Woodside October 11

The forecast was calling for a short window between systems so we took a chance and went out to Woodside, arriving on launch just before noon.  It was sunny with nice cu's, but we could see that the shade was going to hit within the hour (since we had just driven through it on the way from Vancouver) so we decided to fly right away.

Some of the desperadoes getting ready to launch into the last blue hole of the day.
It looks very black to the west!  

The air was very nice and "fat", with lots of bald eagles out enjoying the sun and light winds.  Cloudbase was around 1000m and some of the thermals were suprisingly strong for early October...2m/s in some places.  We were able to fly around for an hour before the shade hit, at which point things shut down quite quickly.

As I was landing in Riverside another wave of pilots was just arriving and I believe they got extended sled rides.  Later in the afternoon I went back up to drive a vehicle down, and the last wave of pilots was just getting ready to take advantage of a small blue hole that was approaching...behind it was a wall of black that we couldn't see beyond.  We weren't sure if it was rain or not, but the air was certainly "moist" and everything west of Sumas Mountain was obscured.

Final blue hole of the day before it shut down for good.

The window we had at noon seemed to be the best one of the day so we lucked out with the timing.  This time of year the flying is so hit-n-miss!

Pemberton September 27

Well the days are getting shorter and the sun isn't getting as high in the sky anymore, winter is coming.  One of those rare crisp fall days where it's still thermic enough to fly for several hours, if you are patient enough!

After dropping the boys off on Miller Mountain for their hike up to the new hut and launch, I went to Upper MacKenzie for the afternoon flying.  Yesterday had been quite epic I was told by 5pm and the storms cleared, but today was decidedly stable despite the OK-looking clouds at around 2000m.  It was hard to stay up, let alone at upper launch height, and I spent most of my flight bobbing between lower and upper launches.  It was a good day for practicing my patient scratching technique!

Eventually around 3pm it "turned on" (as much as it does this time of year) and it became much easier to stay up, so more pilots launched.  I don't think anyone launched from lower and everyone had driven to the upper launch.  I don't think anybody got much above 1400m and it was not really XC-able, but you could stay up until the sun got low and it was time to land before the shade hit the LZ.

Nowadays the community centre is a no-go, so it's only the Wray's you can land at now.  Keep an eye out for standing water after all the recent rain (you can see it glinting through the grass) and land near the bridge for the driest land.  You can still pack up on the community property though!

Dad goes tandem at Woodside Aug 24

My Dad has always wanted to go paragliding so I got him a flight today!

Dad is excited to finally go paragliding!

Tandem pilot extraordinaire Al Thielmann took Dad while I did a solo flight alongside.  It was high pressure and prone to getting windy, so we made sure to do the flight while it was still thermic but not yet blown out and unpleasant to fly in.

Al and Dad got the launch perfect.

About 25 minutes and Dad had a fantastic time with Al.  We got above launch quite easily and over to the south knoll before heading out to land.  We landed just as it started to get bumpy as I believe the later tandems and students had to bail on flying.

Happy smiles all around!

Mt. St. Benedict Aug 23

After yesterday's awesome flying we had even more pilots wanting to fly Benedict today :)  Unfortunately it was a bit more stable and high pressure, but I went out since Danny Virtue (the LZ owner) had invited Al and some of his friends to fly and land at his home during a stuntshow he was putting on for some children.

I didn't launch until quite late as I did some shuttle driving, and it was a bit strong on launch but still doable.  Lots of pilots were in the air and I shortly joined them.  I didn't fly for long since I had had a nice flight the day before, and Danny had asked us to land at his place by a certain time.  However the communications got a bit mixed up since by the time we landed at the appointed time, the kids had all gone home :)  But we were able to put on a show for the remaining stunt folks.

Mr. Virtue's property had lots of bears roaming around...we saw 3 while we were there.  It was fun to watch Danny's horses chase a bear after it wandered too close to them; the herd sent it back into the forest!

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1267280

Mt. St. Benedict on a smokey day

Possible new Mt. St. Benedict lower launch.

The forecasts were looking quite good for Mt. St. Benedict so a big group (14 or so) of pilots headed up to fly!

Possible new lower launch.

The road to the new cutblocks has been buffed right up and it's now 2-wheel driveable (high clearance, although 4-wheel drive would be better) to these cutblocks.  Two of them show promise as a lower Mt. St. Benedict launch, which would allow us to fly there sooner in the season (when the upper launch is still snowed-in) and also save on wear-n-tear on trucks driving up.  Some work needs to be done, but when we were there at noon it was already on and it's an easy glide to the Virtue LZ.

Once past the new cutblocks the road is rougher with cross-ditches, but easily driveable all the way to the upper launch.  New black carpet also covers launch to keep the bushes and twig out of your glider, and it's also possible for hang gliders to launch now (Pedro brought his HG up).

New carpet and our first (?) hang glider at upper launch!

We could see smoke from the US forest fires coming up from the south into the Fraser Valley, but we were still in the clear.  We heard reports from Bridal that Woodside looked smoked in, although other reports said Woodside was just fine in the smoke.

Looking north at Stave Lake, Roby Reid, and the Judge.

There was plenty of lift and busting airspace was once again an issue as the climbs were going well beyond 1981m.  Andrew, Peter, and Al went to Blinch Lake and back, while Gary flew to Dewdney and back.  I had an airport pickup later that evening so I didn't want to land out and have a long retrieve (which normally wouldn't be too bad due to the loads of quads etc that were cruising the backroads this weekend) so I stuck to the main valley.

Watching the forest fire smoke approach from the US and the Fraser Valley

The smoke was coming down the valley and shading things out at the Dewdney end so I crossed the valley to the Mission side to play around over there.  Not much lift (I actually wasn't expecting any, given the lack of clouds) but I was able to stay up for a bit and eventually landed at the school while most others landed at the Virtue LZ.

The smoke is starting to obscure the tops of the Sylvester peaks.

I think that was the biggest crowd of pilots we've ever had at Benedict, and possible the first hang glider flight off the upper launch (??).  Up until now the last part was hike-in only, but now that the road is opened up for all 4-wheel drive vehicles we may see some more flying there!

Still clear air to the north!

Midnight Dome, Dawson City

I'm here in Dawson City to visit some family, and was told there was a flying site right over the town.  There sure is!

The Dome has a fantastic paved road up to the lookout/launch, and space to lay out multiple gliders on a rocky/gravel slope.  Similarly, there is a manicured grass LZ right by the river next to the main street and the tourist parking.  For the right person and the right season, it would be the ideal tandem operation!

The Midnight Dome with Dawson City at the foot.  LZ is the green strip of grass along the river.

Sadly the wind direction while I was there wasn't ideal for this launch...it was strong east wind while the launch takes SE-SW, with a separate NW launch about a 5-minute walk down the slope.  Nevertheless I was able to take off in a crosswind ESE cycle along with a few other pilots visiting from Whitehorse and enjoy the scrubbed thermals over the antennas.

It wasn't a long flight due to the east wind and the nearby OD but the surrounding area is quite beautiful with the convergence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers right at the edge of town.  XC is certainly possible from here and has been done quite a bit.  On the right day (I believe May 18 is the magic day, according to the locals) you can get past 14,000' and fly XC as far as you dare with the limited LZs.

If you are heading up to Dawson City make sure to take your glider!

Bridal Falls August 9

Did the Elk-Ludwig run since I hadn't done that in a long time.  The wind was very light and coming from weird directions...at Elk it was east, while at Ludwig it was north!  In between it was light west or east, depending on which spur you were at and your altitude.

I considered top-landing at upper Bridal but it was too lifty and I had to land early for my ride back with Peter.

A rather average August day, not much XC in the FV this time of year, but nice to get out and enjoy the sun and the mountains!

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1267276

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.