Pertuiset

With the uncertain weather and the South - South-West wind forecast, Mickael organised an outing near Mieussy (birthplace of paragliding). Our destination is the crestline to Le Marcelly. We leave one car at the landing field in Mieussy, and all pile up into my truck to drive to La Chapelle St-Gras, a couple of hundred meters higher on the side of the valley. From there, we ascend in the thalweg, in the shade of the forrest. Halfway up, we come upon some derelict chalets. After drinking a sip of water, we resume the hike and reach the lower limit of the grazing fields of Le Pertuiset. This is where we normally drive up to go flying from Mieussy. From the parking area of Roche Palud, it's another ten to fifteen minutes to the take off area. There are some pilots in the air already. We go to the chalets nearby and unpack our lunch. Young boys in full growth like us need to be careful about our diet: missing a meal might stunt our growth! ;-)
We decide to no go further, as the wind on the crest leading to Le Marcelly is strong and gusty, and we're carrying our mountaineering equipment, not as comfortable as the strandard flying equipment. Alex is flying in tandem with his girlfriend, Fabienne, and they are first to take off. Maurice takes off next, I follow him and Mickael closes the group.
The flight is rather bumpy, and I have my hands tied up with the controls, so there are no pictures of this flight.
Despite the gusts, and in part thanks to them, the flight is rather pleasant. I follow Alex when he decides to land, but as I see him near the landing field, I change my mind and go back to the side of the valley to play in the ascendences and spend another twenty minutes in the air. A very good outing overall...
Technical data: Flight duration 0:48, Take-off altitude: 1635m, Maximum altitude reached: 1675m, Total climb during flight: 1557m, Max rate of climb: +4.6m/s, Max descent rate: -4.8m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.