Bridal Falls July 18

East wind today, which is always good for high altitude gains at Bridal Falls!

Hard to go XC on a strong east day in the FV, but Bridal works well if you just want to get high and enjoy the view.  Got over Cheam summit quite easily as we were getting to 2600-2700m, and Peter flew over to Lady Peak.  But he didn't make it back and ended up landing at Spoon Lake where he got a ride down with some hikers.  Meanwhile Simon and I were enjoying flying over the summit and waving at the crowd of people on the peak.

Went over to the Butterfly and found not much, but enough to let me get back to Cheam and where the only lift seemed to be.  But the really high lift had died by then and it was more standard flying as the east wind died and the west wind came in.

More epic flying in Pemberton July 1

Looking west up the Ryan River Valley.

Another light north day and this time we had a gaggle to fly up to Mount Meager, about 60 km up the Pemberton valley.  Because of the north wind, we decided the Miller side was the better side, and flew up past Sugarloaf and the Ryan river valley, Camel's Hump, and further west to Mt. Morrison and Overseer Peak.  I had never been this far on the west side of the valley before, and we were getting to 3000+ m, so we had fantastic views of the Pemberton ice cap as we flew west.

Leaving Overseer Peak, looking down at Capricorn creek and the 2010 landslide.

The north wind was light-ish, and only really noticeable above 2800 m.  Below that it was the typical valley flow (SW) but also light, which meant we could fly in the lee of mountains and it was OK, although the air was spicy enough in general that everyone was staying on their toes.

Crossing to Mt. Meager.  Pebble creek fire in the distance.

When we got to the junction of the Meager and Lilloet rivers, at the 50 km mark and Overseer Mountain, we decided to jump the Meager complex.  Flew directly over Capricorn creek and the site of the 2010 landslide (the scars from where it splashed up the sides of the Capricorn valley are still pretty obvious) and soared up the west side of Meager proper.  There was a constant plume of dust from the slide area (at first I wondered it was leftover Mt. Meager volcanic action like steam!), and I saw a small landslide in progress at one point.  The entire mountain seems to be ready to fall down at any moment: the rock looks really rotten!

Approaching the landslide, looking at Mt. Meager and Plinth Peak.

Amazing views to the west and north, we could see the Lilloet Glacier ~20 km further north and snow-capped mountains as far as the eye could see to the west and the Pacific.  We also saw a new forest fire which had recently started up in Pebble Creek on the east flank of Mt. Athelstan; fire crews were already working on it with helicopters and spotter planes.

Passing over Mt. Meager and soaring the dust plumes from the constant rockslides.

After tagging Plinth peak I decided I wanted to return to Pemberton so jumped over to Spindrift and headed back SE.  Despite the entire east side being in the lee of the north wind, down low it was SW so as long as I stayed below 2800m I had a tailwind.  Every so often I would poke my head above 2800m to double-check the north wind (yep it was still there!), and cloudbase was getting higher and higher.  I pulled out of several climbs at the 3400 m point, just because there wasn't really a need to go any higher!

Looking NW to Lilloet Glacier.  Plinth peak lower right corner.

It was a fantastic flight with awesome views, over 7 hours in the air, and it was fun to have a group to fly with.  I actually had the skies to myself for the run home because everyone else in the group was talking about top-landing for an overnight bivy, so weren't in a rush to return by dark, and only at the last minute bailed on the idea and realized they had to still fly 65+ km to get back home :)

132 km out and return.

Summer Solstice Epicness in Pemberton!

Longest day of the year and perfect paragliding weather for Pemberton.  Light winds (and I mean really light!) and high cloudbase, plus oodles of sun-hours, meant pilots went everywhere!  We had pilots up the Hurley FSR, Ryan River valley, Rutherford valley, to Whistler and back, and over Currie.  Lots of pilots opted to go really deep, km's from any usuable LZ's or roads, and it was all because the winds were so light it didn't really matter!

Sungod and Seven O'Clock  Mountains

It wasn't the smoothest air, but there was so much lift that even the "rough" stuff was plenty to get up in to keep going.  NE when we were above 3000m, SE below that, and down in the valley it was pretty much zero wind.  I had a fantastic time getting up on Currie.  Initially I was wondering if I was making a big mistake by flying to Currie way too early (it was only 2pm or so, we usually try Currie after 5 or 6) and also approaching it from the leeside.  But it worked and I managed to make it up over Currie, at which point I was flying the backside and seeing all sorts of views that we usually can't see from lower down.  I could see into the Caribou to the NE and it looked to be overdeveloping in the BC Interior as I could see lots of anvils 200 km away.

XC Find tracks for Sunday in Pemberton

I didn't have the largest flight but I did enjoy myself.  Alex finally did his triangle that he's been wanting to do for years, and several pilots flew to Whistler and back (which may be a first for PG pilots).  Also Guy and Stefan and Simon flew deep into the Ryan river valley and popped back out close to the Ipsoot Glacier, one of the few times (if ever) that that's been done.

It was an epic day, appropriate for Solstice, and we had lots of happy smiles in the LZ!

XCanada for June 21, 2015.

Bridal June 13-14

My new glider showed up this weekend so it was time to take her out to Bridal to get acquainted!

Heading for Cheam peak from the Butterfly.  Mt. Baker in the background.

Got high both days (more so than normal for the FV this time of year), yesterday enough to overfly Cheam peak, and today we were in orbit at 3100 m.  Lots of wind both days: yesterday strong SW down low and light NE up high, and today it was strong outflow all over.

Getting high over Cheam.  Cloudbase varied between 3100 and 3300 m.

Outflow days are the days we get highest in the Fraser Valley; unfortunately on the really high days (like today), it's difficult to actually go XC anywhere since it's usually very windy and sinky once you leave the lift.  So today was a Butterfly->Gloria day for me, with a lot of stopping over Cheam to take photos of the spectacular view to the south.  There was quite the hiking crowd on the peak and it was fun to thermal up beside them before continuing on.

Lady, Baby Munday, Welch, and Foley peaks.  Chilliwack Lake in the right background.

There were a few valley crossings today...Kevin flew Woodside->Bridal and Peter did the reverse.  Apparently over on the Woodside side it was difficult to stay below the airspace limit of 1981 m; over at Bridal we're allowed to 3810 m so it was less of an issue!

Harrison Lake wasn't that windy despite the outflow winds.  It seemed to be more ESE vs. the usual NE.

It was *cold* up there today!

Looking back at Cheam/Lady from over the Fraser River.

Camrose May 15

No towing today as the skies were cloudy with rain showers in advance of the front approaching from the south.  Instead we went to Dried Meat Ridge, near Double Dam golf course, to play in the SE winds.

It was a bit too cross to fly the main ridge but there was a section that was doable.  So the guys hiked or kited their gliders over and played for a couple of hours.

Dried Meat Ridge on a cloudy day

At Miles in May, the hang glider pilots had staged at Daysland but the day was eventually cancelled due to the same weather conditions.

With the weather turning for the worse for the next day or so, and east winds forecast for the rest of our available days, we have decided to pull the plug on anymore XC towing on the Prairies and return home.  We had 6 days in a row of excellent XC conditions, and almost every day saw at least one pilot make at least 100 km.  We also had 4 pilots break 200 km, in addition to several personal bests.  All in all this was probably the most successful tow encampment we've had in years!

Camrose May 14

Similar day to yesterday but a bit more wind, so not much flying on our part.  I was the tow driver today so I knew I wasn't going to be flying anyways, but as the winds picked up most of the other pilots chose to stand down.

Andrew (left) and Al (right) tracks for today

Andrew and Al got away and flew north...Al stayed well east of Beaverhill Lake this time and landed north of Lavoy for ~150 km, while Andrew landed north of Daysland for ~80 km.

The hang gliders flying in Miles in May, meanwhile, set a task to the Chipman airport NE of Edmonton.  According to Wherearethepilots.com both Ross and Leif made it while a few more landed short.

The Miles in May folks have been having a fantastic week of competing with 4 tasks so far. Ross Hunter has a commanding lead with Doug Keller, Doug Hartley, and Tyler Borradaile competing for 2-4 places.  The final results will change a bit after the retrieve drivers get their average points for their volunteering days.

Preliminary results after 4 days of Miles in May

Camrose May 13

We had scoped out a tow road even further east than the Galahad one, east of Alliance, in order to get some more distance before bumping up against Edmonton airspace and the Rocky mountain foothills.  Cu's were popping and it was very windy, so much so that I wasn't sure I wanted to fly in those conditions.  However there were workable lulls so I towed up, unfortunately I wasn't able to get away and landed a few fields away.  Had a bit of a scare as I landed and a giant moose exploded out of the bushes next to me before running into the adjacent field and another copse of bushes.

Back at the towfield it was windy again and I wasn't feeling particularly excited about towing up in such conditions so I decided to bag my glider for the day.  Peter was still wanting to tow up though and on his third time he finally got away and was chasing the other pilots.

Today's flights on XC Find

Brett and I were following our group on XC Find and chased them all day, finally catching up to Alex north of the North Saskatchewan River.  He landed at 227 km after 2 hours of fighting to stay alive and far enough east to avoid Edmonton airspace, followed by 2 hours of finally being able to go downwind and munch some kms.  A new Canadian PB for Alex!

Peter, despite his late tow, took a more easterly route and also made it to near Alex for a PB of 218 km!  Congratulations Peter!

Al got blown downwind and ended up flying west of Beaverhill Lake before landing at the north end, but managed to avoid the Edmonton airspace by 2 or 3 km's ;)

Over at Miles in May, the hang gliders had another 80 km task to Tofield.

Another stellar day with 2 x 200+ km flights!  We are getting close to getting the magic 250 km open distance flight!

Camrose May 12

Today's weather was pretty similar to yesterday's except for more wind, so we went back to the Galahad E-W tow road.  With 2 winches it's possible to actually have multiple pilots in the local air at the same time; I was scratching out when Andrew towed up next to me and Brett was just towing up when we started heading west.  Then cu's started popping overhead around 2pm and it was on!

The winds had a touch of south so I flew north of Buffalo Lake instead of south like yesterday.  The going was pretty easy after the first 10 km or so as the cu's started popping, and the further west I flew and the later it got, the more abundant the lift became.  At times it seemed like the thermals were lined up parallel to each other, so that you could fly huge lines of thermic lift and not have to stop and turn; it wasn't just lifty lines but rather huge areas of lift centred over treelines and river valleys.

Cloudbase was around 3100 m and big lift over the Ponoka airport (you can't really go any further north at this point or else you'll hit Edmonton airspace), and then it was across highway #2 and west to Gull Lake.  At this point the clouds dried up and it was back to blue flying.  It was getting a bit late, after 5pm, and I was coming up to a section of treed terrain that I wasn't getting high enough to cross over, so I landed at the north end of Gull Lake at the 144 km mark in windy and gusty 30 kph SE winds.

Andrew and Brett at 210 km...a personal best for both!

Several pilots flew farther and managed to avoid the foothills by flying more north and avoiding Edmonton airspace as the winds turned more SE: Peter flew to 177 km and Andrew and Brett flew to 210 km.  All 3 were personal bests!

Meanwhile at the Miles in May the task was from Strome to Tofield: about 80 km.  Ross reported that 5 pilots made goal in the very-crosswind task.

Camrose May 11

More east wind today so we decided to look for a tow site further east to get some more kms before hitting the mountains and airspace issues.  On a previous day during retrieve, Will had seen a possible E-W tow road near Galahad, so we went back there, and yes it was indeed possible to tow from there!

Some of the farm traffic to contend with!

Initially the skies were blue but a few cu's started popping around 11:30am.  I think Steven was the first away as he climbed to a cu forming right above the tow paddock.  Most people got away with their first tow, myself included, and we were soon flying east.

I found the whole flight quite enjoyable even though I found the lift a bit scattered down low, although as I flew east it got better and better.  Climbs were to around 2500m and the cu's had dried up so it was a blue day.  No cu's meant I spent my glides determining my next trigger points on the ground, and in most cases I was right (treelines, boundaries between dark and light fields, perpendicular-to-the-wind bodies of water, tractors, etc).

Size comparison between modern farm equipment and Al's truck!

With the almost-directly east wind we had to decide how to get around Buffalo Lake, which was smack in the flight path.  Everyone decided to detour to the south since there was a tiny bit of north to the east wind, although once past the lake I found the slight north tendency actually turned into a slight south tendency, so our paths were actually arcing a bit by the end.

I was going a bit slow (it wasn't windy at all by Prairie standards, maybe 15-20 kph of wind at 2000 m) and by the time 5pm came I was close to the Nova Chemicals plant, just outside Red Deer.  The lift was dying and I was trying to get to the high ground surrounding highway #2 but I was unable to get there and ended up landing at 107 km.  Peter was behind me and managed to get a bit further, landing just outside Red Deer as well for 123 km.

Landed just short of the Nova Chemicals plant outside Red Deer (in the distance).

Brett and Andrew had the best flights, getting 155 km and 179 km respectively, good going guys, nice job on an east day!

Meanwhile the hang glider pilots flying in Miles in May had set Ponoka airport as their goal.  Ross was the only one who made goal; Doug Keller landed 4 km short.  Leif landed (home?) in Wetaskiwin.

Tomorrow looks like more east wind, maybe some more south to it, and stronger, so we'll see if we try the same tow road again!

Camrose May 10

East wind today!

Brett

East wind generally sucks, partly because it indicates dry cold air from the Canadian Interior, but mostly because it means we can't fly far downwind (ie west) before hitting some form of airspace around either Edmonton or Calgary.

Andrew and Alex

But we flew anyways.  I was the designated tow driver for the day (we have a rotation scheduled far in advance so it's fair to everyone) so I spent most of the day in the dirt or the truck, driving back and forth on dirt roads :)

Andrew and Al planning flying strategy.

Early tows weren't successful since it hadn't yet turned on yet, but a few pilots started getting away after 1pm.  Al made it about 20 km before landing and was back for more tries in an hour or so.  Will made it 26 km, and Brett made it 10 km.  Alex did the best with a 90+ km flight to west of highway 2.

Will

The other tow group didn't get much flying in since their winch motor broke down, and by the time they switched to our tow rig the conditions had deteriorated and it became quite sinky on the tow road.  We decided to pull the plug after 4pm after it became apparent towing wasn't going to happen and it was time to start chasing the flying boys anyways.

Al setting up

Meanwhile over at Strome the hang gliders (15 strong) participating in Miles in May had called a 150 km task to Rimbey (west of highway 2).  Alex reported seeing some hang gliders in the air near Double Dam golf course.  Ross landed 26 km short and most of the other hang glider pilots didn't get a chance to get away since all 5 their tow winches broke down too!  Fortunately Ross says they are back at 2 or 3 working in time for tomorrow's task.

Al getting ready to tow

Tomorrow is scheduled to be more east wind so we are thinking of trying some tow roads further east, to get us a head start of 50 km or so, and perhaps get us far-enough away so that we can veer around the Edmonton airspace and continue west to the north.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Al just off tow.

Doing some repairs on Steven's winch.