Golden BC and the Willi XC 2011

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Summary:
More on the flying and things to do around Golden BC when flying there are detailed below.  In 13 days I logged 17 flights with 14 hours in the air.  I had three good XC flights.  Two 49 k flights and one 58 k flight.  Lots of sled rides and some great thermaling experience.  The Willi XC was a bit of a disappointment weather wise with only one good day for XC so the places were determined with only one day’s flying.  I came in second in the intermediate class for paragliders and won $40.  I also came away with lots of door prizes from the morning pilot’s meetings. 


Details follow...


Golden flight report 7-23-11
Golden day 1. Low clouds and rain in the early morning. By some miracle the clouds cleared enough to fly after 2 in the afternoon. Two flights. One just a sled ride and the other 1200 feet over launch but not high enough to go anywhere.

Willi XC headquarters at Nickelson LZ

A couple pilots got high enough to make the jump to Kapristo and head south. I’ll find out how far they went at the pilots briefing this morning.   Weather looks better for tomorrow.

On the way to the LZ crossing the Columbia

Golden flight report 7-24-11
Three hours and fifteen minutes in the air.  9800 feet max altitude. Landed 48.6 km from launch. Light winds made for slow going flying south. Great scenery.

Looking east while flying south

Haven’t flown in thermals for that long for a while. Quite a workout. Towards the end of the flight I was just flying through the thermals rather than climbing up in them. One big collapse. OMG I hate it when the wing is in front and below me.

A nice large field for landing.  Mosquitoes were waiting for me.

Having fun. Mosquitoes attacked me big time after landing.

Golden non-flight report 7-25-11
It looked good in the morning so we took our time getting to launch. Got there around 1;00 PM hoping for some good XC’s before it was forecast to cloud over later in the afternoon. A few pilots were launching from the north launch. The sky was getting more and more overcast and the valley shaded. Rain was reported in Invemere so now we were getting a little nervous as a few pilots set up to launch on the south launch as the winds picked up a bit from the south which probably was a clue not to launch.

I was third or fourth in the launch line when a local advised Joe, one of the RPC pilots that given the conditions he recommended not launching. We put our gear down and watched the excitement for the pilots who were in the air. One was blown back from the LZ and missed the swamp using some skill to land in the only landable piece of real estate in the area. Another landed smack in the middle of the lake and we called 911 to assist him. He was OK but had to leave is gear and swim to shore.

My umbrella

Rain ensued and I found one reason to love hang gliders. Weather doesn’t look too good for the next few days.

Golden non-flight report 7-26-11
70 percent chance of precipitation and thunderstorms in the forecast kept us on the ground.

Serge raffles off door prizes at the pilots meetings in the morning in an effort to keep attendance up. So far I have one a free dinner, a pair of socks, a $20 gift certificate at the local book store and a windsock. Not bad.

Free breakfasts every morning.  Eggs, Sausage, and pancakes.

Mary Beth and I went downtown to redeem the gift certificate and have lunch. In the afternoon we drove south to Radium Hot springs checking out potential landing areas along the highway as we went.

Mary Beth and I met Reed at the hot springs and after a couple of hours in the hot spring we headed back to Golden. We called the Cedar House and made reservations for dinner. It’s a great place for fine dining in Golden but a little on the pricey side. New owners this year but the food was every bit as good as past years.

As I sit here writing this and looking at the forecast it looks like Wednesday may not be much better. No thunderstorms but overcast and rain until late afternoon when it may clear. Hope to get a sled ride down to the LZ as a minimum.

Golden Flight report 7-27-11

Rain in the morning. Three speed wing flyers swooped down through the clouds from the top of Mt. Seven and landed just as the rain started the LZ .

Navigating "around" clouds to the LZ.

My luck with the pilots briefing drawings continued. I won a $25 gift certificate at one of the outfitters. With Mary Beth along later in the morning we spent a net $100 at the shop redeeming the gift certificate. Funny how that works out.

Overcast and chance of rain/gust fronts kept us on the ground until after 4 pm. Finally things looked safe. I had a sled ride down to the LZ and then went back up for another. We had more sun by the second flight and I managed to stretch the flight out to 20 minutes. I flew down to the LZ with a hang glider which made for some great photo opportunities. I’ll have to see how the pictures come out later.

Reed opted for some sightseeing and missed the flying. But things are looking up for Thursday.

Golden Flight Report 7-28-11
Three flights today. None more than thirty minutes. All ending at the Nickelson LZ.

Mary Beth snaps a photo to prove I was above launch.

My luck at the pilots meeting drawings held. Another windsock!

Reed decided after the first flight he had enough and decided to head out for sightseeing. His parting comments were “see you at Cliffside”. So now it’s just me representing CPC in this foreign land.

Part of "Team USA" standing in front of a rain shower on the North launch.
Steve, Joe, me, and Reed

The weather forecast was good but it was only a forecast. The clear sky forecast turned out to be broken to overcast. Never enough full sun for heating things up to generate the kind of thermals you need to go anywhere. South winds of around 10 mph didn’t help since the only real possibility for XC is heading south. It would look like it was clearing enough for a try and I kept going back up to launch.

Another try...Same result

Nice flights down to the LZ and lots of photo opportunities. I brought an old camera along to use and I may have to go back to the big bulky Canon. My pictures are coming out blurry and lacking the brilliance of the Canon. So even that didn’t work for me.

Chasing a hang glider to the LZ

Not much else going on. Doing laundry and playing Tetris on my Ipod were the evening highlights. Fell asleep trying to watch “Quantum of Solice” on the computer in the evening. Maybe we need something bigger than our little Chalet trailer? The people “camping” next to us have a big 5th wheel towable unit with slide outs, large picture window, a big screen TV, and some nice big chairs for watching TV.

Campsite at Golden Eco Adventure Ranch

Golden Flight report 7-29-11
Raining in the morning but conditions were forecast to improve.

Serge gives the morning briefing at he pilots meeting.

Pilots meeting drawing brought me an original painting with a paraglider, hang glider and a hawk flying at sunset. And of course another windsock…That makes three.

I spent most of the morning and into the early afternoon organizing photos and writing a blog. Occasionally looking out the window to check the weather. A mix of clouds, sun and gusty winds. Mostly clouds and gusty winds.

I made arrangements to stay an extra two days. We were due to check out the morning of the last day of the competition but with the awards dinner it made sense to stay at least one more day. And if the weather by some chance looks really good we will stay even longer. The campsites with hookups are all sold out so we are going to have to move to a camping site. No microwaved bacon for at least two days.

Finally in late afternoon things started to clear more. At five we drove up to launch. There we showers out in the valley and there was a small gust front coming through. Finally it was clear and I launched around 6:45 PM. No real thermals but a nice ride down to the LZ landing right in the middle of the 7 target.

Dinner and a campfire back at the camper. The weather should be better tomorrow. Sound familiar?

Golden Flight report 7-30-11
After a shower and breakfast I headed to the pilot’s meeting.  Everything looked good for the weather except the wind.  South at 10.  That would make XC difficult.

Another good day with the door prizes at the pilot’s meeting.  I won a $10 gas certificate and another painting.  This painting I actually kind of liked.

I delayed going up as long as possible and didn’t get to the top until nearly 2:00 PM.  Should have been right near peak heating.  Now the waiting game began.  Nobody was launching.  Everyone was waiting for a wind dummy to give it a try.  Meanwhile the winds down in the LZ and valley were cranking up.

The first two pilots to launch ended up getting caught low and having to land at the gravel pit bail out LZ.   The thermals were being broken up by the wind.  More waiting ensued.  Later two more paraglider pilots launched and headed south along the ridge. They landed a half hour or so later with about zero penetration in the main LZ.  More waiting.

Hangs were launching and staying up.  Scratching their way up the rock face in front of Mt. 7.  By now it was after 5 PM and I couldn’t wait any longer.  Winds at the airport had dropped of considerably so I got ready and was soon at launch ready to go.

South Launch

I launched around 5:30 off the South launch (naturally) and was very quickly 100 feet over.  I did a few S turns and hit the speed bar  as I worked my way south along the ridge line hoping to find lift at the rock face up to the bowl on Mt 7.  When I got there all I could do was maintain.  After 15 minutes I decided I would head for the LZ.  Four to one glide.  With 50 percent speed bar the glider was doing six to one on the way out with a 15 mph cross wind.  Arrived over the upwind side of the LZ with plenty of altitude but some really strong winds.  The wind socks in the LZ were hanging straight down.  Very steep glide until the last 30 feet when I went through the gradient.    Packing up I noticed that no other gliders had launched.  They continued to wait for better conditions.

Mary Beth and I had dinner and walking to the showers around 7:30 I saw gliders nearly up to the top of Mt 7 but with the winds it looked like nobody went any further. 

One more day to go in the competition.  South winds again and a 30 percent chance of rain.  Looks like the awards will be decided on the just one marginal day of XC we had last  Monday. I think I’m in second place in the intermediate class.  That is for pilots who have never flown more than a 75k XC.   Lots of frustrated pilots given the weather.  Especially those who were here the week before for the nationals.  I think we will be staying here next week.  The weather is forecast to be better starting Monday. 

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Golden Flight Report 7/31/11

This morning my luck didn’t hold at the pilots meeting.  No prizes.


After breakfast we packed up the trailer and towed it over to our temporary site.  Tomorrow we move back to  a site with hookups for water and electricity.  We have made arrangements to stay here through Friday morning.  Then maybe Invemere for the fly in there.  $1000 spot landing contest.  On the beach or in the water.

After moving the trailer we headed up to get a flight before the things were forecast to cloud over and blow out.  I had a nice flight down to the LZ.  This time I manged to get a picture of the trailer before landing.  Another landing spot on the 7.  New challenge it to get a picture of the ground squirrel that lives there before he runs into his hole just when you are about 10 feet from him.  

Cute little "varmits"

Lots of ground squirrels here .  Their holes can be a hazard on landing if you are not careful.   One of the pilots showed me his scars from a spiral fracture he got fro landing on one.  Of course he was flying in the moonlight with another group of pilots using LED flashers and dropping glow sticks to help them determine where the ground was.

No point getting the wing out

In the afternoon things clouded over and the wind picked up.  Nobody was flying.  Around 5:30  Stewart told me the winds were backing off at launch and the valley clouds looked good.  We drove up to launch and found the winds had picked up and could see a huge CB East of us behind launch and another smaller buildup across the valley. 

We didn’t wait around and drove down to the campground and were treated to a beautiful rainbow as the storm cell passed south of us.

We headed to the awards dinner.  With only one day for good XC the positions didn’t change.  I was second in the intermediate category and won $40 in prize money.  All in all with that and the door prizes I won I came out ahead of the $80 entry fee. 


Serge did a great job running the event.  Low key and fun.  I wish we could have had more CPC pilots attending.  Even when it’s bad for XC its still a beautiful site to fly.

Golden Flight Report 8-1-11  49k XC
Déjà vu all over again. 

After struggling for an hour to get up high enough to go anywhere I landed back at the LZ since Mary Beth reminded me on the radio that I had left my cell phone in the car. 

We drove back up for a second flight.  Much better this time.  I got up to 10,000 feet after being low just crossing from Mt. 7 and made my way south but ran out of altitude and ideas 49k south.  I landed in the same field as the previous XC.  Much better time wise than the last time.  2 hours and 13 minutes compared to 3 hours 15 minutes the previous trip. 

Back valley

Only one big collapse during the flight well clear of terrain and rather unexpected.  Lost at least 70 percent of the wing and got that falling feeling for a second or two before the wing recovered.  No pilot input required. God I love 1-2 wings.

Golden Flight report 8-2-11

The morning clouds indicated it would not be a good day for flying as was earlier forecast.  Mary Beth and I drove to Emerald Lake in the morning and then on to Wapato falls.  Mary Beth stayed in the car while I hiked the 2.4 k to the falls to take some pictures.  One problem with being a tourist on “no fly” days is the sky is generally gray and the colors not so vivid.  Oh well.

We got back to Golden and booked rafting trips for Wednesday morning since the weather didn’t look good for flying on Wednesday. 
Winds were fine and with the overcast I decided I needed a flight so we headed up to launch around 5. I had a nice boaty 15 minute ride down to the LZ.  I took the better camera to get a good shot of the trailer.  Now that obsession is over.  I arrived at the LZ with about 3000 feet to spare and just circled around slowly enjoying the smooth air.

Home sweet home

While I was packing up Michael, a touring pilot form Germany, came over and we invited him to share Mary Beth’s soon to be expired earthquake MRE’s.  I had been putting off eating them for as long as I could but actually found them to be quite good and easy to prepare.  After dinner we went to the theatre and watched “Captain America”.  Movies from comic books are always a little camp but it was a nice break from the campfire routine.  No S’mores this night.  Just popcorn and sodas.

Golden Flight report 8-3-11
The weather looked great for flying in the morning but Mary Beth and I had already committed to rafting.  We took the “family tour” with Alpine rafting.  Great equipment and good guides.  The choice of routes was not very good.  The more exciting class 3-4 stuff was on afternoon trips.  Water was generally smooth with only a couple 1-2 stuff on our trip.  Still it was a great day on the river.  We pulled in at one point and hiked a short distance up Comb Creek to see the water flowing down a rocky stream bed.  The tour ended with a barbecue and a short ride back to the car.

Rafting on the Kicking Horse River

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Comb Creek

We checked out Whispering Pines Campground on the way back to or site.  It would probably be the second best spot to Golden Eco Adventure Ranch even though it is on the other side of town.  Less mosquitoes and the public areas were older but generally clean.

Back at the LZ the clouds had filled in pretty well but it still looked good for XC potential.  Michael joined us and we headed up to launch.  Michael launched ahead of me and climbed out easily.  I had the same thing a 15 minutes later around 3:30.  I climbed up to 9800 feet over launch in one thermal right off launch.  That was the high point of my flight.  Some 40 minutes later I was landing in a big field in front of Pagliaro (sp).  I’m going to put this field in my GPS and label it DUMASS LZ.  It’s a great place to land.  Tom Huff and I landed there in 2006 but I should have known better than to have to land there in 2011.

After getting up to 9800 feet things clouded over a bit and heading south to Mt Seven I couldn’t find anything and undeterred I continued on slowly losing altitude.  The general rule is you need to be at 9500 leaving Seven but sometimes you can scratch the face of Pagliaro and find something.  I left around 8000 feet and arrived too low on the face to scratch comfortably.  With the north wind you generally have no good options to bet back to the LZ at Nickelson.  I pointed the glider north headed that way but looking at my ground speed it was obvious I would not make it. 

I headed for DUMASS and landed easily in a huge freshly cut hay field.  While I was gliding there I saw Michael trying to head north as well a half mile or so ahead of me.  He had not yet descended into the valley wind but it was obvious to me that he wasn’t gong to make it.  Michael was flying with no radio and not working cell phone.  Instead of heading to the LZ where I was he continued on and landed in a field near the highway.  . AGAIN Mary Beth was there to retrieve me by the time I had hiked out to the road.

We looked for Michael where we thought he might have landed but could not find him.  I decided he was probably OK and we could look for him later as there was still time for another flight and plenty of light left.  On the way back up I got a call that Michael was back in the LZ.  He recharged his phone so he can now call Mary Beth for a ride when he lands out

On the second I launched and flew pretty much straight to the LZ with only occasional bubbles of lift.  I arrived about 2500 feet over the LZ and I practiced spirals over the LZ for quite a while before landing.  Nickelson LZ is sheltered and you can be in the valley wind until the last 50 feet and then you have a no wind landing.  I’m still getting the feel of the Mentor 2 (super glide ratio) or just need more practice on spot landing.  No wind landings are difficult for me.  I always tend to overshoot the spot by a hundred feet or so.

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Recharging all the electronics

After packing up we headed into town to buy beer and to redeem our “free meal” certificate at the Southside Grocery. The Lasagna  we selected was excellent and the one “meal” was enough for both Mary Beth and I.  

Dinner, campfire, S’mores and we called it a day.

Golden Flight report 8-4-11 58K flight

This was our last day of flying at Golden.  We’re leaving Friday to visit friends in Idaho.


We arrived at launch just after 1:00 PM.  I watched a few people launch and was determined to wait until at least 3:00 PM.  Finally after using all the waiting discipline I had I launched just after three.  There were 4 hang pilots watching me.  I was the wind technician for them.


I found a thermal about half way to the radio towers and climbed up around 3500 feet as I drifted back slowly along the spine.  I was at around 9700 feet as I headed across to 7 and making the jump to Pagliaro.  No help with lift along the way.  I crossed the gap and was just even with the top looking for a thermal.  I found something as I worked south and was off. 

From then on it was a series of climbs up to 10,000 feet and then glides for 58 k landing just south of Spillimachine.  The thermals were very well behaved and at altitude the winds about 5-10 mph from the west.  I don’t think I ever quite made it to cloudbase.  I would climb above the peaks and then lose altitude looking for thermals and would have to look for thermals on the rock faces or bowls. Twice I was ready to head out to land when I found some light 100-200 fpm thermals that kept me up and then eventually enabled me to climb out. 

Scenery like this is what keeps you flying

No collapses or scary moments on this flight.  I had more time to get the camera out and take some pictures.  At one point I was thermaling with a hang glider and later taking pictures of him as he flew away from me.  The way this guy in the hang was working the thermals and darting around almost made me want to take up hang gliding.  ALMOST…


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Find the hang in this picture

I landed in a meadow and sent MB my coordinates using the spot locator.  I was having some radio problems and couldn’t get her on the radio.  She had been following me it turns out and pulled up to the gate next to where I was packing up.  NICE.


I kept my flight suit on while I was packing up.  Much better to be a little warm than be eaten or carried off by the mosquitoes. 

We drove back to the campground and ate MRE’s as we started packing up.  I celebrated with a couple of extra beers at dinner and as we enjoyed our last campfire.  I just kept smiling and thinking about those low saves and long climbs.

Golden Non-flight report 8-5-11
In the morning, after a shower I continued loading up the SUV and breaking down camp.  We made pretty good time.  Only one minor setback.  The bracket holding the electrical trailer connection had been bent by some of our off road driving.  While trying to hammer it back into position I cracked the plastic mounting for the connector.  Thank god for Gorilla tape.  Hope it holds for the trip back.


We stopped at the Spilli Bean restaurant in Spillimacheen on the way to visit friends on Lake Pend Oreille near Sandpoint, Idaho.  Great breakfast wraps there filled with scrambled eggs and bacon.  Mary Beth also recommends the Lattes.

Back in Portland 2665 miles later

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