| Flight details: | Yes... after a good climb at the antenna, Dieter announced on the radio that there was some south in the wind, so he was heading north-west towards Mont Coupe. I followed at a distance, getting good climbs over Sapee and Mont Reynieres (?). As I approached the summit of Mont Coupe, I saw Dieter sliding off the ridge to the south and getting very low, so I turned back, to climb again at Reynieres.
On to Cheval Blanc, and a climb to 2300 -- enough to make Cordeil and from there the Crete de Serres and home for a nice triangle. But over my shoulder I saw Dieter, who'd been so low I thought he'd land, rocketing up to 2800 at the base of the day's first cloud. I turned to join him, got roughed up in big sink, failed to connect with his climb, and had a nasty time on my return to Cheval Blanc. The sunny shoulder of the plateau before Cordeil failed to produce anything, so it was down to Thorame Basse. A lovely young woman and a nice couple of old American hikers quickly took me back to town.
Coulda woulda shoulda... Still, a nice 33km XC, my first decent one of this year's visit to St Andre. James H-L and Gus didn't go far today, but Gus did a nice 41k triangle last week (I think he might have mentioned it once or twice since) and James a 22k flat triangle on Saturday's evening flight. |
