Chilly Flying

Le Cousson from my landing spot at Mallemoisson

It was cold and somewhat cloudy, but the flying forecast was good so I headed up to launch. The wind was from the E (actually ESE), an unusual direction for St Andre, and although it wasn't very strong it gave a choice between flying locally or a 'downwind dash' towards Digne. I knew my glove batteries would run out after 2 hours, so whatever I did the flight wouldn't be very long.

Recovery drink in Digne

Conditions were excellent. Up at cloud base it's always hard to gauge the size of clouds you're flying under and I spent quite a bit of the time on full-bar and even using big-ears to stay out of 'the white room'. I crossed over the Mouchon and the Montagne de Coupe pretty quickly and headed onto Le Cousson (a mountain above Digne). Here I was hoping for some convergence as I hit the valley wind in the Bleone. But I got the opposite - mega-sink - and of course a head-wind.

I arrived low on Le Cousson but climbed back up again easily enough. I had a few choices now - head N up the Bleone valley and try to get onto Blayeil, head W over the valley onto la Bigue, land in Digne or try heading down the valley to my sail-plane club at St. Auban. 

The last was the least logical decision because if I got low I'd be flying against a strong valley wind. But if I could stay at cloud-base the wind would be ok. And my glove batteries would run out soon anyway, so whatever I did I wouldn't be flying much longer. 

Things started fine and after a couple of climbs my destination seemed, in the absence of wind, at a reasonable glide angle. But I flew under a couple of promising clouds that didn't deliver. And I was out of the mountains, so cloud base was lower and I soon found myself in the valley wind. I had one low save, but drifted so much with the wind it didn't help much. When I saw my glide ratio stuck at 0.6 for what felt like five minutes I knew it was over. I turned round and flew with the valley wind to make the retrieve easier and landed at Mallemoisson. A bus to Digne, a beer and then the train took me home to St Andre. 

About as much fun was you can have in two hours on a winter's day... Sorry, no in-flight photos, my camera froze up in the air...   



  

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.

Snowshoes

Looking over to Le Grand Coyer

We've finally had a decent dump of snow this winter. I waited patiently for a couple of days for the snow to stabilize before heading of to the medium mountains for a snowshoe hike. Blue skies, sun, snow, no wind and a big lunch on the summit - lovely! 

Eagles Locking Talons

In winter at St Andre good flying days are normally very cold - things need to be pretty unstable to compensate for the winter sunshine. I must admit I don't feel quite as keen on flying such days as I was a few years ago. But today's forecast suggested decent flying at reasonable temperatures, so I decided to head up to launch.

I was later setting off than I should have been; when I arrived on launch Philippe had top-landed and Nigel was taking off. It was also a bit windier than I expected but still perfectly manageable. After a leisurely lunch I took to the air and had a very pleasant flight. There were a few weak thermals mixed in with some dynamic lift, as well as some convergence.

The snow that fell in mid-January has completely melted and it looks more like August than February. After flying for around an hour I was taking some pictures of three eagles in a thermal when two of them locked talons and plummeted from the sky; this can be a mating ritual or a way of males fighting (in a game of chicken). Ever since I've seen this video I'm a bit wary of eagles and I avoided them for the rest of the flight...

A few pics.

Snowy Hike

We've finally had a dusting of snow and, even though it's only around 15 cm thick, it makes the mountains look special. The forecast is dry and sunny for the next few days so it may not last long. I decided to take advantage of the snow while it's here and headed up the Pic de Chamatte, a 1900 m peak near St Andre. The hike up was very pleasant - the sun was just warm enough for me to layer down to a tee-shirt. 

I was looking forward to eating my lunch on the summit but, as I reached the peak, the wind strength increased. This often happens in winter here - the top of the boundary layer is around the same altitude as the summits and once in the meteo wind you don't want to hang around. So I layered up for the end of the climb, turned around sharpish at the summit and ate my lunch 200 m lower down. Very scenic!

Brocken Spectre

Brocken Spectre (towards the bottom left)

I had a new year paraglider flight today. I certainly didn't fly because the forecast was spectacular but a nice hike and fly seemed like a good way to start the year. There's also bad weather moving in overnight (serves me right for posting about global warming...), so flying is likely to be out for the next few days. 

I've had surprising experiences in the Alps when bad weather arrives. I remember flying at Aspres once when the bad weather was clearly coming from the north but I was ridge soaring in a strong south wind. Today was a bit less dangerous, but the wind was all over the place - very lightly from the N on the south launch, about 10 km/h from the W on the west launch and at 35 km/h from the S above the LZ.

The damper air bringing the bad weather was forming clouds as it rose over Chalvet and I took the opportunity to fly above it and snap a picture of my brocken spectre (more info here).

Global Warming in the Southern Alps

It's always a bit dubious when non-meteorologists (and many meteorologists) talk about global warming.It's very hard to sort out long term effects from some unusual weather. But I've certainly seen plenty of 'evidence' this year. 

No snow on the Tete de l'Estrop (3000m)
at year's end

Dried up spring near
the Refuge de Boules

The summer and fall have been hot and dry this year but the start of the winter feels more like the start of fall. I've been hiking at 2000 m in shirt sleeves twice since Xmas. It looks more like mid-October here than the end of the year. There is no snow visible in the mountains near St Andre - the nearest seems to be on the Italian border, at around 3000 m, and that's just a dusting. The local ski area has only 4 out of 60 ski runs open, and they all narrow strips of 'artificial' snow on rocky slopes. 

Pine trees are infested by caterpillar nests - caused, I'm told, by warm winters not killing the beasts; see more details here. I know of one spring that has dried up this fall. Primroses are flowering in December. To that I could add the retreating or extinct glaciers I've seen further north in the alps. And then mountains that are literally falling apart as permafrost melts - see here.

I know it's not very scientific but it's not very encouraging for the future.

But on the other hand it's very pleasant for outdoor activities. I've been hiking a lot and have yet to give up bicycling for the winter. I've not flown my paraglider much lately, but people have been flying most days. Some pictures here.