After checking out Amsterdam and Paris yesterday, the next scenic area on my list of locations to explore was Mt Blanc. Jorg seemed pretty excited about the updated DEM (terrain mesh in old simmer speak) for the Alps, so I jumped into the Carenado C182T with real world weather to go and see what all the fuss was about!
Departing from Mount Blanc airfield (LFHZ), I followed the valley systems eastbound, climbing up into clear air overhead the ski resort of Chamonix. A mid level cloud bank was sitting up along the northern flank of Mount Blanc, but it was clear overhead, so I made a climbing orbit above the Mer de Glace glacier up to 14,000 feet (taking me back to my skydive pilot days) to avoid icing and remain VMC.
After a 360 lap around the summit, I set a -1500fpm VS rate on the autopilot and descended over the Mer de Glace again to get back under the cloud bank. Following the reverse course of my outbound flight, I tracked westwards along the valley, to the town of Megève where Asobo have included a hand crafted airport (LFHM).
The approach into runway 15 is pretty intimidating, with a solid wall of mountain upwind of the airport making the go-around desction pretty hairy should one need to conduct a missed approach. Trying to find the runway threshold in compete white out conditions was a challange too, but I managed to make it down in one piece with a bit of luck.
