Tuesday 13 March 2012

Week Two, Day One.

This was written yesterday...


It was very apparent on the drive past Yesa, that the Aragon valley is very dry and there is a water shortage.  It has not rained properly for months in Aragon and the airfield is very dry and dusty.

The weather is predominately anti-cyclonic and hence the low scratchy thermals only went to 5500ft asl.

Stewart and Clive fought their way to stage two, then quickly scurried back to stage one, and got away from below the trig point in 775.

Roger and Bob scratched around for ¾ an hour in 431, before being downed by the thick belt of cirrus that had formed over the foothills and the valley.

Bob and I decided to wait out the cirrus hoping things would cycle through a bit  and indeed, after a few minutes; strong shadows were visible on the ground again so we headed off to the trig point and pulled off into a broken two knots. 

Eventually climbing up to 5000ft, we jumped the valley across to the fire break to find an easier climb that got us to stage two.  But finding no lift there, we headed back to the foothills and grovelled around at ridge height whilst Steven and Clive passed us by en route to the firebreak behind the tug.

Stage two managed to evade both Clive and Steven whilst Bob and I decided to fly back to the airfield making a very close inspection of the foothills on the way.

Glyn is currently grounded with a bit of temperature, but will be back in the air at the first opportunity.

Finally the day died and 775 landed back and now we are all enjoying a cervaza or two in the clubhouse.  The weather is supposed to destabilise a bit as a little low is due to form over the south of France, which might just perk things up a bit.

Posted by Paul.

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