Trip report: Advanced glider course in the southern Alps at CNVV in St Auban, France
Tory Tolton
I had the opportunity to participate in the six-day advanced mountain soaring course at the Centre National de Vol à Voile (CNVV) in Chateau-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, France, August 7-12. It was an incredible experience, and I thought I might share more about it.
I flew three days in instructional flights in an Arcus, and three days solo in a Discuss 2c 18m. Conditions were phenomenal on four of the six days, tougher on two days but all six days were soarable.
On the longest flight, we went north past Val d'Isere to Grande Rousse in northwestern Italy, not far from Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn which was obscured in clouds, and then back west almost to the Rhône valley at But Saint-Genix, with the long way home back southeast over Cheval Blanc. 535km for that day. We spent a lot of time on multiple flights around a range called Le Parcour by local pilots, through the Parc National de Ècrin (which has special routes where gliders are allowed at lower altitudes), and south as far as Gorges du Verdon.
My solo flights were limited to a 25:1 glide ratio from St Auban and other nearby aero retrieve capable airports (Sisteron, Gap/Tallard, and Puimoisson) while I build local experience. Conditions were good enough on the last day to push out northeast to Le Parcour, Dormillouse, Columbis, southeast to Cheval Blanc and west past Lure on my own.
The instruction was top notch - Pierre has more that two decades showing other pilots how to fly in this formidable terrain. There were three other pilots in my instruction group, already experienced locally and flying solo for most of the week without restrictions. There were two other groups with less experienced pilots flying with different instructors mostly in dual-only flights as well, but it seemed like only around half of the CNVV gliders were in use that week.
The number of gliders flying in the Alps was surprising, even on the weekdays. We received hundreds of FLARM warnings each day, some at very close range. It seemed like we saw at least 2-3 other gliders under every good cloud, and with the extensive ridge flying, lots of folks were generally running fast at similar altitudes, coming from other glider ports everywhere.
Flight traces and some more photos are on my SeeYou profile here:
https://seeyou.cloud/pilot/WjgLE1WO6185
Or check out my posts on OLC instead
It was really enjoyable to experience this in another part of the world, the soaring itself, and the community. I felt right at home. Glider pilots are pretty much the same the world over, even when the words they speak are in many other languages and come from vastly different places.
If folks are interested, I’m happy to post more about the experiences with instruction, the operation, aircraft and facilities. I’m also working on a reference document for those who might want to know how to go about it on their own in the future.
Many thanks to Thomas Van de Velde who clued me in to CNVV many years ago and has been encouraging me to give it a go. I'll be back again for sure, soon I hope.
Tory
YouTube video over Parc national de Ecrin
Lac Serre du Ponçon and Pic de Morgon - looking north
Bardonecchia, Italy - looking northeast
Parc national de Ècrin - looking south toward Barre des Ècrin (peak obscured in cloud)
L'Albaron - looking west
Aérodrome de Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, with Montfort village standing guard above to the west
Chris Klix
Chris
On Aug 26, 2023, at 4:51 PM, Tory Tolton <tory....@gmail.com> wrote:
I had the opportunity to participate in the six-day advanced mountain soaring course at the Centre National de Vol à Voile (CNVV) in Chateau-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, France, August 7-12. It was an incredible experience, and I thought I might share more about it.I flew three days in instructional flights in an Arcus, and three days solo in a Discuss 2c 18m. Conditions were phenomenal on four of the six days, tougher on two days but all six days were soarable.On the longest flight, we went north past Val d'Isere to Grande Rousse in northwestern Italy, not far from Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn which was obscured in clouds, and then back west almost to the Rhône valley at But Saint-Genix, with the long way home back southeast over Cheval Blanc. 535km for that day. We spent a lot of time on multiple flights around a range called Le Parcour by local pilots, through the Parc National de Ècrin (which has special routes where gliders are allowed at lower altitudes), and south as far as Gorges du Verdon.My solo flights were limited to a 25:1 glide ratio from St Auban and other nearby aero retrieve capable airports (Sisteron, Gap/Tallard, and Puimoisson) while I build local experience. Conditions were good enough on the last day to push out northeast to Le Parcour, Dormillouse, Columbis, southeast to Cheval Blanc and west past Lure on my own.The instruction was top notch - Pierre has more that two decades showing other pilots how to fly in this formidable terrain. There were three other pilots in my instruction group, already experienced locally and flying solo for most of the week without restrictions. There were two other groups with less experienced pilots flying with different instructors mostly in dual-only flights as well, but it seemed like only around half of the CNVV gliders were in use that week.The number of gliders flying in the Alps was surprising, even on the weekdays. We received hundreds of FLARM warnings each day, some at very close range. It seemed like we saw at least 2-3 other gliders under every good cloud, and with the extensive ridge flying, lots of folks were generally running fast at similar altitudes, coming from other glider ports everywhere.Flight traces and some more photos are on my SeeYou profile here:It was really enjoyable to experience this in another part of the world, the soaring itself, and the community. I felt right at home. Glider pilots are pretty much the same the world over, even when the words they speak are in many other languages and come from vastly different places.If folks are interested, I’m happy to post more about the experiences with instruction, the operation, aircraft and facilities. I’m also working on a reference document for those who might want to know how to go about it on their own in the future.Many thanks to Thomas Van de Velde who clued me in to CNVV many years ago and has been encouraging me to give it a go. I'll be back again for sure, soon I hope.ToryLac Serre du Ponçon and Pic de Morgon - looking north
<DSC_0086.JPG>Bardonecchia, Italy - looking northeast
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Parc national de Ècrin - looking south toward Barre des Ècrin (peak obscured in cloud)
<DSC_0135.JPG>
L'Albaron - looking west
<DSC_0177.JPG>
Aérodrome de Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, with Montfort village standing guard above to the west
<DSC_0152.JPG>--
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Ron Bellamy
On Aug 26, 2023, at 5:07 PM, Chris Klix <chris...@gmail.com> wrote:
Fantastic Tory!!!
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