Greolieres Visit

Looking NW towards St Andre

I'm afraid I do almost all my flying at St Andre and seldom take a wing elsewhere. But, in the depths of winter, the snow and the cold can get to me and I drive down to Greolieres for a day's flying. It's quite a transition - winter to spring, mountains to the Med, snow to sun, boots to trainers and a more social flying experience.

Looking N over the Cheiron to bigger hills

After a few gray days here, a good forecast drew me down today. In fact, I got carried away by the sun and didn't dress up quite enough. Up on the Cheiron, I was cold. I did the standard 'out and back' to Coursegoules but by then needed to warm up. I got low again and soared just above launch before landing after 2 hours.

Very spicy flying conditions for late November!

Winter Flying Forecasts

Optimism!

The flying forecasts here seem break down in the winter. I'm sure there are people who can explain exactly what is going on, but WYSINWYG (what you see is NOT what you get) becomes the rule. I've lost count of the times 50+ Kph winds were predicted, I went on a hike and it's been essentially calm at ridge height. In winter I'm generally looking for a nice safe hike and fly, yet some forecasts try to apply summer criteria ('conditions inexploitables') to acceptable conditions. Other forecasts come to farcical conclusions, like the top of lift being 500m above launch 4 hours after sunset.

Reality!

Anyway, despite the forecasts, I had a typical winter hike and fly off Chalvet today. A lot of hiking for not very much flying, with a distinct absence of vario beeping.

First Snow

Yesterday was windy and wet and I hid indoors all day. This morning there was a light dusting of snow on the peaks, sun and a cold, strong wind aloft. I kept low and had a long hike around the Thorame valley and enjoyed the fall colors. 

Fall Colors

I was hoping for a hike and fly this weekend, but the winds aloft haven't cooperated. I settled for a lovely hike today in the Corradour and Coyer. I set off a little later than I intended and had to rush to get back down just before dark. Fall is very scenic here!

Some pics.

Gray November Flying

Looking back at launch

Toussaint (all saints' day) is a holiday in France, together with the 11th of Nov. St Andre gets a lot of visitors for these holidays from pilots hoping to extend their flying season. But today the weather didn't really cooperate - flyable but, with very little sun and a low inversion, maybe not soarable. Launch was crowded but without much action - vultures were seen flapping and almost all launchers sunk without trace.

But it clearly wasn't going to 'turn on' and seemed as likely to get worse as improve, so I launched and enjoyed an unusual flight for St Andre. Very marginal lift, mostly ridge soaring and lots of traffic around launch (pilots that sunk out came back up for second or third flights). A few thermals took me to a maximum of 200 m over launch, and I also had to work my way up from 150 m below launch more than once. Lift was scarce enough that you had to concentrate to stay up. I managed to mow up and down the ridge to the Antenae to avoid the traffic. From around 3.00 the lift weakened and things got a little quieter; I concentrated on staying up and landed just shy of 4.00, after a little more than 2 hours in the air.

The contrast to the normal flying here was a nice change and it was about as good as you could hope for from such an unpromising gray day...

Montagne de l'Aup

Strong winds aloft all heading to Tours

Despite the lateness in the season, the flying has been pretty good lately. Today naively looked to continue the trend with moderate winds and a reasonable ceiling.

But a more careful examination of the forecasts consistently showed very strong winds just above the top of lift. It seemed a better day for a hike, so I headed up the Montagne de l'Aup, immediately SW of St Andre. I've hiked it a couple of times before, but I also fancy it for other purposes - a snowshoe ascent, a little ski-tour and maybe even a hike and fly. So I spent some time investigating its hike and fly potential but I couldn't find a credible launch to the south (see the pics) and while it would work to the north, the glide back to St Andre looks very marginal. 

Launch to the south looks tricky

The sheep are down and the shepherds cabin is closed up for the winter. Lots of wave clouds in the sky. Fall is my favorite time for hiking here - cool temperature and lovely colors - and I got home feeling nicely tired.

Some pics.

Clouds...

Flying to Barreme doesn't look sensible right now

Yesterday, I got home from a lunch time bike ride just as the heavens opened. The rain continued into the evening and all that moisture has to go somewhere. So I wasn't surprised when I got up this morning and all the peaks were in the clouds. But the forecast wasn't bad for October, it would surely clear and I was due a day off from work, so I decided to fly.

It looks OK now!

I had a damp hike up to launch through the clouds. Cloud-base gradually rose to above launch but there were a lot of threatening clouds in the sky. They weren't near launch though - there, all the clouds looked puffy and reassuring, if a little low (about 200m above launch). So I joined a bunch of pilots playing around launch and it was really quite fun. The big clouds stayed away and it never felt threatening - I don't think I've flown for as long and stayed to near launch in St Andre. Base lifted a little as the day went on (I got to just over 2000m at the Antenae, higher than cloudbase) but not enough to tempt me to try an XC.