20th August - Mont Blanc, Chamonix, FR

After having licked my wounds and joined in with my friends' celebrations of fulfilling their life time dream of top landing on Mont Blanc, I thought, right, today, Monday, is my turn.

I'd checked out the forecast the night before which admittedly did not look epic but still light enough winds and conditions looked forgiving.

There had been a storm last night which brought some precipitation and thought that would add some instability and give us faster ascension to the summit.
I'd spent the night, subconsciously visualising this flight. I had prepared in my mind what to expect. I had prepared my gear, winter gloves, food and drink, checked my survival kit that everything I may need (just in case) was there. I was ready.
The meeting point was 10h30 at Annecy North. Several of us went in convoy, others car shared, to Chamonix, Brevent. Free parking today - that was a good omen, surely.

Brevent bubble lift up to take off where there must have been over 80 pilots up there! I took off in the second wave of people around 12h30pm after graciously waiting for a friend in our group to borrow a spare helmet from someone (he had left his behind, poor sod!). I took note, that no one else waited, which I thought was quite rude considering this wan't a competition and the more we helped each other relay the conditions as a group the better chance we had).
So my friend took off and I got stuck on launch due to a struggling pilot was having problems launching and continued to dump his wing over mine a few times.  Never mind, we've all been there...
I felt very clam, the thermic conditions looked great and getting up was not going to be a problem.

The only glitch I could determine was, looking across the valley to the Aiguille and indeed further south, that cloud base was as low as the forecast had predicted.

The lift was very strong at Brevent ridge height, taking the hoofing thermal above the top of the cable car summit and feeling a slight NWesterly kick in.
Topping up to 3100m I decided to have a nice high transition to avoid any scratching around the other side of  Les Houches and also to avoid the airspace in the valley.

My friend together with a few of the others had traversed via Mont Joly for unknown reasons, perhaps they were low, so I found myself high enough to cross the valley and connect with the south side above Les Houches where a large gaggle of pilots just to the west of the pic de Miage were thermalling.

Cloudbase was indeed between 3800 and 3900m and after passing over the Col into Italy and connecting with the Col de Miage, my decision not to go any further was strengthened by growing congests and a looming black sky on the Italian side.
Not knowing the way and looking down at the committing glacier just ahead of us and and below a hostile scenery, I remember hearing stories of previous efforts to not get flushed down by the cold air in this part, that remaining at least 100m above was the key.

The couple of other pilots who were with me at the time did not seem to know the route either and were also not committing to the crossing of the glacier.
Through the inversion on the Italian side, I could barely see the ground and through the clouds above me, could not make out the summit or try to pick the route through the wispy clouds to continue.

After only an hour but flying at around 3800m altitude, air sickness started to set in and my decision had already been made to turn back as it was quite clear that landing on the White Lady today would be a "no-go".
Instead I topped up at cloud again over Les Houches, and went on a loooong glide down the valley making sure to keep out of airspace, taking some pictures of the Aiguille du Midi which was now also under cloud, and a towering Cunim forming over Mont Joly. I was happy with my decision making.

If it had not been so rough towards the north of the Cham valley by Les Grand Montets, I would have ventured further into the Mer de Glace, but I wa getting tossed around by thermals being blown over the Brevent ridge and convergence in the valley. Strong lift of +5 and roughly the same in sink, it was time to call it quits.
Between the helicopter pad and the main landing field I managed to shed 2710m of height (that's roughly in about 5km's!), returning to the big sink holes time and time again in order to get down. Eventually big ears and speed bar through the chop was the final glide, and riding the crest of the wind-wave as I came into land was captured fairly successfully on my GoPro.
Pleased to be down on the ground and just so elated at having flown to close to my goal - I am absolute ready for next year, and will not miss the opportunity to also fulfil my dream.

No doubt you have all seen the footage - it was a huge party up there.
I missed the "Big Day Sunday" because I had sold my harness on Saturday and only been able to collect received my new one on Sunday morning, did not have enough time to get it rigged up and drive to Cham, so I flew the Aravis as a warm up.

I thought that by sacrificing the Sunday for the Monday, the weather would hold.
However I am glad that I didn't try to fly in my new harness up to the summit, as it is taking some getting used to. Flying the Aravis was somewhere I had never flown until yesterday.
So no regrets.....bring on August 2013 for another try. I'm ready!