Another stable day

We were on launch for a few hours watching most pg's and a few hg's scratch their afternoon away. I launched late and thought I was going to sink out when I got rocked by a bubble and climbed 500' before it petered out. This went on for two hours and I made it over the summit a few times but never high enough to leave. No HG's went anywhere and a handfull of pg's went down range.
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Stable

Last nite a super warm wind started up shortly after dark which was welcome at the time to avoid frost bitten fingers from your beer, but as a result we were plauged with a stable day. Noone got much higher than launch and there was a storm aproching from the north. I never bothered setting up fully and drove down. We had a great tstorm blow through this evening which will hopefully destablize everything for tomorow. Timmy danced in the rain in his shorts for a clensing and was rewarded with an awe inspiring rainbow.
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Out and return

Today was a day of timing. Time your launch, both for the right wind and sun, and wiat for the sun to shine where you wanted to go. The keeners were off early and got away. I got stuck behind some launch potatoes and slipped off while noone was looking on the other launch. I'm not a big fan of the ramp anyhow.

I caught something light right off launch an was soon at the clouds at 10500'. That's when it became painfully obvious that I hadn't dressed warm enough. I passed over 7 and continued on down the range. The sky was littered with gliders. I stayed at peak hight and aimed for whoever was going up when I needed a top up.

When I reached parsons the rest of the south was black with shade. I was happy with that distance so I turned around and came back. The last littlebit of the way was covered in shade and people were being flushed down everywhere. I headed for the 15k field but was rewarded with low save half way there and got back up to within glide to camp. Good for a 60k out and return.

The best flight of the day was Rob C who made it to invermere and then back to spillimicheen.
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More rain

We loaded up and headed up the mountain. At the top we saw ugly weather comming and the pg's were rushing to get off. A few were high when the rain moved in but seen it coming and got down. The only hangglider to launch was Doug L. He got caught in it and landed in ugly rain and wind but was fine. A few of us waited it out and were rewarded with a light thermaling flight. I got an hour in light slow thermals, never breaking over the top of the mountain. The shade moved in and flushed about 6 hangies and 10 PG's all at the same tine. We needed air trafic control to keep things safe. Today looks awsome so far.
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river and trees again

Yesterday was very unstable and there were thunderclouds popping up all day. The brave ones waited and succeeded to go go far. One paraglider flew 100K to invermere and Rob C made it to Canal Flats for 160K or so. I waited till evening with some blue sky and found the air still too rough for me. I got up over the peak easy but there was 1200 up right beside 1200 down and not big enough to stay in so the rodeo wasn't worth the return and I landed.

When I went for supper I learned that there was a hangglider cought in a gust front and wound up in the river, and a paraglider in the trees in invermere. Guy in the hangglider was fine. Paraglider unknown who or his condition. today looks much of the same but slightly better,,,we'll see

rest day

Nobody flew today. Shellshocked from yesterday and too many beers by the time it got better. Tomorrow is forcasted to be better so we'll see.

carnage

I had a very memorable flight today second only to the nastyness that happened afterword. First, my flight, I was later in the launch line after watching a few get away slow and few sink out. I locked into a great thermal right off launch and was soon at 10 grand. that was the last turning I did for the rest of the flight. 50 km out and return with one turn. I've heard of people doing it but never thought it was possible. I bounced between 11000' and 9500 for the entire trip. the air was semi rough but nothing abnormal for here. I turned around do to an ugly storm brewing down the valley. Which leads me to my second half of my adventure.

The entire valley to the south was black. I turned trail and ran home. I was on the ground and packed up when it started raining gliders. When the gust front hit there was likely 15 still in the air. All the paragliders ran downwind and to my knowledge only one wound up in the hospital with injuries unknown to me at this time. 3 hang gliders were parked at full speed and hat the ride of their lives. Searge made it down with only a broken down tube. Doug K piled in hard and took out at least two downtubes. He got popped at 50 feet and stalled straight in. Dave B was the last and he was doing good until the bottom dropped out and he piled in with a high speed skid. glider fine, him bleeding but ok. There was a few lessons learned and I was very happy with my decition.

New harness

Thursday I started my trip with a treck to Calgary to pick up my new harness. John installed the reserve which was a bit of a puzzle to get it rammed in. I tried it on and was impressed with it's attention to detail and fit. It will take some getting used to as far as actualy using it.

Once in golden I took an early morning sledder to try it out and found I couldn't do up the zipper as my feet just weren't long enough to take out the pucker. Later that afternoon the day was just too windy to be enjoyable so I passed up the flight and went back down. In the evening I watched two paragliders not make the LZ and have squeeze into ugly spots. I flew shortly after and had no issues.

Tomorrow is the official start of the Willi and most have showed up today. Weather forcasts look good unlike most years. Should be a good year.
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Creston BC Mt Thompson

I went to Creston for a quick trip. Sarah had some family visiting and she wanted to see them so My plan was to fly in the evenings. Of three days possible I wound up with one flight. The first day was rained out. Second day I was all loaded up on a borrowed truck and before I even started up the mountain road I found that one of the dual tires on the back was flat and all the wheel nuts were loose with one stud broke and the others with some serious wear. I decided to forfeit that day on equipment failure. The last day I hashed a plan with my family to take a picnic supper of pizza to the top of the mountain. We loaded two trucks with people and kids and pizza and headed up.




As I set up I got real nervous realizing that my parents, brother, wife and a dozen kids would be watching, Of all places this was not the time to make a bad call or mistake. I actually lost my appetite and started to worry. As I set up I couldn't help but notice that there could be nothing more perfect about conditions. There was a light trickle of wind straight up the steep launch, no signs of turbulence and an all round nice day. I calmed down, suited up and hooked in, triple checked I was hooked in, and turned the glider around. I took a moment to remember that it had been a while since foot launching last so I went through the motions in my head and cleared my mind.
"CLEAR!!"


Launch was perfect and I was away. The air was not bad but the thermals were small and slow. Close to the trees I could climb a little but the higher I got the slower they got, still I was holding my own. I flew long enough for them to get down and watch me land. I did a few mild wing overs and did a good landing. A great flight and it will be a memorable one with most of my immediate family there. I think next time will be better.