will buy detailed maps for the middle part of the XC and study them!

Tracklog -> http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/265866

Pics -> http://picasaweb.google.com/DMMullin/StAndre07September#