Well I'm on the road for the next 2 weeks...the Canadian Nationals in Golden, followed by the US Nationals in Richfield (Utah) the week after. Pulling into Golden now (Friday), it's cloudy but the forecast for the next day or two are looking good sun-wise. With our luck, the practice days will be the best of the entire PG comp :)
CIVL's decision to recommend banning comp gliders in cat 2 comps is still having ripple effects...Canada and the US have decided (for now, at least), to allow comp gliders in their upcoming Nationals. Some other countries have decided otherwise. It's a total mess! Fortunately I'm flying serial now so I don't have to worry about what glider to fly...
Bridal July 9
Didn't get out to Bridal until later but heard it was OK at Woodside but starting to get windy. A pilot had just tossed their reserve at Woody, landing in a cutblock next to the road and no real rescue necessary...not sure why he/she tossed. A few pilots tried to cross to Bridal but got flushed due to the south winds coming over the top at Bridal...this is the third or fourth time I've heard of a Woodside-Bridal crossing being unsuccessful due to south winds flushing pilots arriving low at Ludwig off the mountain (it happened to me once this year and to several others too). Something to put in the ol' toolbox of Fraser Valley XC tips.
Over at Bridal it was kinda shady at first but the clouds eventually broke and it became very sweet. Windy at Ludwig but otherwise uneventful...Alex reported seeing a speedflyer really high at Killarney and a helicopter in the area beforehand so we figure he must have launched from Cheam when the clouds broke.
Somebody pointed out what looked like a forest fire on an island on Harrison Lake...I watched it grow all afternoon and didn't see any helicopters fighting it...maybe they won't bother since it's on an uninhabited island and can't really spread too far?
Toplanded Upper Bridal and had a nice siesta watching the gliders come up from Lower Bridal. At one point I was searching for the memorial propellor from the plane crash a few years ago...I eventually found the top 3" of it sticking out of the snow...the rest is still buried. Lots of snow still behind launch!
Nothing epic XC-wise or altitude-wise (1700+m)...just a nice "regular" Bridal flight during a typical summer day.
Over at Bridal it was kinda shady at first but the clouds eventually broke and it became very sweet. Windy at Ludwig but otherwise uneventful...Alex reported seeing a speedflyer really high at Killarney and a helicopter in the area beforehand so we figure he must have launched from Cheam when the clouds broke.
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| At Upper Bridal, looking at the forest fire on Harrison Lake (click to enlarge). |
Toplanded Upper Bridal and had a nice siesta watching the gliders come up from Lower Bridal. At one point I was searching for the memorial propellor from the plane crash a few years ago...I eventually found the top 3" of it sticking out of the snow...the rest is still buried. Lots of snow still behind launch!
Nothing epic XC-wise or altitude-wise (1700+m)...just a nice "regular" Bridal flight during a typical summer day.
World Championships cancelled
Well it's official and the FAI has cancelled the rest of the comp and the two tasks flown thus far will count as the official results.
Open-class PG's are currently banned from FAI category 1 competitions. We are not sure how long this ban will be in effect for, or what this will mean for FAI category 2 comps (eg. the Canadian PG Nats coming up next week). PWC's are not affected by this decision.
I have conflicting emotions about this whole thing. After the events of 2009, and with the mandatory inclusion of certain harnesses and helmets at FAI category 1 comps, and with the current political climate of the FAI, I opted to decline my spot and skip the Worlds this time around. Now from the sidelines I'm watching things devolve into a shit-show as the FAI appears to distance itself from the whole thing. The deaths of Francisco Vargas and Eitel von Muhlenbrock are tragic and thought-provoking...were their gliders part of the equation, or was it more the mentality of comp pilots in general (eg. full speed whenever possible, among other things) that contributed? These questions and more will be dissected in full over the next few days and weeks, I'm sure.
About the cancelling of the rest of the comp: a few days ago I didn't think this would happen, if only because too many pilots and organizations had invested so much into it. But I was wrong. Given that so many pilots are there already, many with sponsorships and donations to make their attendance possible in the first place, some sort of memorial, non-FAI comp may take place. But I imagine a significant number of pilots may just go home. If I were there, what would I do? Honestly, I don't know and I'd have to think about it a bit more.
My thoughts are with our Canucks there: Brett, Keith, and Claudio. Whatever you guys decide to do, stay or leave, I am behind you!
Open-class PG's are currently banned from FAI category 1 competitions. We are not sure how long this ban will be in effect for, or what this will mean for FAI category 2 comps (eg. the Canadian PG Nats coming up next week). PWC's are not affected by this decision.
I have conflicting emotions about this whole thing. After the events of 2009, and with the mandatory inclusion of certain harnesses and helmets at FAI category 1 comps, and with the current political climate of the FAI, I opted to decline my spot and skip the Worlds this time around. Now from the sidelines I'm watching things devolve into a shit-show as the FAI appears to distance itself from the whole thing. The deaths of Francisco Vargas and Eitel von Muhlenbrock are tragic and thought-provoking...were their gliders part of the equation, or was it more the mentality of comp pilots in general (eg. full speed whenever possible, among other things) that contributed? These questions and more will be dissected in full over the next few days and weeks, I'm sure.
About the cancelling of the rest of the comp: a few days ago I didn't think this would happen, if only because too many pilots and organizations had invested so much into it. But I was wrong. Given that so many pilots are there already, many with sponsorships and donations to make their attendance possible in the first place, some sort of memorial, non-FAI comp may take place. But I imagine a significant number of pilots may just go home. If I were there, what would I do? Honestly, I don't know and I'd have to think about it a bit more.
My thoughts are with our Canucks there: Brett, Keith, and Claudio. Whatever you guys decide to do, stay or leave, I am behind you!
Bridal July 4
Despite all the flying I've done on the Bridal side of the Fraser Valley this year, it's all been originating from Woodside and I haven't actually flown *from* Bridal yet. Today was actually my first proper Bridal flight this year.
We had a visiting pilot from Germany flying Bridal for the first time, so I made sure he got off launch safely before launching myself. In the air it was a bit punchy and the glides were punctuated with a bit of turbulence; it was hard to stay on the bar for long periods of time without getting jostled around at some point. But there was plenty of lift and easy to do the Bridal milkrun from Ludwig to Elk.
Got my highest at the Lakes on the way back from Ludwig...1850m. This climb was different from any of the others I had experienced yet today; it was very strong and smooth (most others were a bit broken) and it was so different-feeling I looked up wondering if a stray cloud was forming (it was a blue day and the only clouds were in the back ranges although I saw one near Lady Peak behind Cheam). No cloud but it was the nicest climb of the day!
Some pilots had toplanded at Upper Bridal but I opted not to (reports of muddy spots on the front of launch where the snow has melted off) and did a run out to the Agassiz bridge. I was curious to find out how low I could return to the soaring knob and still get back up; Rob has done it from 250m and I've done it from 300m. Today I got back at 260m and wasn't able to do it :( so ended up landing at the LZ. Oh well, now I have a new challenge to do at the end of the day...can I break 250m?
We had a visiting pilot from Germany flying Bridal for the first time, so I made sure he got off launch safely before launching myself. In the air it was a bit punchy and the glides were punctuated with a bit of turbulence; it was hard to stay on the bar for long periods of time without getting jostled around at some point. But there was plenty of lift and easy to do the Bridal milkrun from Ludwig to Elk.
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| At the Lakes at 1850m, looking west to Cheam |
Some pilots had toplanded at Upper Bridal but I opted not to (reports of muddy spots on the front of launch where the snow has melted off) and did a run out to the Agassiz bridge. I was curious to find out how low I could return to the soaring knob and still get back up; Rob has done it from 250m and I've done it from 300m. Today I got back at 260m and wasn't able to do it :( so ended up landing at the LZ. Oh well, now I have a new challenge to do at the end of the day...can I break 250m?
Grouse July 2
Back to Grouse and this time there were a few more solo pilots flying...Mark Tulloch was out with his HG, Doug Wakefield taking photos, Bill, Miguel, Dave, Brent, and the tandem guys. Got up top around 4pm and Mark was waiting for an up cycle amongst the cross east cycles. There was a huge lineup for the gondola ride down (despite them running it every 4 minutes, which is their fastest rate when they're moving passengers and not freight), almost to the lumberjack show (= a 1 hour wait) so flying was definitely the better option today!
Up in the air it was quite windy from the south and the thermals were rather snarly and violent at times. It was definitely a day to practice active flying, and keeping your hands on the brakes (no photos!) for the occasional jerk up (or down). Cloudbase was very high today...I got to 1700m easily and I think Mark got higher at times (the CYA ceiling is 1800m). Lots of lift but equally lots of severe sink too. I had wanted to fly back to Crown and beyond, there was plenty of lift for it, but the strong south winds made me think twice since pushing a headwind back to Grouse in those valleys can be not nice sometimes!
On the radio I was able to talk to pilots flying at Bridal and it sounded like good flying there but possibly getting windy, with reports of windlines showing on Cultus Lake. Did it ever get blown out at Bridal or did it stay good?
I eventually noticed a band of shade moving in, and decided to take advantage of it for landing, since the Grouse LZ can be a handful before 6pm when it's sunny and thermic. Total airtime just over 1 hour.
Up in the air it was quite windy from the south and the thermals were rather snarly and violent at times. It was definitely a day to practice active flying, and keeping your hands on the brakes (no photos!) for the occasional jerk up (or down). Cloudbase was very high today...I got to 1700m easily and I think Mark got higher at times (the CYA ceiling is 1800m). Lots of lift but equally lots of severe sink too. I had wanted to fly back to Crown and beyond, there was plenty of lift for it, but the strong south winds made me think twice since pushing a headwind back to Grouse in those valleys can be not nice sometimes!
On the radio I was able to talk to pilots flying at Bridal and it sounded like good flying there but possibly getting windy, with reports of windlines showing on Cultus Lake. Did it ever get blown out at Bridal or did it stay good?
I eventually noticed a band of shade moving in, and decided to take advantage of it for landing, since the Grouse LZ can be a handful before 6pm when it's sunny and thermic. Total airtime just over 1 hour.
Canada Day at Grouse Mountain
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| The snow makes launching really nice. |
Up on launch there is still tonnes of snow, which makes the launching super-nice...a huge area to lay out on with no mud or sticks, and the snow also covers the boulders so you can lay out way to the east if you wanted.
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| Eye of the Wind |
In the air it was feeling east; cloudbase was about 1600m. We'd get bands of sun and use this to get high. At one point it got very shady and I had to go into "survival mode", hanging out over the west cliffs and their residual heat until the band of shade passed and the sun reappeared. I stayed in the air for about 1h:15min before heading out to land.
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| Looking out over the city. |
On the way out to the LZ we had Whistler Air fly by us in their seaplanes; they were taking the shortcut from Whistler to Vancouver Harbour via the Capilano valley and popped out right at our altitude. I saw the first one (Whistler Air sports bright yellow on their aircraft) below me but the second one was right behind and higher, so I was able to wave to the pilot as he flew by (after doing a hard spiral to show him where I was).
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| Dave Merrick being patriotic. |
The North Shore Paragliding tandem guys were operating in full force today; they expect this coming week to be busy for them. Lots of happy tandem passengers in the LZ this afternoon!
Solstice flying June 21
Initially we thought we'd head to Pemberton but the wx there was looking a bit too cloudy for our tastes so we went to the Fraser Valley instead. Woodside was looking good with a big cu perched atop it and pilots flying around when we showed up.
In the air it was actually hard to get above 1100m but once through the inversion the ride to cloudbase got much easier, to almost 1900m! This is really high for Woodside, and we were debating whether to use this altitude to head west for the 60km triangle, or head east to Hope. Alex, Robin, and I opted for the east-to-Hope route (we don't usually get to fly to Hope but I wanted to do something different), while Al opted for a big triangle by heading west.
Over on Bear Alex got a climb to cloudbase and was away to Hicks while I was stuck on Bear and Robin was back on Agassiz. Eventually I found a climb that took me to 1600m and on my way to Hicks. It seemed to be north around the Harrison Lake area so I took the north line towards Squalik and picked up some climbs along the way, but nothing like the Woodside or Bear climb, and the clouds were drying up on the Woodside side of the river.
Passed by Robin who was at Hicks looking for a climb and joined with Alex who was stuck at Squalik. This time of year with the river so high, there are few landing options along this stretch so we wanted to make sure we were high enough to make the glide across the river to the Hope airport if necessary. Robin had found a nice climb off Hicks and crossed into Laidlaw to continue the flight to Hope via that side.
Eventually Alex dove over the back from Squalik to Dog Mountain and then it was my turn to be stuck on Squalik. I wanted to be at least 1000m here in order to continue to Dog Mountain, but I could only get to 900m. Eventually, after coloring in the terrain with my tracklog over Squalik, I found an anemic thermal which drifted me over the back into the rotor but was getting me over 1000m, so I took it and dove over to the cliffs on Dog.
I had never been to Dog Mountain before (most of my to-Hope flights have involved a final glide at this point and leaving the mountains) and I had an easy glide to the airport, so I took the opportunity to sight-see and be a tourist for a while. I didn't know Dog had a gondola that goes to the towers at the top! The cliffs were working nicely and I could have gotten back up and high, but the airport was beckoning and Rob S was reported to be on his way to pick us up (he hadn't been able to get through the inversion at Woodside and eventually landed).
Hoovered into the airport next to Robin and Alex and then off to Bridal to get Rob a second flight (thanks for picking us up, Rob!). En-route to Bridal I received a SPOT message from Al saying he had landed out. I had setup a shared SPOT page for Al a few weeks back, so I accessed it now and emailed the map and co-ords link to Jim who was planning on picking him up.
Back at Bridal it was glassing off nicely but I decided to be the retrieve bunny this time and told the boys to do a glide test from Bridal to Agassiz where I would pick them up. Meanwhile over at Elk the hike-and-fly guys were whooping it up with a big Solstice party (apparently with nudity, women, and booze involved) where they were planning on spending the night. Kevin flew over and joined them briefly but opted for his own bed at the end of the day :)
We had a scare on launch when one of the visiting CA pilots tried to do a Lindsay into the stumps below the rock, but miraculously flew away with a bunch of leaves in his lines and I'm sure soiled pants.
Picked the boys up at the school in Agassiz and then off for Indian food while we heard that Jim had picked up Al. Ain't technology wonderful? Years back, if somebody landed out by themselves, there could be a major search for a missing pilot, but nowadays if you have a SPOT, you can let people know where you are. I fly with a SPOT as well (mostly for comp retrieval purposes) but I always find it comforting to know I have it in case I land out and don't have cellphone coverage.
Alex and I are off to Cortes Island for the next week, so no flying for us until we return!
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| Looking west |
Over on Bear Alex got a climb to cloudbase and was away to Hicks while I was stuck on Bear and Robin was back on Agassiz. Eventually I found a climb that took me to 1600m and on my way to Hicks. It seemed to be north around the Harrison Lake area so I took the north line towards Squalik and picked up some climbs along the way, but nothing like the Woodside or Bear climb, and the clouds were drying up on the Woodside side of the river.
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| Dog Mountain with the gondola line on the left. |
Eventually Alex dove over the back from Squalik to Dog Mountain and then it was my turn to be stuck on Squalik. I wanted to be at least 1000m here in order to continue to Dog Mountain, but I could only get to 900m. Eventually, after coloring in the terrain with my tracklog over Squalik, I found an anemic thermal which drifted me over the back into the rotor but was getting me over 1000m, so I took it and dove over to the cliffs on Dog.
I had never been to Dog Mountain before (most of my to-Hope flights have involved a final glide at this point and leaving the mountains) and I had an easy glide to the airport, so I took the opportunity to sight-see and be a tourist for a while. I didn't know Dog had a gondola that goes to the towers at the top! The cliffs were working nicely and I could have gotten back up and high, but the airport was beckoning and Rob S was reported to be on his way to pick us up (he hadn't been able to get through the inversion at Woodside and eventually landed).
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| Hope airport on the right. |
Hoovered into the airport next to Robin and Alex and then off to Bridal to get Rob a second flight (thanks for picking us up, Rob!). En-route to Bridal I received a SPOT message from Al saying he had landed out. I had setup a shared SPOT page for Al a few weeks back, so I accessed it now and emailed the map and co-ords link to Jim who was planning on picking him up.
Back at Bridal it was glassing off nicely but I decided to be the retrieve bunny this time and told the boys to do a glide test from Bridal to Agassiz where I would pick them up. Meanwhile over at Elk the hike-and-fly guys were whooping it up with a big Solstice party (apparently with nudity, women, and booze involved) where they were planning on spending the night. Kevin flew over and joined them briefly but opted for his own bed at the end of the day :)
We had a scare on launch when one of the visiting CA pilots tried to do a Lindsay into the stumps below the rock, but miraculously flew away with a bunch of leaves in his lines and I'm sure soiled pants.
Picked the boys up at the school in Agassiz and then off for Indian food while we heard that Jim had picked up Al. Ain't technology wonderful? Years back, if somebody landed out by themselves, there could be a major search for a missing pilot, but nowadays if you have a SPOT, you can let people know where you are. I fly with a SPOT as well (mostly for comp retrieval purposes) but I always find it comforting to know I have it in case I land out and don't have cellphone coverage.
Alex and I are off to Cortes Island for the next week, so no flying for us until we return!
Woodside June 16-17
Thought it would clear either/both days, but it never really did...Wednesday it was lightly ridge soarable and Alex and I were able to stay up for about 1 hour before we headed out to land and eat. During this flight we were also able to do some performance tests between my XC3 and his new M4...I have a higher trim speed, but on bar he has me on glide. We are currently flying at pretty much identical all-up weights (my heavier harness and carrying ballast equals his initial higher body weight) and flying similar pod harnesses, and we did the tests several times right next to each other, so the results are pretty reliable.
The rest of the day was pretty much sled rides since the winds died. Next day was similar...sled rides and the sun never quite broke through. I did do a flight on Alex's glider and agreed with him that 81-82kg is too light for the small unless you are used to flying gliders lightly-loaded.
Maybe Pemberton on Tuesday/Wednesday if the weather holds up next week. It would be nice to get a nice XC up there, maybe the 100 km OR or triangle if we can swing it?
The rest of the day was pretty much sled rides since the winds died. Next day was similar...sled rides and the sun never quite broke through. I did do a flight on Alex's glider and agreed with him that 81-82kg is too light for the small unless you are used to flying gliders lightly-loaded.
Maybe Pemberton on Tuesday/Wednesday if the weather holds up next week. It would be nice to get a nice XC up there, maybe the 100 km OR or triangle if we can swing it?
Eastern WA June 11-12
Alex and I decided to hook up with the Seattle crowd for the weekend as they were gonna be flying the desert. Invited Al and Matt along and met up at Baldy Mountain which is in between Ellensburg and Yakima.
After getting Al's and Matt's site orientation finished and their waivers signed we headed up the mountain with a pretty large crew from Seattle (14 pilots in total). Up on launch it was switchy with pilots launching south, west, and northwest.
The thermal off launch was one of the smoothest I've had in a long time for one of that strength (4-5m/s sustained all the way up to cloudbase at 2500+m...usually if it's that strong, I find the edges rough but not this time). Given that it was my first real time going XC from this site, I followed the Seattle crowd who was heading north to I-90. We had to avoid the US military's firing range airspace on the way there (and they were indeed using the airspace...we could see the puffs of smoke as they fired off missiles and bombs). And the skies were looking fantastic to the east (some OD to the far north but nothing to worry about), but we weren't allowed east right away due to the airspace. To the north is Ellensburg, which tends to get windy so you have to be careful to get high and stay high until you get out of the wind tunnel.
To the north we headed, and pretty much all of us sunk out either on Umtanum Ridge, or in Badger Pocket, with Dave Wheeler and Bill Hughes making it to Vantage where they reported landing backwards.
I had a really cool retrieve from Umtanum Ridge, where I was hitch-hiking along the highway when a stretch limo pulled up and offered me a ride to Ellensburg. It was a wedding party on their way to a wedding: the groom and his best man and a bunch of buddies, and they were quite happy to give me a ride to the turnoff to Baldy. I felt quite scungy in my desert-dust-encrusted flying clothes next to their pressed tuxedos, and I made sure to keep my dusty gliderbag away from them too :)
Back in Ellensburg we decided the call would be Chelan for Sunday so that's where we all met up the next day. There was quite a large turnout with 7-8 HG and maybe 15 PG pilots all setting up on launch. The skies were looking good again but this time the clouds were showing southeast, which is an odd direction for Chelan.
Up in the air it was definitely SE, and after getting high we experimented with crossing to the rim, but once over there the thermals were just drifting us back over the river and back to the Butte side, so we changed tactics and decided to fly north along the airport side instead of along the rim.
I found the air a bit harder to read this day; the cores were not consistent and they would fizzle out in weird spots. And there was huge sink in amongst the clouds. But I managed to get past Brewster and partway to Omak before I got shot down at 57km. At Brewster the plateau on the east side of the river drops down, and the east wind was really howling through there, so the cross-tail wind I had previously turned to a cross-headwind, and then a full headwind at times as I crossed to Brewster. And there was some high cirrus moving in which was thickening up as the front was moving in (it was starting to OD to the west in the mountains).
Given the wind direction it would have been nice to turn up the Methow valley when I got to that gap, but with the skies looking more threatening to the west it would probably have ended up with me landing and then getting rained on, and I don't know that valley well enough to know if it tends to get windy around Twisp. The skies to the east were looking fantastic with no OD at all, but with the SE winds they were a bit hard to reach :) In any case, it was kinda cool to fly north along highway 97 with an easy retrieve the entire way below you, and the possibility of flying even further north to the border.
After getting Al's and Matt's site orientation finished and their waivers signed we headed up the mountain with a pretty large crew from Seattle (14 pilots in total). Up on launch it was switchy with pilots launching south, west, and northwest.
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| Windmills at Ellensburg |
To the north we headed, and pretty much all of us sunk out either on Umtanum Ridge, or in Badger Pocket, with Dave Wheeler and Bill Hughes making it to Vantage where they reported landing backwards.
I had a really cool retrieve from Umtanum Ridge, where I was hitch-hiking along the highway when a stretch limo pulled up and offered me a ride to Ellensburg. It was a wedding party on their way to a wedding: the groom and his best man and a bunch of buddies, and they were quite happy to give me a ride to the turnoff to Baldy. I felt quite scungy in my desert-dust-encrusted flying clothes next to their pressed tuxedos, and I made sure to keep my dusty gliderbag away from them too :)
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| Flooded Yakima River |
Up in the air it was definitely SE, and after getting high we experimented with crossing to the rim, but once over there the thermals were just drifting us back over the river and back to the Butte side, so we changed tactics and decided to fly north along the airport side instead of along the rim.
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| Looking north from Chelan Butte |
Sunny and Hot in Pemberton June 5
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| Looking north toward Hurley Pass. |
First thing in the morning Greg, Reto, and Jim took a helicopter up to Mt. Currie where they all flew off. Over at MacKenzie it was sunny and hot, and a bit of NW wind. Nice launching conditions but we never actually launched until sometime after 1pm.
I was flying Alex's glider since he was flying mine so it took a few turns to get used to the new brake pressure etc. But got away from launch and up to the towers, and then turned north. (BTW, there is still 1 patch of snow on the road to upper launch that is preventing pilots from driving all the way, but it's about a 10 minute walk from the last snow patch.)
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| The new launch still has snow on it. |
Back at launch there were reports of a glider in the trees just below launch but the pilot was OK. Then I watched another pilot spin their glider into the trees just on the ridge before you get into the south bowl, they were OK as well and hiked out within the hour.
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| Some company! |
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