Lazy January Thermals

Today's forecast wasn't great but, when the first soarable day of the year falls on a Saturday, some flying is in order. I could have flown at St Andre, but flying here in winter is a pretty lonely activity (the road is blocked by snow, so only lunatics that walk up get to fly). So instead I headed to Greolieres, where I expected to see a bunch of Nice based pilots.

Something seemed to be wrong with my logic. Conditions seemed good if a little weak but I arrived at a spookily deserted launch. What does everyone else know that I don't? I'm re-evaluating my flying gear, and was flying with an old wing and harness, so I did some kiting to get used to it again. Shortly afterwards pilots started arriving, and I took to the air.

It was pretty easy to stay up, but it took a long time to build any altitude. I slowly got higher as more and more pilots launched. I eventually got level with the summit ridge (around 600m above launch) but, just as I was hoping for a mini-XC, conditions started weakening, and there was a long, slow flush cycle. The skies slowly emptied and the LZ filled up.

I managed to stay in the air long enough for the cycle to pass but I never got back to the same height. After about 1.5 hours I was too cold to pretend it was fun so I landed. I enjoyed flying with my old gear, especially with a non-pod harness (much simpler and more direct, if a little chillier). All in all, a nice relaxed start to the flying year.

Springlike conditions - well, almost

We seem to be caught in a period of dry, sunny weather. No snow or rain for the last 2 weeks, and none predicted for the next two weeks. There is still lots of snow on the mountains, especially where it is shady and sheltered. 

It's more like spring or even summer, but with one important difference - the air is super-stable right now. Even at 4 o'clock, you can see the inversion trapping the smoke in the valley. Down in the valleys, there is almost no wind; even on the summits, it is almost calm (even when you can see lenticular clouds higher up).

Soon, of course, this will change and thermals will work their magic. I can't wait...

Summer Snow-shoeing…

The holiday period at St Andre has been warm, sunny, dry and stable. Unusually for this time of year, I've only managed one hike and fly - a couple of days before Xmas - but I've done plenty of hiking. I got back yesterday from a week away and decided to go snow-shoeing today.

As I drove up the Verdon, the temperature in the valley hovered around zero. As soon as I left the valley, the temperature soared - talk about an inversion. I parked the car in 14C (57F) and headed up my mountain (the Pic du Courradour) in shirt sleeves. Sticky, wet snow made for slow going (or that's my excuse), but the views more than made up for it. A long day but a lovely one. 

Some pics

The Hike and Fly season is open

December is normally the best month in a very short 'hike and fly' season at St Andre. Stable air and a relative lack of solar warming provide smooth (if sinky) flying conditions - lightweight gear seems safe. 

It doesn't feel like paragliding to me - it's more like an adventurous hike up a snowy mountain where you don't quite know how you're going to get down. You can fail to get to launch because of the amount of snow - never mind, it's a nice day out. You can get to launch and find the wind is too strong or from the wrong direction - well, eat your lunch, enjoy the view and follow your tracks back down the hill. Worst of all, deep snow and light winds could conspire to prevent you from launching, leaving you to pack up and hike down in the dark. 

Forecasts don't seem as useful in winter. You can have light winds inside the boundary layer, protected by the stability. 100m higher up, you're out of the boundary layer and the wind can be too strong. When you're in tree-less Scotland, you can position yourself at the right height and launch. Here, you're normally in a forest (for terrain and avalanche safety reasons) and don't have that option.

It's also a pretty solitary activity. If you see any tracks, they're normally an animal's; if they're human, they might be yours of 2 weeks ago. Launch will be deserted and you're clearly making your own decisions (which is always the case with paragliding). 

Today was the first flyable day for a week (because of strong mistral winds) and might also be the last for another week. A lovely hike, followed by a quick flight - my vario beeped twice, once on take off, and again in the LZ. It's hard to explain why it's so satisfying, so I won't try. A few pics. 

Courchons Loop

A big dump of snow yesterday meant that only low level hikes were sensible today (because of the avalanche risk). Snow shoes, hiking gear or XC skis? With hind-sight I think the skis would have been the best choice, but I took the snow shoes. It was a little deep for walking but not quite deep enough for snow shoes to be that helpful - so I got good practice putting them on and taking them off!  I did a loop up via Courchons and Moriez. Towards the end of the hike I went through a site where - during the week - foresters are cutting trees and making a right old mess. Looks as though they've had a bit of a parking problem….

A handful of other pics can be seen here.

Windy Winter Hiking

Arriving in Vergons 

A week of mistral weather is predicted and today was the first day. Cold, snowy, sunny and beautiful - a hike was called for. Actually, with the windtalkers showing 80 Km/h gusts on the summits, a low-level hike was called for. A big loop S, to Vergons, then back along the Lac de Castellane to St Andre gave me a pretty full day. As the day went on, the inversion weakened and more of the meteo wind reached ground level - I was glad to find a sheltered, sunny spot for my lunch. Up high, you could see snow being blown over the ridges, where it would be forming windslab on the southern faces.

L'Autapie

Light winds, sunny and stable - hike and fly or just hike? I wanted a long day out, so I decided on a hike in the higher mountains, so I jumped in my car and headed N. Oops, there was more snow in evidence than I'd expected - I seem to make this mistake at the same time every year. Since I'd left my boots and snow-shoes behind, I choose a hike that avoided the worst of the snow. 

From Colmars I climbed the Autapie (2400+ m). A nice lunch on the summit (with mostly dry feet) with wonderful views in every direction. A long descent took me back to the car at dusk - great! Must try and remember about this snow stuff next year…