This is a review by Richard Garener who stayed with us recently Annecy bed and breakfast
Classroom: Lake Annecy and surroundings
Date: 14th April, 2009
Course: Intro. to X-C and thermalling 101
Instructor/pilot: Irwyn Jehu (M. X-C with Hons.)
Pupil: Richard Gardner (Novice = Yes!)
Glider: Gradient Bi- Golden (Tandem)
Site/launch: Plan Fait, Lake Annecy
Landing: SIV landing field, Bout du Lac
Syllabus: Climbing out, touching base, transition glides, low saves, route plans, sources of lift, swearing in welsh, keeping warm, in-flight banter, etc.
[Note: There's a sequence of photos to accompany the narrative at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30865836@N06/ I'll try and post a tracklog if I can work out how...]
A tandem flight for the passenger is just a joy-ride, right?
Well, not necessarily… With the right pilot it can also be a very instructive experience for anyone wanting to ‘leave the hill’ but not having the skill/confidence to make the break. During a six-day stay at Maison du Moulin in the company of a sociable and eclectic SHGC group camping nearby (Matt and Gill, Hoppy, Rick, Smurf, Owen and Millie, Chris, Glen and Joachim) during which I flew on four out of six days, Irwyn Jehu also gave me the benefit of a masterclass in the techniques and thought-processes of going X-country for the first time. It wasn’t only an unforgettable flying lesson from a pro, it was a lifetime highpoint for me. Coming to Annecy with just 12 hours post CP airtime, the first few days’ flying had boosted my confidence in thermic conditions with flights at Marlens, Col de la Forclaz, Plan Fait and later the Entrevernes cliffs, adding more than 8 hours to my airtime. On one of the flights from Plan Fait, I was able to gain enough height to fly out across the lake and make the transition to the foot of the Roc des Boeufs, although I found no lift there to continue the flight. When both Owen and Irwyn offered me the opportunity of a tandem flight the next day, I jumped at the offer from my host.
Arriving at Plan Fait in the afternoon after a favourable weather forecast, pre-flight nerves were steadied by double-checking gear and observing the conditions, which looked promising. Climbing out from Plan Fait proved quite a challenge as the pockets of lift were sporadic and inconsistent, so height gains were quickly lost in sink. But Irwyn’s persistence paid off and gradually we gained enough height to drift back towards the trees on the lower slopes of the Dents de Lanfon (‘teeth’), and work our way up the right shoulder over the trees. Eventually we came up level with the rock-face and the excitement of flying close to the massive rock wall was fantastic. Height gains still had to be fought for, but as we neared the top of the teeth, the rate of ascent increased rapidly. The wing was pushed around a bit as we entered the convergence of rising air coming up both sides of the rock pillar. Irwyn explained that from the early sun having heated the east face, and with the afternoon sun now working on both the south and west faces, the thermal column was now meeting over the peak from all sides like a hot chimney, and in no time at all the glider was pulling us up at an alarming rate with the vario screaming and Irwyn having to use strong inputs on the brakes to keep the wing from yawing and pitching in the buffeting conditions, and to maintain a relatively tight rate of turn at first to stay in the thermal. In fact it became clear that tight turns were not really necessary as the whole air mass seemed to be going up like a train, so Irwyn was able to make his turns wider and flatter which felt safer in the circumstances. The climb went on and on at the same amazing rate, and we were soon topping out at cloudbase 1,000m (yes, one kilometre!!) above the top of the ‘teeth’, getting chillier by the minute, and seemingly headed for the ‘grey room’. Irwyn took a look around and – seeing that a section of the Parmelan cliffs across the valley was in sun – announced that point as our destination for a long glide to run away from the cloud. Trimming the glider for minimum sink, and trying to reduce drag by tucking everything in, we eventually arrived just above the top of the Parmelan cliffs (after Irwyn remembered during the glide to turn on the GPS to record our tracklog). Arriving at Parmelan with most of the area now in cloud shadow, there was little lift to be found, and Irwyn again had his work cut out to keep us above the ridge-line. We were joined by Hoppy, Glen and Chris who had followed us over from the ‘teeth’, and were now also scratching around over the trees to work their way along the Parmelan cliffs in search of another climb. With no sun to help us, we were eventually forced to drop below the level of the ridge, and then had to push out away from the cliff face to avoid a cable going up from the valley to the Tete de Parmelan. We were now in seriously sinky air with no obvious options for sources of lift nearby. A flock of choughs gave us a brief hope of a thermal marker, but it soon became obvious that they were not thermalling but just playing silly buggers, so we left them to it. Our only hope now was a conical hill between Parmelan and Veyrier, covered with trees and with a little sun on some of the fields below its western flank. We glided down to this, and arrived above mid-way up it, and began the hunt for lift. At first this proved elusive and we were scratching above the trees, but after a while Irwyn found something more consistent, which finally developed into a nice strong thermal which had the vario singing merrily all the way back up to cloudbase (max. vario of +10m/s). Once again we got chilled under a dark cloud, which started throwing little ice crystals at us, pinging off our helmets and stinging our faces. As we entered the cloud Irwyn pushed forward towards its front edge, keeping the sun in sight and heading west towards Annecy and our next target of the Semnoz ridge – a long glide away. Skirting the northern end of Lake Annecy, we passed over boats making graceful curves in the blue water, then passing over the cathedral (la Visitation) we made our way towards the lower slopes of the forested Semnoz ridge. Here we followed the western ridge-line, sometimes being able to crab our way up the rising slopes, turning into any little patches of lift we found along the way. One gully in particular – not much more than a notch in the ridge – nudged the glider upwards at each pass, and Irwyn milked this source to gain some height, clear some power lines, and make progress up the ridge line, but this lift soon petered out and again we found ourselves low and grazing the treetops, and I began nervously looking at landing options to the right of the ridge, where small patches of green among the endless trees began to look more and more marginally reachable to my inexperienced eyes. We were now at a level where the angle of the slope began to flatten out, and our last chance came along in the shape of a small patch of bare rock in a slight gulley beyond a shallow spur. Irwyn took the glider within a few feet of the spur as we sought out any signs of rising air. The trees were still, indicating an absence of any dynamic ridge lift, so this isolated heat source was all we had to work with. Once or twice during Irwyn’s tight S-turns the glider gave a little upward kick, but it was touch and go and our net height gains were marginal. However, Irwyn was not going to give up on this rock without a fight! After several more passes, we finally crept over the spur and on the next pass we found we could continue a sideways advance up the ridge just above tree height. Turning back for higher ground as we re-passed over the gulley, the lift developed into a more consistent climb, and the vario started beeping a happy song again. We were now approaching the vicinity of the Semnoz take-off, and as we reached the steeper face of the ridge, the climb just got stronger and stronger until we were once again circling tightly directly above the PG take-off and drifting back over the Cret de Chatillon and its ski area. The temperature again dropped rapidly, and it seemed strange to be thermalling so strongly over a snow-field, but Irwyn later explained that this is not uncommon, because thermals work by differences in air temperature. If the air at ground level is cold due to snow cover, then the surrounding air doesn’t have to be much warmer to make it rise. And when you are also on higher ground, the surrounding air is quickly drawn uphill to fill the resulting area of low pressure, thus ‘feeding’ the thermal. We soon reached cloudbase once again, and with occasional raindrops on our faces we turned east towards the dramatic spine-backed ridge of Roc des Boeufs, the lake, and so to ‘home’ at the Maison du Moulin beyond it, which now looked a relatively easy glide a few miles away. We arrived at the Roc des Boeufs with just enough height to clear the ridge, but Irwyn started looking for a height top-up to try and make the Col de la Forclaz on the other side of the lake. Sadly the ridge was no longer working as the evening sun had lost its strength, so we dropped over the ridge and onwards over the Entrevernes cliffs heading for a small sunlit patch of west-facing rock directly below the Col de la Forclaz in the hopes of being to able to claw our way back up to Montmin, but it was sinky all the way over the lake and when we got close in to the steep slope on the far side, we found no rising air at all, and opted instead to turn south down the lake towards Doussard and the Maison du Moulin. Taking the safer option as we were still in sink, Irwyn made a gentle landing in the SIV landing field at the foot of the lake to complete our 45km ‘tour’ of Annecy. It was all I could do to contain my joy and exhilaration at such an amazing experience, and I hugged Irwyn, babbling on about what a brilliant flight it had been and what a great pilot he is and thanking him for sharing the thrill and the adventure, etc. etc. I was buzzing and grinning inanely for hours afterwards as I re-lived every moment of the flight, the emotional highs and lows, and considering all that I had learned, felt and shared.
