Grouse Mountain September 10

We had a fairly large group at Grouse today...a bunch of guests, regulars, and the tandem operation.  Strong-ish west wind aloft and weird clouds forming, but it was easy to get to the clouds at 1500m and play around.  Peter and I started going to Crown Mountain but turned around since it was looking too shady.

Capilano Reservoir is low now.

 Lots of lift over the city as the clouds were forming out there too, and strong west wind until the last 100m or so, at which point it switched to the usual SE flow at ground level.  Capilano Lake is very low at this time of year!

Some instability forming out front in advance of the approaching north wind.

Miller Ridge Aug 23

Hiked up Miller Ridge with a few friends to try out the launch on the morning side of the Pemberton valley.  During the drive up to the end of the road we saw where the new powerlines are going in, and the possible new launch from the road!

Miller Ridge launch meadow.

Short 45 minutes to 1 hour hike, depending on your hiking speed.  The top part of the hike is quite flat and in the open, which is nice.  The old cabin is falling apart but the new ones looks nice!

Launch is quite high at 1800m and is in a nice alpine meadow just below the new cabin.  North wind aloft so it wasn't the best conditions, and in fact after getting up a bit on the Miller side I ended up crossing over to the MacKenzie side, where it was equally lame.

However in the shade I was able to get up to cloudbase (3000m) and played around on both sides of the valley, making the crossing multiple times.  At the end I crossed to Mt. Currie but it wasn't very good over there either so back to good 'ol MacKenzie and the LZ.

Miller Ridge flight.

2016 Can-Am fly-in Aug 20-21

Surprising as it may seem, I've actually never flown from Black Mountain in WA state.  Flown by it from BJ, but never launched from there!  With the fly-in this weekend and hot and sunny weather, I decided it was time to head down there.

Upper launch at Black Mountain with Silver Lake below.  Vedder and Sumas Mountains in the background.

~40 pilots had signed up for the event, but of the Canadians it was only Alex, myself, and Derek.  Where was everyone?  In any event, Saturday flying was quite nice with strong-but-launchable cycles and a choice of either the regular LZ, or the Silver Lake group camping LZ (which has been mowed for this event).  Having a lake directly below launch makes it easy to see the wind strength and direction so we were able to keep an eye on when the valley wind switched from the morning south flow to the afternoon north flow.  The earlier launchers got to 2000+ meters and later on it was more like 1700m, but I personally found it a big punchy and lots of holes in addition to the strong lift. 

Launch with a view!

A honkin-big BBQ with smoked ribs and chicken plus salads galore so everyone was groaning with full bellies as the sun set.  Then the telescope came out and we were looking at the various planets in the sky...a very red Mars and Saturn with its rings were easily visible.  We had a bit of a scare as, some time after we had lit the portable propane fires, a firetruck came into the campground with its lights flashing...we thought we were about to get fined or something (even though we had permission to have open flames for this event).  But nope, they were simply lost and asking for directions to another campground!

Mt. Baker is right there; the day before a pilot flew from Black to Baker and return.

Sunday morning we had a pancake breakfast and then it was time to decide to go flying or not...I had seen a few days ago that Sunday was likely to be blown out, and it was indeed as the wind picked up in the LZ, leaves were being torn off branches, windlines were starting up on the lake, and the spaceship lenticular clouds came out to play.  Alex and I decided it was time to swim in Silver Lake while (I believe) some pilots went to Blanchard in hopes of a soaring flight (although I think it would have been blown out there too).  As we drove back to Canada the area around Mt. Baker had completely OD'd and it looked like it could actually rain in the Cascades.

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 30

Andrew decides to get a quicky in before the storms arrive. Cell building in the background.

The cell is building!

Thunderstorms today, plus many pilots were tired after yesterday's epic flights, so only a few local flights before the storms shut things down. I chose to forgo flying but went up to enjoy the view.

Hailing in town as the storm just misses Nicholson and passes behind Mt 7.

Triple rainbow!

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 29

It was a really good XC day, not classic Golden, but close. However a bunch of us almost didn't get to enjoy it, because we almost launched too early!  A bunch of us spent a torturous 90 minutes scratching in the washing machine between launch and Willi's Knob, at 1600m or less, while the later launchers climbed out and started heading downrange.

Finally I got high and was able to get moving, catching up to folks around Parsons and Harrogate. Cloudbase was high...3600m, and getting higher the further south we went. Airspace was going to an issue!  It was almost due west wind, but starting to turn SW the closer we got to Invermere, with a significant headwind by Fairmont.

The view from 3600m at Harrogate.

I stopped my climb at 3700m at Windermere, cloudbase was somewhere around 4000m and in the restricted airspace, and decided to forgo the glide to Canal Flats due to the strong headwind plus the building cloud which was shading out Columbia Lake. It was the only cloud in the vicinity that was growing, but was parking itself over White Swan and starting to spit out rain and grow vertically.

Mt. Assiniboine in the distance from 3700m.

Landed at the north end of the lake for 144 km and was able to get a quick ride with Timmy et al who had landed in Canal Flats. Meanwhile a few pilots had gone over the back at Fairmont and were shot down in the back range and the strong SW wind. Al landed in a remote area short of Premier Lake and had to hike and Ford a river before Vincene found him; Simon had the pleasure of landing at a back woods gun range near a logging road.

In the end there was something like 45+ pilots south of Radium and a dozen personal bests. Best PG distance of the day (in the comp, Will may have done more but no track from him yet) went to Peter with 192 km... he did a mini OR in the middle of his flight to rack up more points ;). And Ross flew partway down Columbia Lake before returning to Invermere for something like 175 km.

Some clouds are starting to grow by Canal Flats!

Pilots were scattered all over the place and littering the road from Fairmont to Parsons, but everyone was picked up and accounted for and returned to HQ before midnight, thanks to the live tracking devices!

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 28

A smaller chance of thunderstorms today, and there were some cells around. While we were climbing out on Mt 7 a cell developed to the SW and became quite ominous, and it started to rain out of it. Ahead of the cell it had shaded out the lower part of the mountain so those pilots caught low were stuck in the shade with approaching rain, so many bailed.

Those of us higher up were able to run back to lookout launch and wait out the cell there. I didn't feel there was much danger since the cell was tracking SE and with the NW wind, it would continue to track away from us.

Once the cell had fizzled we were away, about an hour later than we had hoped.  The going was tough as the lift was broken and it was a bit windy down low, but we managed to keep going, our group changing leaders every few thermals.

Onwards it was touch and go at Spur Valley, as I was unable to get high enough for the crossing for the Edgewater cliffs. Finally I decided to go anyways, trusting that I would be able to climb out on the NW flanks and avoid an inconvenient FSR landing with a hot walk out.

The last cell before our way was clear.  It had fizzled by the time we got to Spilli.

The others had caught a climb at Spur Valley and gotten ahead of me, and I could see some high cirrus coming at Radium. The shade was shutting things down, and those ahead of me were reporting having to possibly land due to it. I was able to continue to Windermere at 122 km while those ahead of me landed a few kms further or at Fairmont.

Getting shaded out at Invermere.

Despite the big clouds at the northern part of the flight it was beautiful and sunny the further south we went. Apparently another cell came through Golden after we had left but our course line was clear once we got past Parsons/Harrogate. It was unfortunate that one cell at the beginning shut so many down, in the end there was only a handful of us that got downrange.

July 28 flight.

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 27

Mt 7, home to mountain bike races. 

The skies are building!

More thunderstorms forecast this afternoon, so short, non-XC flights for most. A handful of pilots chose to challenge the weather gods and ventured south, landing at Parsons when the skies for too big even for them.

Time to land!

The afternoon was spent checking gear and measuring lines!

Measuring lines is thirsty work!

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 26

Possible thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon so we suspected it would be an early day. We were planning on a possible out and return to the north, but once in the air the wind was too strong to allow for that direction.

To the north it looked good, but too windy to reach. 

However to the south the storms were brewing so we couldn't go that way either. We were stuck between the NW wind and the southern storms so it wasn't going to be an XC day. 

To the south, not so great!

There were a few cells brewing nearby, one SW of us, and another about 20 km downrange, so after an hour I decided it was time to land.  Shortly thereafter it was raining paragliders into the Muller Flight Park as most other pilots decided the same thing. 

Packing up as the cell starts to spit out rain. 

We did have one launch incident with a hang glider tail hitting another pilot, causing the hang glider to mush into the ground below the ramp. Both pilots were OK with only a broken down tube to fix!  In the air it was a bit mayhemic as it wasn't that lifty, we were fighting to get to 2300m, and the thermals were a bit small.  So it was crowded and we had to keep our heads on a swivel to avoid any mid airs.

Stormy sunset.

A swim at Cedar Lake and some watching of the rope swing (we didn't go this time, it looked sketchy, and another person, not with our group, dislocated his shoulder falling into water).  Then a perfect apres-storm sunset to round out the day!

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 25

After yesterday's fatality today was designated a free-flying day and not a scoring day. Lots of pilots went for sled rides under overcast skies but a bunch of us went for a 4x4 adventure up the Blaeberry valley to the base of the Mummery glacier.

Lots of fun as we took the decommissioned road up, not realizing there was a perfectly 2 wheel drive detour!  Lots of river fording, mud bogging, and winching in the middle of a thunderstorm!

Album is here.

Willi Muller XC Challenge July 24

After a grey start to the comp everyone was eager to go down range on a strong sunny day. Cloudbase wasn't that high, 2700m near Golden, but enough to try for an out and return to Invermere.

However in the air things were a bit too strong from the WNW to realistically do the return so I changed my mind to open distance. I actually had the first 45 km or so to myself, as the gaggle was always a thermal or three behind and I was maintaining my lead.

Approaching Invermere.

It was at this time we heard about an accident near the peak of Mt 7, involving a helicopter rescue. Since we were downrange and nothing we could do about it, we kept flying. It wasn't until later that we learned the pilot had died from his injuries. Since nobody saw the actual cause, we don't really know what happened, but the helicopter extractions supposedly very efficient, partly due to the organization knowing exactly where he was, but also due to Danny's professional handling of the situation with SAR and the RCMP (who had just dealt with a mountain biker fatality on Mt 7 the same day).

The air was rough but not particularly useful, weakish climbs. So it was slow going downrange. 4 hours to get to Invermere. But cloudbase was going up and the day was still going strong so I pushed on to Fairmont.

At Fairmont peak I climbed to cloudbase 3400m, and announced I was final gliding to Canal Flats. As I was gliding along the lake, I could hear pilots behind me saying they were going to do the same ;)

On final glide from Fairmont peak to Canal Flats

Arrived over CF with about 1000' to spare and started sussing out the nice-looking LZs.  The usual LZ was brown and dry-looking, and there was a beautiful ball diamond in the centre of town with nice green grass.  An easy choice for me!

It was kinda funny to watch the following gaggle land facing every which way with the growing crowd of CF kids watching, as the wind was very light. Vincene and the Muller-mobile were waiting so we even had a ride back to Golden!

On final glide to Canal Flats, looking at the back route.

In the end we had something like 15 pilots in CF. It was a personal best for both Martin and Kevin, and everyone was glad to have made it on a rather difficult day.

July 24 flight.

Goal in Canal Flats with lots of smiling faces!