Sept 30/ Wolcott to Vail again

Well, sometimes you get lucky. After yesterdays cumulus clouds with streets all over the sky, I convinced Tomas to go up to Wolcott today to see if we could go somewhere. We decided to meet at 2 pm at the LZ. Conditions looked light, but straight from the west in the LZ. The forecast today was for northwest winds in the valley with the winds aloft forecast light and variable up to 18,000 feet msl.

Once we got to launch conditions looked great with light winds straight into launch, and cycles to about 12 mph. So we got our kits ready, and like on cue the winds turned north. A dust devil came through launch and Tomas had to jump on his wing so it didn't fly away. So we just sat there for a while. I did not hook in and considered packing up and bagging it. What was interesting is the valley ponds were showing southwest. So, we hoped for the winds to straighten out. Finally a cycle came through that was straight in and Tomas launched. Sticking close to the hill he ridge soared for about a minute, and then of course the winds lightened up and turned north, and he sunk out near launch.

By this time I was hooked in and watching the wind blow from the north again, and my GPS was not working. It would acquire sattellites and then friz out. It's a good thing my vario had an integrated GPS, but no detailed map of the area. Not thinking I would get up anyway, I watched as cycles straightened out a bit, but still had some north in it. I decided to launch. I guessed that there maybe a thermal out front as it was light and there really wasn't a north face to work anyway. Once out in front, I hooked a light thermal climbing at about 200 fpm so I did one 360 degree turn, still climbing, another 360, then another, and still climbing. Then it kicked in, and I was climbing at about 600 fpm, a perfect climb to 14,500 msl. It was quite turbulent to about 12,000 msl and then the thermal smoothed out. Unbelieveable! Maybe a north day would work if you get the right cycle, and thermal. What was nice about this climb was the flat bottom cumulus that was right over launch. I started toward Vail toward another cloud and found a weak climb to 15,300 msl. This is where the thermal petered out, but cloud base was still 2000 feet above me. So I continued to work toward Vail. Unfortunately I realized I had wind from the Northeast and I was trying to go east. I probably should have turned and headed toward
Aspen at this point, but I was thinking to try to make it to Copper Mountain and then on to Breckenridge. As I passed Avon, I noticed a small plane coming up the valley. I had talked to Chuck Leathers and he flew to Crested Butte today for lunch. I thought this couldn't be him, but as he got closer I recognized his plane. I was at 15,300 msl, and he was circling around me trying to get to my height. His Cessna 182 was trying. Just then I found a climb to take me to cloud base at 17,400 msl and then I lost him. What treat to have him flying around. It's kind of fun to out climb a Cessna without a motor. :-)

At this time I was torn on which way to go. The cloud street led into tiger country, and the options along the road were blue. I was not in the mood to hike so I stuck I-70 corridor. I flew to the top of Vail mountain the toward the top of Benchmark which is east of Two Elk Lodge in China Bowl. I could not believe the lack of landing options toward Copper, so I was going to try to find one climb around Benchmark and then go for Vail pass. As I approached BM I hit alot of sink and then decided once near east Vail to jump the highway to the cliffs above the Vail Mountain School. No Lift. So I hit speed bar and landed back in Ford Park. Launched at 3:30 pm and landed at 4:50 pm.

It was interesting flying into the wind where generally you would have a tail wind. An amazing flight with the colors, perfect clouds, and a friend with a Cessna. Let's hope we can have a few more days like this before the snow flies.

Cheers!

Sept 22, 2008/ Back in Vail

Well, it was an amazing trip to the Owens Valley. Unfortunately, the high winds allowed us only two comp days. Of course the week before was epic, and this week was setting itself up to be awesome with less wind. Out of three days of flying I was able to get some decent cross country flying. 25 miles the practice day, 35 miles the 1st comp day, and 65 miles the 2nd comp day. So, 125 miles in three days.

The week before, there were a couple of pilots that had two 100 mile days. So it can be quite an amazing place when the weather cooperates.

The results for the Nationals:

1st: Dean Stratton (defends his title)
2nd: Josh Cohn
3rd: Peter Schaefer

Women

1st: Meredyth Malocsay
2nd: Melanie Pfister
3rd: Kari Castle

So, the weather is shaping up for flying in the Vail area this week after some rain and snow on the high peaks. This weekend I am planning some thermal and cross country flights from Wolcott. We will see if the fall holds true for some great flying. I hope to get some nice fall pics, so stay tuned.

Cheers

Day 5/ Sept 18th Nationals

Today we went up to Gunter, with a half decent forecast. The drive as the previous day went uneventful, and all the pilots got to launch sucessfully. I thought the task commitee was going to try to keep us closer to Bishop today, and they followed through. A couple of turn points near town and then a down wind glide to Hammil and then Benton.

The day seemed favorable, but what we all noticed is the clouds moving faster then yesterday. Wind at launch was also stronger. So of course we sent the wind techs out into the blue, and guess what, no forward speed or penatration. After about 15 minutes of watching, the task was called off. Now the long drive back down to the valley.

One of the comp pilots, Honza decided to suit up and go for big distance. He is from Czech Republic, but flies in the XAlps cross country race in Europe for the US. Last I heard he had flown about 50+ miles toward the north near Mono Lake and still at 14,500 msl. He may get the California record.

So, I will include more pics from yesterdays flight. Hopefully we will get another task off, as tomorrow looks to be windier.

Hang tight. Cheers!

Day 4/ Sept 17th Nationals

After three days at Flynns, which is in the valley and suseptible to valley wind, the decision was to go to Gunters today. It was the right decision. Winds were strong on top of the Whites. There is a remote weather observation station on top of White Mountain, and winds were blowing from 15 mph with gusts to around 23 mph until about 10 am. Gunters sits about 8,280 feet msl. This gives the pilots alot more room to find lift. The valley is about 4,000 feet below that.

Checking the weather there were as many different forecasts as I have fingers on both hands. Light and variable winds, strong gusty winds, favorable winds for cross country, which was it going to be?

The drive up to launch went uneventful, and all the pilots made it to launch easily. But the next issue was to get all the pilots off launch. You can only lay out two gliders at the main launch, and there are other small areas that you can lay out only one glider, but at least we could spread out to get the pilots off.

There was some cumulus developing over the Sierras, and over the Whites, and there seemed to be more moisture in the air then yesterday when some showers developed. The heights of the cumulus seemed even higher, but the cloud street forming up range looked enticing. The valley was staying clear, so it looked like we might actually get a task off.

The task commitee called about 103 km task into Nevada, a small town called Mina, with one turnpoint in the valley. The clouds actually settled down the conditions enough to easily get all the pilots off, and there was no rush as no one was climbing out. Thermals were taking pilots to about 2,000 feet over launch, but no higher. The clouds seemed to holding the lift at bay. So many of the pilots were gaggling about 500 to 1,500 feet over launch waiting for a better climb and for the start to happen. Finally the start time came, and I was about 500 feet over launch, but still in the start cylinder. This was an exit cylinder, so if you left the start cylinder before start time you would get penalized.

We did have a major event at launch today. One of the more experienced comp pilots did not clip in his leg loops and belly strap, and fell out of his harness from about 10 to 15 feet. He ended up spraining or breaking his ankle which was a small price to pay for his mistake. What was interesting was his glider flew for about 3 to 5 minutes on its own with just the harness attached. I will submit a picture above to show how well these gliders will fly even without a pilot. ;-). It is a maroon glider.

I was nearly one of the last pilots off launch, as I helped get the pilots off launch. I wasn't in any rush as none of the pilots were getting high anyway. Once off I climbed to about 2,000 over launch, but after that, I boated around launch waiting for a better climb sinking to about 500 over launch, once the start opened. About 6 minutes after the start I found a climb to finally get me out of there, and thermaled to about 11,000 feet msl. I started to work my way up the range and low and behold found a climb to 13,000 feet msl and I was on my way.

Pilots were really working together today at the start as getting up was not a given. A few pilots sunk out before the start, so patience was key. Jan Voegli, one of my mentors, had a hard time and sunk out making minimum distance.

So now on course, heading to the first turn point, I found some decent climbs that were taking us to cloud base, and even had to fly away from the clouds to not fly into them. Cloud base was at about 15,500 feet, I would leave the lift at about 14,500, and still flew around some of the clouds to avoid dealing the the white room. What was bothering me was not the clouds, but the vertical height of some of the clouds. They weren't that flat so you never knew if they would suck you in. In hindsight it all turned out ok.

So making it to the first turn point was fairly easy, which was in the valley, and then back to the hills to continue on course. The winds were southwest so I was working the ridges that faced that direction and finding reasonable lift. As I got closer to the end of the range the lift got more turbulent, and I actually left one broken thermal that was just too turbulent to find a core or a climb. I just had a few asymetrics today with no major recovery issues. However, as I mentioned above about the turbulence at the end of the ridge, we had a reserve deployment on the Northwest side of Boundary Peak, the pilot landed ok, but had an epic hike down a canyon with cliffs, and streams. I think since the winds were from a southerly direction, we were encountering rotor issues near Boundary Peak. Sometimes after a reserve ride, the adventure can start after you land.

Several pilots including myself decided once at the end of the range, to flyout to the valley and work the middle of the valley. What turned out to be awesome as every pilot that was there worked together to the head of the valley where Montgomery pass was, and eventually we climbed out and flew over the pass. Back on course, after the pass there was still 40 km to go to goal. Weak climbs, but there was lift. I did get high over the pass, about 14,000 feet msl, and went on glide. I was able to pass many pilots because of my height and really gain some distance, but you can't take that for granted. I found another awesome climb, and had the benefit of several pilots coming to join me, and climbed out to 13,000 + feet msl. Other pilots climbed higher, but because of the ugly cloud above, I went on glide. What was interesting at this point was it seemed very dark ahead on course, so pilots mentioned they got rained on or snowed on at this point. I felt a sprinkle, but no problems, I could have climbed higher.

At this point there were more clouds, lots of shade, and very weak lift. I sunk to about 9,000 feet msl, and started searching. I kept looking at my vario and checking my glide to goal. 11 to 1, 10 to 1, what would I need to make it. I would get to 9 to 1 glide goal, and with a high performace glider I thought I would get close. I also thought the air would be fairly bouyant due to the cloud cover. But, I was wrong. There was more sink then I anticipated, and I kept struggling toward goal. More weak lift, I finally climbed out to a height with 8 to 1 glide to goal. I went for it. 30 to 1 glide, and then 4 to 1 glide, I was going to make goal, no I was not going to. There was lift, but there was more sink, so my net glide landed me about a kilometer short. Pine, Andy from Golden, CO, dirted close to the same spot.

1 Km short of goal, but a 65, 102 km mile flight, an amazing experience, and a beautiful flight. Flying the topography, flew the clouds, and a long retrieve.

Kevin, the meet director, had to go get the pilot that threw his reserve, so four us were stuck at goal waiting for a retrieve. So, what do pilots do while waiting. You buy Coors Beer, at the small store in Mina, NV, and party.

When Kevin arrived, he had several other pilots, so 9 pilots crammed ourselved into his truck, and we headed back to Bishop. An hour and a half retrieve. We almost ran out of gas, but once in the Owens Valley we found gas in Benton, and were able to tank up enough to make it to Bishop. Got back to town about 9 pm. What a day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventure. Cheers.

Day 3/ Sept 16th Nationals

Today we went up to Flynns to try again. Forecast was for thunderstorms in the afternoon, and stronger winds as a Low pressure system was moving into central California. Like clockwork it happened. Still we hung on launch trying to make a task to happen. Pilots launched, but didn't get very high and were drifting back quite fast with what thermals there were.

Kevin finally called the task when pilots weren't pentrating and not climbing out due to too much wind. By this time the showers were showing over the Sierras, and cumulus were developing over the Whites quickly. It didn't take long for the valley to close in with clouds and outflow from the showers throwing out gust fronts.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. Cheers!

Day 2/ Nationals Sept 15th

Today the winds forecast was higher then the previous day. Weatherwise we have been under the influence of High Pressure, but it's to move out of our area, and a closed Low Pressure area to move in. This is forecast to give us some wind and maybe a thunderstorm or two. And yes, the wind came in today. A tight pressure gradient the culprit.

We went up to launch as usual, and the task commitee set a task for 112km race north with the wind. It was quite calm early on, but as the wind techs launched before the window opened for competition you could tell it just wasn't like the previous days. No one was really climbing out and the wind speed on launch was increasing. Once the window opened about 20 comp pilots launched, but you could see there was penetration issues, and no one was climbing out easily. One of the wind techs, Vail's very own Tomas Pecinka, climbed out on one thermal that took him 5 miles north of launch and to 12,000 msl. From there it would have been a little hard to make the start cylinder into the wind near launch, as the wind was now blowing a steady 18 mph with peak wind of 25 mph. Many pilots with non comp wings were not moving forward anymore and parked into the wind.

Kevin decided to call the task. I never got off the ground, which I was not too disappointed considering the conditions.

Tomorrow doesn't look good for a task, but we will see. I will keep you posted.

Cheers.

Day 1/ Nationals Sept 14th

So, the first day of the US Nationals has come and gone, and it turned out to be a good day, a challenging day, with a perfect task called. The task was about a 100 km race to goal from the Flynns launch to Hammil, a small town to the south, then a return to the north end of the range to Big Ears, and then finishing at a place called Fish.

Kevin the meet director, decided to go to Flynns as it is much more user friendly to get the 80 pilots off launch safely. Flynns is only 1,500 Vertical feet from the valley, so it makes for maybe a more chanllenging climb out as you don't have as much vertical as Gunter. Gunter has approximately 4,000 vertical feet above the valley, with about 2,500 vertical feet to the alternate LZ. Quite a bit more room to find a thermal and climb out. Plus the road up Gunter is very narrow with no real turn around at the top. With about 15 vehicles it is logistically a nightmare.

To the task. Launch window opened at 1:00 pm and the Start was at 2:15 pm. Wind techs launched at about 12:15 pm and started to climb out nicely. The launch window opened and the valley wind started to kick in. The first few pilots off launch had a nice 10 to 12 mph southwest wind. However in about 15 minutes the winds increased to 15 mph with cycles to 23 mph. It quickly became sporty with a couple of pilots getting blown back and one landing on the hill, a couple getting dragged on launch. No one got hurt and everyone did get off the hill.

I luckily had no trouble getting off and had a great climb out launching at about 1:40 pm. It seemed a fairly slow climb as I topped out at about 14,000 msl which is about 8,000 feet over launch. I only had 10 minutes until the start instead of an hour, which made it nice not to have to wait an hour before the start. I hate having to wait after getting high. Once the start opened it was a cruise north up the Whites toward Gunter Launch. That area always seems to work and the few pilots that were ahead were already climbing in next thermal. The second thermal was nice and another climb to about 14,000 msl again. On course I found myself staying on the upper third of the mountain range as it seemed to be working nicely. Some pilots were going to the very top over the range to climb out, but I felt since it was working in front it would be easier to get the turn point which was out in the valley. The third thermal was excellent and I got a climb to 16,000 msl which made it an fairly easy get the turn point.

It doesn't always matter how high you are, you can lose the altitude you have gained faster then it took to get there. From the turn point you have to come right back to the mountains to climb out. It was down wind to the 1st turn point, now coming back down range it was going to be a head wind. Again, today the winds were forcasted to be from the southeast, though light it was still putting us slightly in lee side conditions. It feels very unusual to crab into the hill to stay on course and in the mountains instead of crabbing away from the hills.

Once back to the hills I found a climb out with a few other pilots including the famous Rob Sporer from California. Rob has been instructor of the year a few times and was a poster child model for Old Navy. His bright green wing with red tips is unmistakable. So, on course we were flying together a bit, I would continue to climb, but Rob would push ahead. I thought the higher I could get the better even though it was making me slow. On the second thermal coming back I had my ass handed to me. Some time there are thermal monsters out there. I noticed ahead a couple of pilots entering a thermal climbing wildly, then sinking as fast. I wasn't there yet, but expected some action. I wasn't disappointed. Just as I got there I was greeted by a full frontal right into a front horseshoe, about a second later I turned 180 degrees as the horseshoe snaked out and the glider began to sort out, but still was not flying. So, I said fly mother )(%^&%. The glider handled perfectly, not letting it surge too much , also not letting it get behind me, she flew nicely out of the event. Back into that nasty thermal and let's climb.

A few of us pilots were still in front, and many pilots chose to go to the top of the range, which was the best option in hindsight. I decided since the front was working so well why not stay in front. I finally got another great climb to 16,500 msl and so I thought cool, I have plenty of altitude to find something else. This is where I should have gone to the crest of the ridge as there probably was either a convergence, or the southeast wind would help from the back side. Why, because I went from 16,500 msl to the ground in about 20 minutes. No thermal and just a strong head wind. I ended up making it to the Flynn LZ. It turned out to be about 55 km flight. I guess around 35 miles. About 3.5 hours in the air. About 35 pilots made goal. Eric Reed won the day.

So, a great first day, every one was safe. Let's see what the rest of the week brings.

Training Day in the Owens/ Sept 13th

It was a beautiful day in the Owens Valley. Not an offical training day, but almost every pilot, many who had never flown here, headed up to Gunters launch in The White Mountains. There was no task really, just personal flight plans were the norm. My goal was to get high and go north to White Mountain which is a 14,000 foot peak and fly back to my car at the "offical" Gunter LZ.

Other pilots flew to the end of the ridge which is Boundary Peak in Nevada, and flew back to town. Some pilots were in the air for 4 or more hours. I enjoyed a two hour flight with a relaxing pace, about 25 miles.

The climbs were well spaced and fairly consistent above the ridges. Some pilots went to the top of the range to get some height. I stayed about 3/4ths the way up the range which was nice. I didn't get too cold. Some pilots complained of numb hands. My highest point was about 14,500 msl, and some pilots made it to the 17,999 msl threshold.

Some pilots flew from Walts Launch which is on the Sierras and east facing. About 6 pilots flew 100 miles. So the Owens valley shined big.

Tomorrow is the first day of the comp. Conditions look similar to today. We will be using a different launch then we did today. It's called Flynns. Gunter launch is almost an hour 4 wheel drive road. So logistically it takes quite some time to get up there and organized. Plus there really isn't a good turn around up there, and you can only lay out 2 to 3 gliders to launch. Not very friendly when it you need to get 80 pilots off the hill in a about an hour.

Stay tuned for updates. Cheers!

In Bishop/ Sept. 12

Made it to Bishop today. What an easy drive it is from Colorado. Even though you have to drive some two lane roads, the roads are so straight that you can cruise an easy 80 mph. So the time from Vail is about 12 to 13 hours. Not bad. What I love about the drive is the desert colors. Through Utah, right off I-70, the views are amazing.

I love Bishop. It is a small town that reminds me of Steamboat, CO. The Sierras are to the west and the White Mountains to the east. I took a picture of the Sierras where there seems to be a wildfire on the west side of the mountains west of Bishop. I hope this doesn't become a problem for us. We will be flying the Whites.

I drove up to the Flynn launch LZ, and saw a few pilots that flew from Gunter launch south, where the comp will be flown from. One pilot landed at the Flynn LZ. Conditions seem very stable with a big inversion but pilots looked to be up fairly high.

I am going to rendezvous with the Colorado group and hope to have a good training flight tomorrow. I will keep you all updated.

Cheers

Leaving for California

Lauren Flies Bellyache!

Vail Valley Paragliding has special fall rates! Call 970-376-0495, or 970-845-7321 for more info.

We have had some great flying here in the Vail/ Wolcott area. Just the other night, five of us went up to Wolcott, and only Phil Horsman got off launch and had a great flight to Avon, topping out at about 13,500 msl. Chuck launched right after Phil and sunk out. That evening was one of the strangest and fastest wind direction switch I have seen in Wolcott. What also was amazing was the convergence and dust devil it created in the valley which worked it's way right up to launch. A cool dust plume stretching to the skies moved its way right up to the ridge. Once it reached the ridge the wind went from south and west to hard north at 25 mph. Karel was trying to inflate right at that point. His glider would yaw wildly and he didn't launch, which was a good thing due to the switch that occured.

Getting ready to make the big drive to California for the US National Paragliding Championships in Bishop, California. The Owens Valley! I am excited to see and fly with friends that I usually only get to see once or twice a year at these comps. Tomas, Karel, and Chuck with be there from Vail as well, being wind technicians for the comp. They will fly before the competition to show the conditions to the meet directors and comp pilots. Pine, Cherie, Loopy (aka Jan), Andy, Chris (xc skies), and myself will all be there to compete. Team Colorado.

Stay tuned as I will try to update daily. I just heard that Jeff Wishnie flew 100 miles yesterday. It should be a great time.

Cheers

Wolcott/ September 2, 2008

So, it seemed it was going to be an epic day at Wolcott. The masses, all six pilots, met at the LZ at 2:30 pm hoping to get a long xc flight, maybe jumping over the Gore Range into Summit County. In the LZ the conditions looked quite favorable. Light cycles from the west and south west at about 5 to 12 mph. Optimistically, we loaded up headed to launch.

Once at launch, conditions looked similar to what the LZ was doing; however, we noticed cumulus clouds in the distance all around us with a big blue hole over us. Cycles were consistent, but many of them cold, so we anticipated a lot of sinking air. Tomas, (Czech militia), got ready and launched. If anyone could climb out it would be Tomas. He worked hard, but unfortunately found sink, and ended up flying toward the paragliding LZ. Low, it seemed he was finding some small bubbles that may get him to climb out, but there was just too much sink and ended up in the LZ. Karel (Czech militia) was next. The lulls on launch, between cycles, were getting longer, but the cycles that came through launch were consistent and stronger. Karel launched right into a thermal and began to climb out. Karel flew in front of launch for about 5 minutes, and then to the north, of launch hooked a nice thermal and began to climb out. The thermals were there after all. Alex was next and had the same fate as Tomas. Timing seemed to be the issue. Bobby then launched and sunk out not making it to the LZ.

After Karel was in the air for about 20 minutes the valley started to show signs of wind, and the prevailing wind seemed to be kicking in. This should make it easier to soar in the ridge lift while waiting for a descent thermal to climb out.

Flynn, a new local pilot, was kind enough to pick up the pilots that sunk, so they were on their way back up to hopefully have another stab at it.

Once I noticed the ponds in the valley showing texture, I decided to suit up and hopefully be lucky to get up with Karel. By this time Tomas was back on launch and willing to give another go.

I got a descent cycle and launched into a thermal and began to climb in broken lift. The air felt broken, with holes in the lift and it wasn't easy to stick in the thermal. It felt like right off launch you were climbing through an inversion. Tomas came up to join me and with a little help from each other we found the climb to take us above the broken lift. At 9,500 msl the lift smoothed out, got broad, and was easier to core. We topped out at 14,500 msl. You could really see where the inversion layer was as you could see the top of the brown haze.

Not getting high enough to think about hoping the Gore Range. We all decided to hang around the valley. Up high there was tons of lift and it was easy to stay up. Bobby had come back up and was now soaring. Flight times ranged in the hour to two hour range. It was another great night.

August 30, 2008/ Steamboat Fly-in/ Day 2 P.M.

After lunch, we went back to the LZ, and waited for the afternoon depart to launch. Some of us were a little skeptical since the winds did seem strong and launch was now blowing in at about 15 to 25 mph. However, what was interesting, the winds were now blowing in from the Northwest which is perfect for Mt. Werner. Just maybe we were going to get lucky.

We all met at the LZ at 4 p.m. and loaded up. We got to launch and winds were still quite strong with some cycles to 20 mph. After about 20 minutes on launch, lulls were getting longer and the cycles did seem to be diminshing in speed. So guess who was up first. It was Chuck again. This time he was graced with good lift off launch and proceeded to climb out for an awesome evening flight. What seems interesting at this site is the launch cycles diminish quickly, which makes it more difficult to launch and possibly miss the soaring potential. I launched about 6 p.m. and climbed about to about 1000 feet over launch. Views were amazing and the air smooth, I began to shoot some pics. It was fun to fly over the mountain with many of the other pilots, and finish with a nice evening flight before the party festivities.

This site is 3,500 vertical feet from launch to landing. We figured it is about a 5 or 6 to 1 glide from launch to the LZ. None of the pilots had any problem making it to the valley. What a phenominal site.

After flying we all went to Mark Cahur's for some apps and a keg, and enjoyed a movie Marks girlfriend, Debbie, put together for the group. Great camaraderie, and fun. It's not just the flying that makes these events, its also the gatherings after.

Unfortunately, the weather did not turn out favorable for flying the next two days. So Karen and I took a drive north toward Wyoming to check out Steamboat Lake and Pearl Lake. It is tucked in hills very much like the landscape in Montana and Idaho. It is a beautiful area to get away with lots of options for fishing, hunting, camping, etc. And of course you can't forget the pig roast at Eric Olsons ranch to finish the weekend. Unfortunately it rained, but the bonfire still raged. The rain stopped at about 10 p.m. and the band soon kicked in with some awesome music.

You got to check this event out next year. It is one of the flying highlights of the year.

Now being back in the Vail area it is time to get ready for the Paragliding Nationals which will be in Bishop, CA starting on the 14th of September. The weather does look good for some flying before then, so I will keep you updated often. Cheers!

August 30, 2008/ Steamboat Fly-in/ Day 2

Day 2 of the the Steamboat Fly-in dawned a beautiful day. Many of the pilots were anticipating long flights with maybe a little cross country. However, when we got the winds forecast, it wasn't as promising as the day before. The weather gurus were forecasting stronger winds and from a more southerly direction then what is favorable for Mt Werner.

I arrived at launch at about 10:30 a.m. and some pilots were hooked in and ready to go. Chuck Leathers was first in line. There were some fairly strong cycles coming up launch and as forecasted it had a southerly component to it. It seemed it would be better to huck earlier rather then later, as the strength of the wind was forecasted to be increasing through the day. Chuck took off and flew to the gondola with not much lift. He found some small bubbles but nothing really to bite into, so ended up flying toward the LZ. Unfortunately, he was unable to find anything over the valley and landed.

The more advanced pilots decided to hold off from launching as the intermediate pilots were now encouraged to take off as the cycles were getting stronger with a more cross for the south. The crossing from the south did make launching a little more sporty. About 6 pilots took off close to each other including Sam Crater, who is one of the front range pilots who takes excellent pics. They began to climb out so I proceeded to finally lay out and get ready. A few pilots were still waiting and I finally took off at about 11:30 a.m. My launch was quite amusing as I had a nice strong cycle on the inflation, but as I ran down the shallow launch slope the cycle had abated and then turned 90 degree cross. I had to run at least 50 yards before I got airborn with my wing tips flapping as if to say fly-fly. The wind definitely had alot of south in it.

So, thinking I would get something to climb out and join the pilots above me, I was gifted(ha) with a nice sink cycle and proceed to descend with nary a hint of a decent thermal to turn in. I got hit with a couple of sucker pops, but as I turned my sink alarm sang out. So, I continued toward the valley, being even with the gondola terminal as I went by it, which is low. Thinking this was going to be a quick flight I headed to the last trigger point, which is a hill southeast of the landing zone. There ahead of me I saw Rick from Grand Jct. working some lift so I went over to his area. Yep, there maybe some lift after all. By this time I was probably 1500 feet over the LZ, and began to circle in broken lift at about 300 fpm. The valley seemed to be working and maybe we will be able to climb out. The thermal took us to about 9,500 msl, and seemed to end there. A valley inversion was still there so I searched up wind for something to break through. The air felt strange with a lot of holes and switchy, twisty, lift and sink. Subsequently, I flew around the valley for about an hour banging my glider against this ceiling. Many of the pilots including, Marko decided come out from Storm Peak and land, and they had to use half speed to get over the LZ, losing a lot of altitude. Ross went from 13,500 msl to 9,000 msl in about 3 miles getting to the valley. Winds were increasing.

I decided land, and was happy with the hour and twenty minute flight. Time for lunch. Over all not a bad morning and some interesting flying.

August 29, 2008/ Steamboat Fly-in

Hi Everyone! Just arrived back from Steamboat from another awesome airfest and fly-in event. Friday afternoon and evening really shined and Saturday turned out to be quite nice as well. We arrived in Steamboat Friday, late afternoon, just 10 minutes after the hang gliding and paragliding group left the LZ. Since there are a few permits allowed to use the road to launch, I settled into thinking I would watch the festivities from the LZ. Karen and I decided it was a good time to get our condo situation set up and drop off our bags and belongings. We then made it over to the the Whistler Park LZ which was the designated landing area for the weekend.

Dan, who is a local and has been flying Wolcott with us for the last month, called me and said he could come down and get me so I could fly. It's a half hour trip down and and another half hour up. I told him not to worry and go fly, but he insisted. Due to Dan and Ken 's kindness I was going to get a flight in. It was Kens truck that Dan drove down to get me. Karen came up with us and was a sweetheart to drive Kens truck down from launch. From the LZ I could see pilots taking off as soon as they arrived at launch at approximately 4:30 p.m. Conditions were excellent and many began to climb out. It looked to be an spectacular evening of flying.

Dan arrived at about 5:20 p.m. in the LZ, and we made a quick turn around and made it back to the top of Mt Werner at about 6:15 p.m. By this time most everyone had launched except for two hang glider pilots that were just finishing up their pre-flight. Dan and I got ready immediately as Mark Cahur was very encouranging over the radio to get our butts up there. Cycles were light and were now crossing from the north. The launch directions on top of Storm Peak is from Southwest to Northwest. But even a little cross wind is OK. Dan and I took off, and there was not much lift, but the air was smooth as silk as we made some turns near the gondola to try to gain some height. Lift had shut down a bit by this time and we made our way toward the valley with plenty of altitude. Making some lazy circles and taking pictures of the valley we had a nice extended sled ride for about 30 minutes of flight time.

Pilots that afternoon and evening got over 16,000 msl. A beautiful evening and an awesome flight. The Steamboat fly-in weekend had started.