Greolieres Expedition

Launch is the bald spot in the center,
LZ the grassy field below

When you get a decent flying forecast on a winter Saturday, you'll be sure to find a bunch of eager Nice-based paraglider pilots at Greolieres. Nigel and I were a bit fed up with the cold flying in St Andre and decided to join them. It felt positively balmy on launch and Nigel and I watched pilots climb out easily before getting ready.

Up on the ridge

In fact, we were a little complacent. It was Nigel's first time at Greolieres and I had warned him about a couple of safety issues, but (given how easily everyone was getting up) I didn't bother giving him any tips for climbing out. Just as we were ready to take off, it clouded over. At this point, the smart thing to do was to wait for the sun to come back, but I went ahead and launched and Nigel followed me a few minutes later. 

Arriving over Coursegoules

Launch is only a couple of hundred meters above the LZ at Greolieres, so you don't want to lose a bunch of height straight off launch, but that's exactly what we did. We grovelled around for 5 or 10 minutes before the sun returned and - with sighs of relief - we got high. We flew for a couple of hours and both made the standard XC to Coursegoules and back.