Day 6 summary:
The forecast for the day was for light winds, low thermals and no clouds and so an 82 km task was set, visiting some of Annecy’s iconic landmarks, Dents de Lanfon, Parmelan and Tournette, then heading over to the Aravis before arriving in goal.
Thus it was that we found ourselves banging our heads off the inversion, waiting for the start to open on the Rod des Tours. The familiar leeside scrabble on Mont Lachat de Thones opened the way to the Tete de Turpin and a taste of the Parmelan cliffs before heading over to the Dents de Lanfon with its plentiful thermals.
After collecting the turnpoint at Talloires, we climbed again on the Dents de Lanfon before heading over to the classic ridge run out and back along the impressive Parmelan cliffs.
We then flew back past the Dents de Lanfon and the Lanfonette to the launch at Montmin before tackling the Tournette, which seemed initially impassable, as the thermals were simply not high enough to cross. A lot of fruitless ridge-soaring took place before things opened up, and the pilots were granted passage towards the Aravis.
From then on, the thermals just got stronger and stronger and the flight north along the spectacular mountains was done without turning and on full bar before turning towards the goal in Grand Bornand. A fitting end to an excellent week of amazing flying.