Flying May 7th

We fly tomorrow, Friday May 7th. It finally looks like we will be getting a reprieve from the inclement weather we've been having. So, hopefully we will get some morning flying in with a chance of the afternoon working as well. Saturday looks like it may be descent at Wolcott. If we can't drive up to the upper launch, some of us may drive as far as we can and then hike. The other option is to launch off the small site Ravens Ridge and bench up to the upper ridge.
Let's hope we can get some air time.

Otto's Ridge

Well, not much new to say except we spent two days at Otto's ridge, and got skunked. The weather was good, but the wind was from the west. Otto's faces east. However, it was kiteable so got some great ground handling in. This was nice as I have only had one flight since November. Garret, who is a Vail local, was in the neighborhood and decided to head to Reeder Mesa. There ws no wind there.
Back in Vail now, and the ind is still blowing. It does look like we may have the wx settle down for Friday and Saturday. Hopefully we can get in the air. I will post daily or every other day with updates.
Cheers!

Snowing Again

It's Sunday afternoon and it's snowing again. So, tomorrow morning we are going to leave at 5:30 am for Otto's Ridge in Mack, hopefully for a little air time, and so warmer weather. We will be staying through Tuesday afternoon, when it looks like the wind and weather is going to take advantage of us again. I will take some pics and share them for those of you that have never been to Otto's.
Otto's is similar to POM southside. It faces east, and gets the drain from the mountains. The soaring window usually lasts until about noon. Conditions a typically smooth until about 10 am and then it can begin to get a little thermic. It is great option if you don't want to drive all the way to the POM.
After this next bout of weather it looks like the weather may stabilize for a little flying in the mountains. We'll keep you posted.

Been A Long Winter

Hi Everyone, Well it has been a long winter, and I am glad it's over. Unfortunately, winter has not left us, and we had a foot of snow dump within the last 3 days. I have been excited to get airborn, but right after skiing had ended I had to go to Maine and visit the family, and it snowed there. Can't get away from it.

So big plans for the summer, and I hope we can get the Vail ball rolling soon with at least some descent flying weather to scrape the rust off our flying skills. Bellyache, our morning site, was in good shape and dry before the snow came in. So with some warm weather it should only take a couple of days to be launchable. Wolcott on the other hand looked good, but with the new snow the mud on the road will probably hold us off for a couple of more weeks. Usually we can drive up to Wolcott by mid May.

Though I have slacked on writing this blog, I will be making every effort to updat at least 4 to 5 times a week. So please stay tuned for local updates of the flying here in the Vail area.

Unfortunately, there will be no paragliding at the Teva Mountain Games this year. However, I am planning to have a fun fly-in, Colorado league comp during the Games. It is the first weekend in June. I will keep everyone posted as soon as I have more details.

I will leave a picture that Dale Covington took thermaling in the leeside of a 7,000 foot south face during the Nationals in Utah. Talk to you on Monday.

Cheers

US Nationals 2nd round

So, I am sorry it has taken me so long to keep my blog updated. Being on the road, and just always trying to catch up with personal details back home, it seems the time just passes me by.

I thought I start with the US Nationals week long competition in the Provo, Utah area. The site we flew for the whole week is called Inspiration Point. It sits about one quarter the way up Cascade Peak, with a west facing launch. What makes this area so appealing is a north to south mountain range with 11,000 foot, plus peaks. Winds are generally westerly, so it makes for great flying since the front side on the mountains face directly into the prevailing wind. From the valley floor to the top is approximately 7,000 vertical feet.

Arriving a day early to get a training flight in, we were greeted with the weather wet, stormy and wild. Not a good start to a week long competition. Unfortunately, I had flown this site only once about 12 years ago, so a training flight was not in the cards due to the weather. I always like to familiarize myself to a new site just to get the feel for how it works. Fortunately the weather looked like it was going to be great, at leasrt for 5 days or so during the comp. Seldom do we get several flying days during a comp when in the mountains due to the ever changing weather. Maybe this one would be different, and it was. We had 7 total flying days. The comp lasts seven days.

So the first day, I was focused on getting familiar with the site, and was hoping for easy conditions to fly. I also had only about 7 flights on my comp wing, which is enough to get a feel for the glider, but not enough to really dial it in. After launching I was surprised that the climb outs weren't easy. I turned left right off launch, as a few pilots were actually climbing out, but later I found out the house thermal was to the right of launch. I sunk out to this hill that has a gazebo on it, which really isn't far from the bombout. I trusted that the gezebo was going to work for me, and it did, but it left me really far behind from the gaggle and start. Again, I was taking this flight as a training flight. Finally climbing out to about 2,000 feet over launch, I began the task. It was about a 70 km task to the south. I was thinking that the front faces of these big mountains as rocky as the were, would really work for lift, but I was unpleasantly disappointed. I worked and worked, scatched and scatched, much more closely rock faces then I like on a comp wing. I groveled to the first turn point, and tweaked my way to the second turn point, and sunk out. Disappointed, but it was a training flight, and I was happy with my comp wing, conditions were weak climbs with turbulent conditions, and the glider handled beautifully. Crisp, responsive handling, and probably the most soild comp glider I have flown to date.

The second day turned out to be another nice day. Still under the high pressure influence, I was looking a little more forward to the task, as I had a little familiarity on the site. About a 68 km task to the south was called to a little airstrip called Nephi. I had a rough start again with a botched launch. Conditions were light, and I tried to run hard on the uneven launch terrain, but tripped. I had to untangle my glider etc. Finally when I got everything sorted out, I was one of the last pilots on launch. I had an easy takeoff the second time, and climbed out alone in 500 fpm lift. Being so far behind, I reall didn't wory about catching up, but I surprising ly had good luck, and got to 11,500 feet msl, and went on course. Even though the task was a straight line, the mountain range made a 45 degree curve. You had two options, one to follow the mountains and the dogleg, or go across the flats. Terrain seemed like the obvious choice, and consequently all the pilots took that option. I was happy with my progress, as I was catching up to a few pilots as I was going. I was also noticing several pilots landing out, and so I was thinking I was making some headway. Goal was supposed to close around 7:30 pm so I was making progress and observing that I would make goal at around 7:15 pm. before the dogleg we had some flats to go over, and may pilots were getting low. I came over this spine with about 250 feet agl. I worked down the spine and found a weak climb at about 200 fpm. Working it I began to climb out, and finaly another pilot comes and joins me and it's none other the John Van Duzer who always flies serial class, but makes goal much of the time. as we worked together, we ended up climbing and helping each other, topping out on this climb a 4,000 feet agl, we went on glide, Trey, joined us as well, so the three of us could work together nicely, and got the climb of the day to 13,000 feet msl, which was about 8,000 feet agl. From the top of this climb we had the coolest final glide I had ever had in the evening light. My GPS was saying I was going to make goal before 7 pm which was good, but had plenty of time to spare. The glide turned out to be about 15 km, and I still had 3,000 feet of altitude when I got to goal. an awesome flight, one of the best of the year, and happy to be in goal.

Stay tuned for the next few days of the comp.

Great Flying in July

It's been great, the weather has finally dried out a little, and we have had some consistency with the conditions. We did have two days in the last two weeks that we were completely shut down, but for the most part it has been great.

On the evening of July 18th, with the winds from the north, several pilots decided to make the trek up the gondola, and a 30 minute hike to launch at a site we call the Cascade launch or Chair 20 launch. Two pilots went up on July 16th, an had some great conditions to fly in with and hour of soaring. Several of us were hoping to have the same experience.

We load the gondola in Lionshead on Vail Mountain, and hike down the run Simba, and with a short bushwhack we arrive at a steep, semi grassy, shrubby launch. Unsheathed kevlar comp lines on the glider really do not like the shrubby ground cover. Lines catch on everything, and the glider doesn't like to inflate evenly. A little landscaping will take care of this.

Once at launch winds were a little on the strong side, but not totally unreasonable. We settled in to wait for the right conditions, and placed some wind indicators in strategic spots for safe launching. After about 40 minutes some of the lulls in the cycles were at an appropriate launch speed, with gusts to about 18 mph. I decided to get ready. As I laid my glider out, the little shrubs kept grabbing the lines, and because of the steepness of the slope the winds kept lifting my glider into a serpentine format. Once hooked in it was easier to manage. I got the straight in cycle, and inflated, and launched into lift. Conditions were smooth, and the lift was abundant, and climbed steadily to 10,700 feet msl, which is a little higher than the top of the gondola on Eagle's Nest on Vail Mountain. The other pilots managed to get off with some soaring. Unfortunately, the launch is small, and only two gliders can be laid out at a time.

I got about an hour flight with the lift shutting down abruptly, landing at about 8 pm. It's great to have a site that faces northerly, as all the other sites we have face a more southerly, or easterly direction. It was great that all the pilots got to fly.

It seems now we are in a dry cycle, so I will be blogging about any significant flights we have. Don't give up, the best is yet to come.

Major Update

Well, it has been a while since I have updated my blog. I am sure you all have been waiting with baited breath. Hopefully, all of you haven't given up on me, and trusted that I would update the blog someday. So, Here it is.

The last blog I wrote was at the Dunlap, CA Nationals. Alot has happened since then with the season opener at Villa Grove, CO, and the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, and just some great flying after and in between.

In Villa Grove, as usual for this time of year, we were tethered between the struggle of seasons from winter summer. Snow on the peaks, rain in the valley, thunderstorms menacing our short opportunities to get airborn, and gust fronts toying with us once we were in the air. It certainly did not dampen the spirits of the group. What I love about this event is the camaraderie between the hang glider pilots and paraglider pilots. Even with the challenging conditions everyone got some airtime, though it was short lived, especially for the paraglider pilots, as wind seemed to make it more risky for us to stay in the air. I remember deciding to go to one of the hotsprings close by, and watching three hang glider pilots setting up for a landing in front of a huge thunderstorm with the gust front clocking winds at about 35 mph.

One of the evenings saw a paraglider pilot getting caught by one of the said gust fronts, and managed to land his glider going backwards at about 10 mph. He just got dragged a little through the sage and cactus (ouch), but was ready the next day for a flight.

I managed to get two good flights in, but chose to be in the air for no more then 40 minutes due to the unpredictable nature of the weather.

What could not be topped, though, was the hospitality that Tiffany and Larry gave to the event. Most pilots camped on their property, which is right at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. We can use Lar and Tiffs property for a landing zone, which is wide open range land. Larry is a hang glider pilot that has devoted himself to making this site one of the premier sites in Colorado. The party they threw was unbelievable, with a huge bon fire, lots of grilled food, kegs of beer, and live entertainment. You can't beat the venue, with two hotsprings close by, including one that's clothing optional, a pristine setting of snow capped 14,000 foot peaks, and you know you are in God's country.

I will continue to attend this event as long as it's on the table. Hopefully, one year we will be graced with perfect conditions, and long cross country flights. The potential is infinite.

Two weeks after the Villa Grove event, the Teva Mountain Games came to Vail. Originally we were going to have a competition with a cross country race to goal. But due to the previous year's conditions, many pilots were relunctant to sign up. So, because of the small roster we decided to make it more of a fun fly-in.

Unfortunately again, the weather was not on our side. Wind and rain was the norm, and we struggled to get in the air for some excitement. The first day we spent down in Wolcott with the hopes of flying into Vail. Big cu-nims with rain shafts, cranked gust fronts through launch all day with hang glider pilots, and paraglider pilots trying to squeak a flight in between. Everyone got flushed, with no one flying for more then 30 minutes. The second and third day we were blown out completely with no one going to launch. On Sunday, we got permission to fly from Vail mountain, and luckily we had a window. Observing the realtime weather conditions and the forecast, I was reluctant to head up the mountain, but since this was a rare opportunity, the group decided to go up anyway. Even though the winds were strong at 12,000 feet msl, with launch being at 11,000 feet msl, we had slight cross but reasonable conditions, so we hucked and had about a 20 to 30 min flight into Vail landing at the Rugby field. We were psyched.

Another Teva Games, and not the greatest weather. I am convinced that one year we will have the great weather needed to sport paragliders all over the sky for spectators enjoyment.

I will continue to blog more often now as summer has settled in. Stay tuned for more fun tales. Cheers!