Been in La Motte Du Caire for almost a week now and have flown every day. High pressure is dominating the region with hot sunny days, little or no wind and tricky thermal conditions. Even so, my first flight with Christain Seberger, JaquesNoel's deputy was indescribably EPIC!
From the winch we climbed away in a thermal produced by Early Morning, a hill on the south end of the airfield, jumped to the towering vertical face of Malaup, figure of eighting until we could 'spiral' away off the top. Mountain jumping our way to the east to the dizzy snow covered heights of Tete de l'Estrop at 9800' asl. Eagles, vultures and lots of other gliders sharing the spectacular views. Who would have thought you could have this much fun in a K21.
La Motte has a very friendly atmosphere, with glider pilots from France, Germany, Netherlands and us Pom's enjoying the site. There is a morning briefing at precisely 10:15am
explaining the days weather forecast, given in French and English and starting with Jaques greeting each pilot by name. The instruction is very good and pretty intense, with lots of information to absorb and then to attempt to put into practice, all the while trying to fly
accurately and above all safely, and not scare yourself silly when you get low and your nearest landing (non-stupid) field is completely out of sight. High work-load and distraction (a wall of rock just off your wing tip) take on a whole new meaning!
Jb is enjoying his ever expanding forays into the mountains,
honing his skills and building up his data base of knowledge.
Mountain de Gache
Tete de l'Estrop kicking off 6 knot thermals at 10 000'
Lac de Serre Poncon looking south along the Parcour
