A very average day at Woodside. It was raining in Deroche on and off for pretty much the entire afternoon, and there was very little blue sky. Just a lot of wind and cloudsuck at about 800m, although it was very smooth once in the air. Flew for about 1 hour and then decided to land before I got rained on, as the cell over Deroche seemed to be getting bigger.
Al, Martin N., and Martin H. flew as well, as well as Andrew Pugh on his HG. Several others stood down as the cycles were quite strong and cross. I heard a bunch of chatter over at Bridal so people were flying there too. Tomorrow will be a much better day.
Easter weekend April 2011
Given that it was the Easter meet weekend in Savona, and I've never really flown Savona (OK, once, but it was 10 years ago, 1 flight off the dump, and I don't remember much about it), we decided to head up-country to try the XC possibilities up there. I knew we'd probably be missing another good day in the Fraser Valley, but I figured, we can fly the Fraser Valley anytime, but Savona is a bit harder to predict and there's gonna be a bunch of people there already, so let's go.
Saturday was a really good day in Savona (and Friday was too): Alex and I flew to Cache Creek and back to Deadmans, for a 50km out and return. We had John McClintock with us for part of the flight and a few other HG's went XC too. But we didn't actually take off until later in the day due to it blowing too much east earlier and it was over the back (but not strong enough to justify going to an east-facing ridge site). So had we been able to get going earlier we'd have gone farther, but it was a nice introduction to the area.
(More pics are here.)
Back on the road back to Vancouver we watched the rain approach and then it was back to the wet coast for another week of rain. But Savona was sunny and dry (and hot in the LZ...it felt like summer!), and apparently this was one of the few Easter Meets where it was flyable all 3 days. In the end I was glad to have gone to Savona to try someplace different, fly with a different crowd, and get away from the FV flying for a bit.
Blanchard Fly-in April 16-17
It was quite cloudy at first and on launch it was light south winds. But birds were soaring to the south so a few of us launched and were able to stay up in the light thermals. Eventually the winds picked up and swung around more to the west, and it became easier to stay up (and a larger lift band too). As it got stronger and more west more pilots launched, until at one point there were over 40 gliders in the air. KomoTV was out and was filming, the parking lot was full of sightseers and their cars, and both launches were filled with set-up hang gliders and bunched-up paragliders. No top-landing today!
It got quite busy on the west side, and there was a mid-air on the south side. Both pilots were unhurt and flew away, with one glider the worse for wear with a couple of torn cells and broken lines. A large storm cell was brewing to the east and the wind was picking up a bit, so I went out to land (I had flown for almost 2.5 hours by now and my hands were getting cold...I hadn't busted out my chemical heat-warmers) and managed to keep the glider dry (the field is quite wet...you want to land as close to, and pack up on, the driveway). About 15 minutes after I landed it got quite gusty and strong from the NW, and lots of late-landing PG pilots got dragged through the water and mud as they came in going backwards etc. Quite entertaining to watch :)
With the rest of the day blown out and too north, it was time to party! Basecamp was at Jeff and Stacey Beck's house on the way up to launch, and they had a sweet setup. Lots of space to set up tents, tables, a pig roasting, a bonfire set up (the wood was arranged in a statue of a PG pilot), and zipline. The PG pilot bonfire was lit (to the cheers of the crowd), the food was served, and pilots warmed around the campfire late into the night.
Next morning was breakfast time (served by Jeff and Stacey) and then time to figure out what to do. The winds were NW and we feared it was gonna stay that way, so initially Alex and I were gonna head to the Fraser Valley. Some pilots headed home towards Tiger Mtn, while most others stayed at Blanchard.
Good thing we stayed at Blanchard! The NW winds died off enough to get off launch, it was more sweet than yesterday! Bluer skies and higher cloudbase, and it was XC time! Alex headed east to Lookout Mtn, (east of highway #5) and back to Blanchard, while I opted to fly SE towards Concrete (I had read a report of a pilot flying to Concrete from Blanchard last week and wanted to duplicate the feat).
Cloudbase was 1700m in spots and it was strong NW winds aloft, and a nice cloudstreet to Sedro-Woolley at the mouth of the (I think it's called) Skagit Valley. Arrived at the NW side and I had the tailwind (55+kph) and altitude to make it to Concrete, but I suspected it would be very windy there as the valley narrows into a mountain pass (a local later on confirmed this and said Concrete gets windy easily and often). So I opted to turn around and fly back to Sedro-Woolley, where I landed on the outskirts of town where Alex picked me up. A nice 33km flight, and a new place to explore on XC!
Turns out Steve Forslund had followed me and landed in the same area, so we went to pick him up too. Meanwhile back at Blanchard it was still on, and ridge-soarable plus thermic, and pilots were having a epic time.
Photos of the weekend are here.
We had an excellent 2 days in Blanchard. That place is a good option when it's otherwise skunky inland, especially this time of year when it's calling for 40-60% POP in the Fraser Valley. Just remember to factor in the border wait if you are crossing via Vancouver!
Epic Woodside April 7-8
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| Looking back at Harrison Lake during the glide to Ludwig. |
Yesterday we weren't sure it was gonna be any good with all the north wind around, but we gave it the ol' college try. When we showed up on launch there was 1' of new snow and blowing super-cross. It was deep and wet, which made it hard to run in. But we were able to get off launch eventually and decided to try some XC.
Alex flew to Agassiz Mountain and almost back, landing on the logging road behind launch and hiking up for flight #2. Al and I headed west. It wasn't looking very good at Sasquatch; Al was low and eventually landed at the end of the bay, so I opted to try Harrison knob. Got up over there to 1200m and then pushed west, flying over the river and nowhere near the mountains since all the good lift was over the sandbars and the thermals leaning away from the mountains. It worked until I hit a blue hole at Deroche, and was shot down by the west wind which had kicked in at the lower levels. Landed at the crescent field in Deroche.
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| At Bear, looking at Ludwig and the Butterfly. |
Kevin was driving in from Abbotsford and picked me up and then back up to launch for flight #2.
It was now getting late in the afternoon, but cycles were coming straight in so we (Kevin, Alex, Al, Tom Chromy, and myself) opted to fly over the back this time around. It was still very north at Harrison Lake, which is never great for Bear, but we were able to get super-high (1700m) which made the glide over to Ludwig easy (especially with the tailwind).
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| Lots of new snow on Cheam! |
(I should mention that Tom had never flown over the back of Woodside before, let alone a Bear-Ludwig crossing, so it was a day of firsts for him. Congrats, Tom!)
Kevin and I couldn't get high enough for a glide back across the valley, and Tom's ride was coming by to get us, so we opted to stick around the Bridal side and play around for another hour, exploring all the areas we hadn't been able to since last fall. Landed at 7pm and it was still working! For me, it was a 50.04km flight, and a nice treat, coming so late in the day, and after my earlier XC to Deroche. Al was super-happy with his flight and almost-landing at Riverside. And of course Tom was over the moon with his inadvertent epic over the back from Woodside!
Today (Friday) was less epic, but only because a bunch of cirrus came in early and shut our down plans for a big XC. It was certainly soarable all day at Woodside, and later on the cirrus dissipated and the cu's popped and it got windy from the west, which all combined for an epic late-day ridge/thermic session. A bunch of us got high and flew west, although I eventually bailed (I was test-flying the new lines on the Aspen3, and hadn't adjusted the speed bar lines from my customary XC3 setting) and turned around, after getting an epic thermal over the Harrison bridge (it was super-windy so it drifted us back over the Harrison river).
Al, Alex, and Matt got up at Sasquatch and then flew back to Woodside, eventually landed at Harvest Market. Claudia flew to the foot of Agassiz Mountain, landing near the road to Harrison Hot Springs. And I heard that Nickolai went over the back (and perhaps some others too) and was last heard in Laidlaw, after crossing to the Bridal side. And the hang gliders looked to be having a very fun time and got high too. Once again, this all happened late in the day, with Woodside working until late in the afternoon and possibly into the evening hours too.
On the Bridal side, cloudbase was just over the peak of Cheam, so it was at least 2000m over there. Had anybody flown that side of the valley, it would have been sweet!
The next few days look wet, so I'm glad we got our 2 days in, and it looks like a bunch of others played hooky today too (don't any of you people work?!).
Woodside April 3
I wouldn't usually go out paragliding on a day with a rainy forecast, but I wanted to install a new lineset on the Aspen3 using Eagle Ranch's facilities, and when Alex and I arrived, it was still dry and cloudbase had just lifted above launch.
The windsock was dancing around a bit, and Lucas (visiting HG pilot from Kentucky) had been in the air soaring around for a while already. So Gerry, Alex, Wiley, and myself went up to launch to find Claudia, Peter, et al. There was a raincell over Chilliwack but it didn't seem to be coming closer (in fact it was dissipating). It looked like it would stay dry for a while longer so I launched lickity-split.
Idiot lift everywhere and the lift band extended way out towards the river. Max altitude was 1061m. A few other pilots got off before it blew out on launch, but it was smooth and fun in the air. After about 1 hour or so we all headed out to land, and the lower we got, the windier it got. Most of us opted for the Ranch but I think Peter went to Harvest Market instead. It then proceeded to get very windy up high and on launch: Jon Orders with a HG tandem had to stand down, and those who had just driven up were denied as well. So we got to fly in the brief window before it blew out, and later on that afternoon (as Alex and I relined the glider in the barn, a very time-consuming process!) it poured rain. It was a fun flight and a nice change to have a smooth ridge-soaring flight this time of year.
The windsock was dancing around a bit, and Lucas (visiting HG pilot from Kentucky) had been in the air soaring around for a while already. So Gerry, Alex, Wiley, and myself went up to launch to find Claudia, Peter, et al. There was a raincell over Chilliwack but it didn't seem to be coming closer (in fact it was dissipating). It looked like it would stay dry for a while longer so I launched lickity-split.
Idiot lift everywhere and the lift band extended way out towards the river. Max altitude was 1061m. A few other pilots got off before it blew out on launch, but it was smooth and fun in the air. After about 1 hour or so we all headed out to land, and the lower we got, the windier it got. Most of us opted for the Ranch but I think Peter went to Harvest Market instead. It then proceeded to get very windy up high and on launch: Jon Orders with a HG tandem had to stand down, and those who had just driven up were denied as well. So we got to fly in the brief window before it blew out, and later on that afternoon (as Alex and I relined the glider in the barn, a very time-consuming process!) it poured rain. It was a fun flight and a nice change to have a smooth ridge-soaring flight this time of year.
Woodside March 27
Alex and I eventually went over the back to Agassiz Mountain, with Robin and Greg following. Alex turned around at Agassiz to fly back to Woodside, while I opted to keep going and crossed to Bear once I got to 1500m.
Over at Bear it was kinda north up high, although Harrison Lake looked dead calm (see photo). The thermals were sliding across the west face and it was hard to get up, but Robin, Greg, and I each found a thermal core, which eventually coalesced into one giant Cerberus thermal which took us to 1550m. We were trying to decide what to do now...continue to Hope, or cross to Bridal. Due to retrieve issues and a potential headwind to Hope (it was still outflow up high) we opted to cross to Bridal via Ludwig.
The crossing wasn't that great...we left at 1550m, had a tailwind for the first half, but then encountered a south headwind the rest of the way, to arrive at Ludwig at 800m. It wasn't as lifty as the Woodside side of the valley and we weren't really able to get high (we never got back above 1000m), and scunged along to the Lakes to arrive around 500m. Greg had landed on the highway median below the pumphouse and Robin and I were trying to reach the Popkum interchange, and the Lakes provided us with the crucial 150m we needed to make it that far.
Several pilots flew to Green Hill and landed at the base, while Rob was able to make it almost back to Harvest Market to meet up with Alex.
It was shading over and shutting down on the Bridal side, so we landed at the Popkum interchange in light west winds and the occasional spit of rain. Alex was able to retrieve us, and on the way back to Robin's car we could see it raining in Chilliwack. Flight was just over 2 hours and 29km. I think we would have been OK flying to Hope, as that side of the valley stayed nicer for longer, and with the abundance of sandbars we would have had plenty of options if we had gone down between Ruby Creek and Hope.
Mt. St. Benedict March 23
But on the way up the truck was swerving a bit in the wet snow and I wasn't sure I *wanted* to drive it down at that point, so I was pretty much committed to hiking up! Going up was pretty slow for me as I was breaking through the snow every so often (up to my hips) while the rest were snowshoeing up.
As I got to the last ridge at the powerline valley I could hear the north wind howling through the gap, but it was blowing up at launch, and the smoke in the valley below was showing light inflow (see photos). Rob and Al got to launch first, and Rob turned around to bring me Al's snowshoes at the 2/3's point (thanks Rob, it was a big help!), so I was able to pick up the pace and make it to launch after 2:20 of hiking (they did it in 1:30).
Launch has 10-12' of snow, and about 14' in the hollow. Perfect for top-landing, not so great for launching!
Al had just launched and appeared to sink out, but we later on saw him scunging around at 600m or so towards Dewdney. Jim was next, and then it was Matt's turn. We had tramped down a runway so we wouldn't punch through during our launch runs, but Matt went through anyways and almost aborted, kicking a tree as he swung through the pendulum and flying away.
I went next, and was soon in the air and climbing. The air was ratty and leeside up to about 1200m, and then it smoothed out as the mountains fell away. Smooth up to 1600m, and then bouncy again up to 1700m. As I flew south the wind direction was almost directly due south up high, but got more east as I flew towards the Fraser Valley. There was very little north wind up high. At Dewdney it was very east and I was actually flying up the Norrish Creek side of things, and it still looked windy in the Fraser Valley so I turned around to land someplace in the Sylvester Valley where it would probably be nicer conditions. I was still high so crossed the valley to the Mission side, lots of lift over there, and eventually landed at the Durieu School LZ with Rob S, after 2:13 in the air.
Al had landed in Mission, and Matt had done an out-and-return from Dewdney and back to the Dike LZ. Jim landed just north of Allan Lake. All had great flights and lots of grins in the Durieu LZ where we all met up.
I talked with Kevin Ault who was at Elk, and later heard that he flew to Cultus Lake after getting to 2000m over Elk. So it was a good day, so long as you weren't in the Fraser Valley!
If you are going to hike Benedict, bring snowshoes! There is tonnes of snow still and will take a long time to melt. There is another obstacle at the bottom of the road up...another burned out car. You have to drive in the bushes to get around it, as they parked it directly in the middle of the road before torching it.
Woodside March 6
After over a month of no flying since Colombia, I got to fly today! It was just a local flight at Woodside, but I got to go over the back to Agassiz Mountain and then land at Harvest Market for a small 14km XC.
It was friggin cold though! After the shorts-and t-shirts of Colombia I felt like the Michelin Man. Fortunately I was wearing my chemical heat warmers in my mitts, so I was able to stay up for over 2 hours and no frostbite.
There's lots of snow on the Woodside road...we got as far as the 4km mark in Al's truck and had to hike the rest of the way in (20 minutes). The snow is still thigh-deep in places but there's now a well-trod path so you don't have to posthole it anymore.
It was friggin cold though! After the shorts-and t-shirts of Colombia I felt like the Michelin Man. Fortunately I was wearing my chemical heat warmers in my mitts, so I was able to stay up for over 2 hours and no frostbite.
There's lots of snow on the Woodside road...we got as far as the 4km mark in Al's truck and had to hike the rest of the way in (20 minutes). The snow is still thigh-deep in places but there's now a well-trod path so you don't have to posthole it anymore.
Post-PWC in Roldanillo
Well last night we had the awards ceremony for the World Cup; we had it at the same place we had the awards for the Roldanillo Open last week. Full results can be found here. I expect Philippe will also have some videos up at some point.
I was able to get 100th overall, and 7th in the women's division. Since this event also doubled as the American Continental Cup, I was able to get 2nd in the women's division. Not quite enough for a for-sure invite to the Superfinal in Valle (they are accepting the top 3 women overall of this comp, plus the 1st place in the American Cup), but I'm hoping I can still get in either be attending another PWC and doing better, or maybe getting a spot later on if somebody else declines their Superfinal spot.
One note about travel insurance while visiting Colombia. Apparently here the hospitals will only accept cash and not travel insurance, so you need a policy that will agree to reimburse you after you use your own credit card to pay for your medical care. Make sure your credit card has a limit high enough to take care of any hospital bills! A couple of pilots have been hurt while here and this issue has come up all the time, so make sure your insurance company will do this reimbursement of costs after the fact. Hopefully next time there is a competition here the organizers will be able to arrange ahead of time with a certain hospital(s) to just care for any injured pilots and deal with the insurance later, rather than have the pilot waiting around for treatment because of confusion of who's gonna pay.
Most pilots have now left town, either for other flying in Bucamaranga, or to their airports of departure. I don't leave until Wednesday but I'll likely spend the remaining days relaxing and enjoying the sun before I head back to Vancouver. This place is amazing to fly. This is supposedly a "bad" year because it's La Nina, but it's been flyable everyday since I got here, and over both comps we flew 12 out of 12 days, plus all the practice days. I got a total of over 700km XC flown and 46 hours of airtime, so my glider is no longer brand-new :) There is already talk of holding more major comps here, like a future World Championships or maybe even a PWC Superfinal at some point.
I was able to get 100th overall, and 7th in the women's division. Since this event also doubled as the American Continental Cup, I was able to get 2nd in the women's division. Not quite enough for a for-sure invite to the Superfinal in Valle (they are accepting the top 3 women overall of this comp, plus the 1st place in the American Cup), but I'm hoping I can still get in either be attending another PWC and doing better, or maybe getting a spot later on if somebody else declines their Superfinal spot.
One note about travel insurance while visiting Colombia. Apparently here the hospitals will only accept cash and not travel insurance, so you need a policy that will agree to reimburse you after you use your own credit card to pay for your medical care. Make sure your credit card has a limit high enough to take care of any hospital bills! A couple of pilots have been hurt while here and this issue has come up all the time, so make sure your insurance company will do this reimbursement of costs after the fact. Hopefully next time there is a competition here the organizers will be able to arrange ahead of time with a certain hospital(s) to just care for any injured pilots and deal with the insurance later, rather than have the pilot waiting around for treatment because of confusion of who's gonna pay.
Most pilots have now left town, either for other flying in Bucamaranga, or to their airports of departure. I don't leave until Wednesday but I'll likely spend the remaining days relaxing and enjoying the sun before I head back to Vancouver. This place is amazing to fly. This is supposedly a "bad" year because it's La Nina, but it's been flyable everyday since I got here, and over both comps we flew 12 out of 12 days, plus all the practice days. I got a total of over 700km XC flown and 46 hours of airtime, so my glider is no longer brand-new :) There is already talk of holding more major comps here, like a future World Championships or maybe even a PWC Superfinal at some point.
PWC Roldanillo Jan 21
I had a much better day today compared to yesterday. Didn't make goal, but got 98km and had an epic walkout from the back of beyond.
Last day of the comp and the organizers decided another monster task was in order. So a 173km (110km actual distance) task was set for a cat's cradle of Valle de Cauca.
I was one of the first to launch and it was a good thing, since after I launched it started lightly blowing down and most of the comp gliders were unable (or unwilling) to forward launch. Many blown launches, and much pushing ensued, while those of us who had launched early were circling around overhead wondering what the heck was going on down there.
The sky was so empty it was relaxing to get to the start and boat around before the armada got around to joining us over Roldanillo, so I only had to deal with the chaos of the start gaggle for 20 minutes vs. the usual 50-60min. Once the race had begun it was a race north to La Union to tank up before hitting the turnpoint just north, and then it was the long glide across the valley.
I got low at La Union which cost me about 30 minutes (important for later in the flight) and by the time I got out of there I was pretty much by myself except for a couple of other serial gliders. On the way for valley crossing #1 heard on the radio that Keiko had tossed her reserve (in fact we had 3 reserves tossed today in total). Jim, Daniel, and I flew together for the next 20km or so, until it came time to re-cross the valley for Bolivar. This crossing was more difficult than the first one since it was into wind and there were less clouds to guide me across. But able to cross and tank up over Roldanillo, which got me high enough to re-cross the valley for the 3rd time for the final run up north to Obando.
It was about 16:30 and the task deadline was 17:30, and I still had 34km to go. The clouds were dying and it was going to be close whether I'd get high enough to get the last bit or run out of usable daylight. 17:00 and I was still 20km short of goal and I was sinking out in a small valley off the main Valle de Cauca, with little in the way of civilization.
As I sunk lower into the valley the wind picked up, so I was able to ridge soar my way another 8km or so but as I was doing this I knew it was at the expense of an easy retrieve, as I was heading deeper into no-man's land. Jim and Daniel were higher than me and able to make it back into the main valley, while I landed out about 12km from goal.
But my landing zone was pretty remote. I had sidehilled it at the bottom of the ridge and had seen a house a couple of km's to my west, but when I got there it was inhabited by 3 children (all less than 10 years old) and no adults in sight. They weren't able to help me with a phone or directions to Obando (and there was no cell coverage, and I hadn't been able to get the Tigo network to accept Spot text messages), so I had to continue walking for another house I could see about 5km away.
It was now dark and still no cell reception, so I kept walking until I came upon a truck that took me towards civilization and the retrieve which was looking for me. Good thing I had my headlamp! Back at HQ by 8pm to find out that about 85 people had made goal.
I'm pretty happy about my flight; even though I didn't make goal I had a pretty cool flight with all the successful valley crossings, and the walkout wasn't that bad. And it was a nice end to the comp to fly the furthest I have so far in the several weeks I've been here. The skies were epic today and the winds weren't too bad. Had I not lost those 30 minutes at La Union I probably would have had enough usable daylight for the one more thermal climb I needed to make goal.
PS Man the PWC scoring system really kills you if you fail to make goal. Almost 7 hours of work and 98km, all for 328 points!
Tomorrow is a free-flying day and the awards are tomorrow night. I think I was able to stay in the top 100 overall, and 7th in the women's division. The PWC pilot talent here is incredible, and it's very humbling and a privilege to be flying with such good pilots.
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