A Celebration Gone Wrong

A European pilot lost his life paragliding today. I do not know his name or exact nationality. I will say what I know, but will not claim it to be fact as I would not want to dishonour him by recounting events that happened differently. Although the circumstances surrounding his death seem fairly certain, there is always a chance that things aren't the way them seem.

This pilot was experienced and in celebration of his 200th flight here in Pokhara, he decided to jump from his glider into the lake. Unfortunately he jumped from too high (20 meters) and hit the water chest first and did not surface. His harness attached to his wing slowly floated away, but he was nowhere to be found.

I didn't see it happen, but was there when the chaos ensued trying to find this man. An ambulance never arrived (perhaps someone canceled it?), and the police were slow to show up. Some efforts on the part of the locals were made to locate the pilot, but it was more that fellow pilots jumped into the lake with snorkels and fins, or grabbed kayaks and other boats, in a race against time to find him. The murky waters made things difficult, and they returned to shore empty-handed.

The local officials are presently trying to recover his body with a couple of row boats with barbed wire stringed between them to scrape the bottom of the lake. It sounds barbaric, but organizing a dive team does not seem like a possibility out here.

I am saddened by the loss of a fellow pilot and I offer my sincerest condolences to his family and friends, some of whom witnessed the event.

This morning I went parahawking and although the flight was amazing, I will write about things in my next post as I don't feel it's appropriate here. I hope I do not offend anybody by writing about today's events, but I feel that it would be more disrespectful not to write about them at all.

Rest in peace fellow pilot.

Mini XC in Nepal

Our four day paragliding trek went really well and was overall a very good experience. Our adventures included visiting an elementary school where we were each given at least a couple dozen flower necklaces (leis), having some local ladies dance for us while offering us home-brew alcohol (Roxy) from a Jerry can, and of course, the paragliding. I think everyone from our group had at least one great flight and whether it was flying in amongst the clouds or simply marveling at the height of Himalayas, it was an experience to remember.

Flying with vultures is extremely common here, and boy, are they huge! It's quite intimidating flying with these massive birds who are so curious about paragliders that they will literally fly wingtip to wingtip with you. Although there have been cases where the birds have collided with gliders, the best advice I was given is to simply thermal the same direction as the birds. That way, it is less likely that they will collide with your lines and you can enjoy your flight with these majestic creatures. I've certainly never flown so close to birds before – these ones will follow you, check you out and as you fly, you can literally make eye contact with them – how cool is that!

Distance-wise, we had to fly from one site to another on two out of the four days, and thankfully I made it! A couple times I got low, but managed to climb my way back up again, usually thanks to the plentiful birds who marked the thermals. The distances were never huge – around 20k's or so, but it sure is nice when you don't have to find your own retrieve after landing out.

Every day is flyable here although like anywhere, some days are definitely better than others. I haven't flown for the last couple of days as after the trek I wanted a bit of a break to check out other things, but now that I'm ready to fly again, my stomach is not allowing me! Everyone in our group has experienced stomach problems since arriving here and I guess it was finally my turn. That's the crappy (ha ha ha!) thing about Nepal – you'll likely be bound to the toilet at some point during your trip.

I'm still here for another week and I'd like to do some more cross-country around Pokhara. I'd like to try a new route, so we'll see how that goes. I could do without riding the public bus again for retrieve, so my goal is to always land back at Lakeside! In any case, it'll be good to get in the air again.

Taking In Nepal

After spending a couple of days in Hong Kong (which is a really great city) and 36 hours in Kathmandu (which must be the one of the worst places on the face of this earth) and then surviving a 5 hour bus ride where I had to close my eyes for most of it, I arrived in Pokhara, Nepal.

Nepal is interesting. It is a lot more “Indian” than I ever thought it would be and it certainly feels different from any place I've ever visited before. Things are cheap here – you can easily get a hotel room for under $10 US and have a really great meal for $5. Unfortunately the power and internet is out for a lot of the day and a hot shower seems to be a luxury. The air isn't the cleanest and the Nepalese seem to have incorporated spitting as part of their culture. It's pretty gross considering the irony, as the shopkeepers have an incredible sense of pride in taking care of their storefronts, sweeping the streets, dusting their inventory and making sure everything is spotless. But then they spit a big loogie on the sidewalk and suddenly the immaculate feel to their storefront disappears.

The people for the most part are very nice, but are extremely aggressive when it comes to selling you pretty much anything. You can't walk 5 feet down the streets of Pokhara without being asked if you want a cab ride, a hotel, or to buy a knock off North Face jacket, or even some hash or weed!

Yesterday was my first time flying here in Asia and I had a really great flight. After four months of not flying and having a bit of an off-season in terms of my attitude towards paragliding, that flight definitely rekindled my interest in flying.

It was really great meeting up with our pilot group from Canada and going for a fly together. We didn't go XC (unless you count 5k's as XC) but bobbing around a hill in a new part of the world with people whose company you enjoy is a pretty fun time to me.

With today's flight, I got nice and high right away and without my Canadian buds, I crossed one of the valleys and tried to fly that range there. It was funny because I felt kind of smug at one point before the crossing, out-thermalling a couple Boom 5's and feeling rather confident, until I crossed over to the other side and couldn't find lift for the life of me. Suddenly, all the gliders I was once above, schooled me just about to the ground. Luckily, I made a low save and did some ridge soaring for a bit until I made a classic beginner's mistake – I did one too many 360's and suddenly found myself behind the ridge and not very high – ooooh, how amateurish!

Anyway, I flew away as fast as I could from the ridge on the rotor side, flying through some rotor sink, but it didn't end up being too bad. I landed in an already harvested terraced farm field as three ladies looked on. After landing, they immediately greeted me with the warm Nepalese greeting of “Namaste”. and helped me pack my glider. My boyfriend landed with me shortly and after saying our goodbye's to the nice ladies, two young girls came and walked us to the main road where we could catch a bus. The one girl spoke a bit of English and I enjoyed asking her simple questions as she held my hand and guided me towards the road.

We had perfect timing as we waved down the bus immediately and we climbed onto the roof with our gliders.

My god, that must have been the most terrifying bus ride of my life! There were low powerlines hanging everywhere, and we ended up constantly ducking until I finally gave up and laid down uncomfortably on the bus roof as round metal bars dug into my back. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, we spotted some taxis and got off the bus and went back to our hotel. I would argue that my boyfriend and I were almost decapitated and electrocuted during our bus ride, but he thought it was only slightly wild, so you decide.

In a couple of days we are going on a 4 day guided paragliding trek to do some flying. I am really looking forward to it – great flying, great people, and 11,000 kilometers from home!

It's Time to Run Away Again

First off, I have been receiving a lot of blog comments lately, even on posts that were written a couple of years ago. I just wanted to say Thank You to all of you who read my blog and provide me with encouragement along the way. It really does mean a lot and keeps me motivated to keep writing. Thanks so much!!!

I said I wouldn’t update my blog until I fly again, but this post is only breaking that rule by a very short amount of time - I’m off to Nepal!

Some of my friends who I have travelled with to France and the Dominican will be there to join in on the fun, and I’m really looking forward to flying with them again. I haven’t flown for four months now – I barely feel like a pilot and I hope I remember how to do that thermalling thingy.

I’m a bit of a sucker for cute kids and on this trip, I’ll be bringing along some little gifts to pass out along the way, especially when I land somewhere after flying.

I read a guide book about Nepal, and there was a comment about how tourists are silly to be handing out trinkets to locals, presumably, because it encourages them to bother all tourists for handouts. I definitely see this side of the coin and I agree that I don’t want to be hounded everywhere I go and being asked for some sort of donation. On the other hand, growing up in poverty is surely difficult and because money is funny, (how much do you give, when is enough, is it appropriate, etc.) especially when it comes to children, a little gift with a bit of Canadiana should hopefully be OK. I don’t want to set some sort of precedent with the locals that a paraglider pilot = gifts, but when you have so much compared to a poor child, I think it’s a nice gesture.

I have 50 of these handcrafted little baggies for both girls and boys – where the hell am I going to find room in my harness for them???

I will update my blog when I can during my travels as from the sounds of it, the internet should be fairly easily accessible. Expect an update in around two weeks! Adios Amigos!

Flying Dry Spell

It's been almost two months since I last posted here, but my excuse is pretty good: I haven't been flying.

This year was a bit funny for me. My enthusiasm for paragliding dwindled and my passion for the sport, although there, wasn't nearly as strong as it has been in the last few years.

It's funny how your priorities can change. A couple years ago I was so gung-ho about flying and fantasized about being an amazing tandem pilot, doing competitions and doing well, and blowing everyone out of the water with my sweet acro moves. I kept up my enthusiasm for quite some time, but then the realities of other life related things took over, and now other goals and ambitions have superseded being the ultimate paragliding goddess.

I'm not about to quit the sport or anything, but my attitude has changed to flying when I want to (not because I'm being forced to, etc.) and landing when I'm not having fun anymore. That's what I did this summer and I clocked about 50 hours, whereas the pilots around me clocked twice or three times that.

I do miss flying, but I'm not going through any withdrawal since my last flight. I'm also OK with the reality of probably not flying for the next couple months.

A possible trip to Nepal is in the cards in the new year, and I would most definitely do some paragliding out there. Nothing is confirmed at the moment, but regardless, that would still mean a minimum of three more months without any flying.

In any case, I try not to bore you, the reader, with blogs posts just for the sake of posting, so I will not be updating my blog until I fly again. This is a temporary hiatus for me, and I will be back. You can count on that.

A Shockingly Small World

Yesterday my boyfriend and I were asked if we could do tandems for one of the schools and if we could also give a ride out to the Valley to a passenger who lived nearby. The strange coincidences began right away...

A background: the girl who used to live in my apartment was someone I got to know as, long story short, she first rented her apartment out to me until we arranged for me to simply take over her lease. Anyway, at one point she asked me if I needed a TV as one of her friends didn’t need hers anymore. I said “sure”, and a few days later, I found myself taking a TV out of the vehicle of a girl who I had only met for a few seconds.

Back to the tandems – after talking to our tandem passenger, we very quickly discovered that she was the one who had given me her TV a few months prior! Weird!!!

We chatted about the girl who used to live in my apartment thinking it was a strange coincidence that she connected us with the TV. She then mentioned how they used to be roommates, worked together, etc. Then she mentioned that she used to work for one of the airlines, and we soon realized that she used to work with my boyfriend’s friend’s wife! Weird again!!!

The day was HOT and stable and we both did 3 tandems. It was kind of an odd day as there wasn’t a blip of lift anywhere until late in the afternoon, and even then the bubbles were so small, not one pilot could manage anything more than a sledder.

We drove back to my place and as I entered the building, I almost died – there was the girl who used to live in my unit! She lives in the same building as me however I see her less than once a month, if that. Her friend had already called her to tell her about the tandems and the strange coincidence of meeting again, so we chatted for a bit about paragliding and such.

Metro Vancouver’s population is around 600,000 (Greater Vancouver is over 2 million) so chances were slim I’d meet the free TV girl again, nevermind being the tandem passenger we were to drive to the flying site! Super strange day and a good reminder that the world can be a very, very small place.

BANNED at Wasa!

A few days ago we headed to Wasa (not far from Cranbrook) to do some flying. The road up to launch is great – it’s long (14k’s) but it is 2 wheel drive and in very good condition.

When we got to launch the cycles were a bit cross but the conditions seemed pretty good. The launch is fairly steep and I had a bit of trouble inflating my glider as the leading edge kept falling onto itself and as the ground is uneven, I found myself being a bit scared that I’d step funny and sprain my ankle. But anyway, that thankfully didn’t happen, although I did have to run after my harness as it decided to start tumbling down the hill!

Anyway, once airborne we did some ridge soaring and then I finally got a good climb off one of the northern knobs. The wind was fairly strong and conditions were a bit bumpy for my taste. I got to base, decided that flying the main range was too intimidating for the conditions, so I didn’t go anywhere exciting. I was a bit scared on that flight for some reason, so I opted to try and topland so I could drive the car down.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, why is it that when you try toplanding, launch is surrounded by a 3 kilometre radius that is lifting at 2 m/s?! Ok, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration on size, but after flying way in front, and on both sides of launch, I could find nothing but 2 m/s lift, so opted to go and land in Lloyd’s field instead.

Now, a few weeks ago I headed to Wasa and a few of us stopped at Lloyd’s to introduce ourselves. Lloyd is a very old man who owns a huge field where he allows paragliders to land. He only asks that you introduce yourself.

I landed in Lloyd’s field, put my glider by some trees in the shade, and started walking to his house to thank him for allowing paragliders to land there. Lloyd wasn’t around but his wife was there and we had a lovely chat for almost an hour, where she invited me inside, showed me her dried flowers, etc. A super nice woman.

As I started walking back towards my glider I could see a vehicle parked nearby. As I got closer I could see that it was an old man, so I asked "Is that you Lloyd?" Lloyd was pissed!!! He started yelling at me telling me how I wasn’t supposed to land in his field without his permission, how I was being disrespectful, how all paragliders are bad people, etc. etc.

I explained to him that we had met before and that I had asked for his permission a few weeks prior. He then countered by saying "You have to ask me EVERY time you want to land here!!!!" A bit of a misunderstanding, as I thought asking for permission once was enough.

We continued on and as I tried to defend myself, explaining I had just talked to his wife, just left my glider by the trees so it was out of sight and not because I wanted to jump the fence, knew that I had to leave the field by the logs, thought I only needed to ask him permission once to land, etc. he wouldn’t have any of it. "Balony!!!" the old man would shout, and I quickly realized no matter what I said, he wouldn’t believe me. "You can’t land here anymore!" he said and then went on to say that he had already called somebody to confiscate my glider as he physically couldn’t, and that I was lucky it wasn’t gone already.

I felt terrible for making the old man angry and asked him if there was any way I could make it up to him. "NO!" he shouted and drove off.

Pretty shitty ending to a flight, especially when you make an honest mistake and you’re given no mercy. It was a total misunderstanding and after talking to a local pilot, he kind of laughed and said that’s the way Lloyd is and there is no changing his mind when he has an opinion.

Anyway, I was pretty bummed about making the literally, 90 year old man with a pacemaker angry, but we ended up going up to launch again for another flight.

I wasn’t too keen on flying, but finally convinced myself to go and after standing on launch for a LONG time for a very light straight, and not cross cycle, I went. Unfortunately for me, as I did a forward inflation and didn’t see anything wrong, I had a big knot on my upper brake line cascade so the glider kept turning to the right and of course, felt really strange in the air.

It worked out okay though as I made primarily left turns and weight shifted to the right and I landed fine in a field that certainly wasn’t Lloyds!

SAT Arm

For me, the season has been pretty decent for paragliding but one thing that has been lacking until now has been anything even remotely close to acro.

We went up a spot near Pemberton this weekend to join a group of guys that were doing some boat towing. Exciting for me especially because I had never previously towed behind a boat – only a vehicle.

My first tow, was…pretty embarrassing!!! I find that paragliding has a funny way of reminding you that you’ve always got lots to learn and kind of bitch-slaps you once in a while and says “you suck!” only to then reward you later with feelings of utter bliss. On my first tow, to keep this short and sweet, let’s just say that it was a combination of pilot error, a bit of a misunderstanding, and a possible tangle that had my glider end up in a small tree and me landing in the sand. I will stress the pilot error part though – I take responsibility as my arms were too far back initially, etc. etc. The good news was that the boat operator stopped immediately, my glider essentially stopped me, I didn’t get hurt, I didn’t get dragged, and my glider was fine!

Anyway, after that humbling experience, I went for it again, launched fine, and soon found myself at 3000’ nervously laughing at the prospect of doing some sort of manoeuvre. I did a couple full stalls, and tried some big wingovers – nothing overly eventful happened, which was good!

Essentially after my first flight, I primarily tried SAT’ing, did a B-line (kind of a useless manoeuvre but I had the strength to pull one, so yeah!), tried some spins, and did more wingovers. I definitely need WAY more practice with my SATs and wingovers – my SAT’s are spins or weird spirals most of the time and the second I feel like I’m going over my glider with wingovers, I kind of freak out, and basically spiral out of it. I don’t apply enough outside brake on my wingovers, which is also my problem and a worry too, that when my wingovers get bigger, the “whack!” will be bigger, which is something I have experienced many times!

In any case, it’s all DAMN fun! Practicing acro is fun, when you actually “get it”, that’s fun, when you realize there’s way more to learn, that’s fun, and when you know that there’s always water beneath you in case you get it wrong, that becomes a fun part too!

It was a great weekend overall, even though my very sore arm muscles currently feel like they have been horribly, horribly, abused. I’d also like to thank my special coach who helped me out on the radio when he saw how my lame solo attempts had me doing everything but what I wanted to do, and then showed me the way.

Unfortunately my camera’s whereabouts are unknown at the moment which was a big bummer for me this weekend, but hopefully it will turn up soon so that I have some pictures to post here for next time. The season’s not over yet!

Milestone

When I first got my tandem rating last year, I looked forward to the day I could take my parents tandem – last Saturday, that day came.

The weather didn’t look great as we travelled to the Fraser valley; moisture from the previous days was hanging around in the form of low clouds and the forecast didn’t call for much sun either. As rain wasn’t in the forecast, I still remained positive it would be flyable somewhere.

Mt. Woodside was pretty much the only mountain in the valley that had clouds below peak height, whereas Bridal Falls and Elk Mountain seemed out of the question. We managed to snag a ride with one of the pilots and soon we were up at launch.

My dad has always shown a bit of an interest in paragliding, but strapping him into the passenger harness was definitely a bit strange. Sometimes you wait for a day to come for a long time and when it arrives, you’re not sure how to feel. I probably gave him a 15 minute briefing, triple and quadruple checking he was strapped in properly. The second you’re responsible for your own family members, it’s like you feel you need to overcompensate for what you’re about to do.

We had a great launch – as good as it could ever be and as we flew away from the mountain, my dad fiddled with his camera, looking down, almost blissfully unaware of how high we were. Needless to say, he wasn’t scared and felt totally comfortable. We flew straight into the valley as my vario barely made a beep, and when he gave me permission to do a spiral dive, that’s exactly what we did!

He admitted that it was a bit scary but as we didn’t have loads of height, we didn’t stay in it for more than a few rotations and it was soon time to land. A happy landing, and a happy flight.

Upon getting to launch the second time to take my mom tandem, some tandem pilots were talking about how when they took their moms tandem, things happened, and it didn’t end up being the best of a flight. Naturally, my anxiety level went up a bit, but confidence in what I was doing kept me balanced.

Our launch was good – a bit lacking in form but otherwise fine – and we were soon airborne. I could have scratched a bit looking for lift but it looked like an awful lot of work, so I flew straight again to the landing zone.

Barely one rotation into the spiral dive, my mom asked me to stop, so I did and we flew around a bit until we had a nice landing in the tandem field where my dad was waiting.

One word to sum up the flights: Phew!

After five years of flying, I am happy that this year I took my sister and both my parents tandem – something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Although I don’t think any of them will ever do a solo flight, I’m glad that they got to experience something I tend to talk about a lot.

Knowing what it feels like to run off a mountain with only a paraglider above your head is pretty cool and I’m happy I got to share it with my folks this weekend.

A memorable milestone.

Lakeside Event 2009!

A combination of busyness and waiting for pictures made me late in writing about the Lakeside Event, as it happened over a week ago, but here’s my post!

We arrived in Invermere Friday night and it was surprisingly windy. All night the tent shook as the wind howled and it was only until morning that it died down. The next day was beautiful; hot and sunny and forecast to be flyable all day.

I had never flown off Mt. Swansea before so this year’s Lakeside Event was special for me! I can’t say I was crazy about the steep 20 minute hike up from the parking lot but I am obviously out of shape, so perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

The launch is nice – there is both a south and west launch and conditions looked great when we arrived at the top. After launching, I did a couple small turns in a weak thermal (it was pretty early) and headed towards the beach.

The purpose of the Lakeside Event is that it’s a spot landing competition for both paragliders and hang gliders. Paragliders try to land in an inner-tube in an inflatable pool while hang gliders try to land on an inner-tube in the lake. First prize is $500 for each discipline, $300 for second place, and $100 for third, so the incentive to win is pretty big!

As I set up my approach, I eyed the inflatable pool and told myself aloud that I would land in it! Yes, I talk to myself sometimes in the air! Sure enough, I timed my approach well and, whoo hoo! One foot in the inner tube!

I climbed out of the pool with my harness wet and watched as my boyfriend came into land.

Now, he has won the event in the past before, so I watched him very carefully. As he came in on final, he was, well, high! He arrived 10 feet or so above the pool, but he slowed his glider all the way down and basically plopped right in! Dammit!!!

Ok, so I was happy for him, but being competitive means I always want to win. The announcer mentioned we were tied for third and after drying our reserves and repacking them, we headed back up to launch.

There was a bit of development to the west and as the wind picked up, we kept an eye on it. I wasn’t sure how things would shape up with the weather and as I could see some wind on a small lake, so I decided to launch and fly straight out to do another spot landing. Others thermalled and soared for a while, but as I wasn’t entirely happy with the development in the distance and figured that if the wind picked up any more, I wouldn’t be able to make it to the beach, so I didn’t bother trying to stay up, and instead prepped myself once more for landing in the pool!

My second attempt wasn’t nearly as successful: I landed on my ass about 4 feet short of the pool – boo! Remembering my boyfriend’s technique of overshooting then practically stalling your glider, I was anxious to see his second attempt.

Sure enough, history repeated itself, and his technique had him land in the pool once more! Both of his feet went into the inner tube, but as the wind was light, his feet dragged the inner tube to the edge of the pool and his glider overshot him. Still a bulls-eye, but the judges deducted him on style points.

After everyone had landed, we all enjoyed a dinner buffet after which prizes were awarded. The organizer of the meet made my boyfriend decide if he wanted to award the third place prize to me, and as he would not allow us to share the prize, my boyfriend ditched me and instead accepted the prize himself!

I was glad that some of the fellow pilots told my boyfriend that he was dumb for not awarding the prize to me. I mean, it’s not about who had a more precise landing – it’s about making your girlfriend happy by letting her win! Jeez, some men need to be reminded of these things!

Anyway, I politely clapped for him, totally not meaning it, and was interested to learn that a very new pilot had won first prize for the paragliding class! A definite shocker for those who seem to do well year after year, but a nice little shake-up at the event.

The party afterwards involved a live almost-all-girl rock band, and the usual boat races. If you don’t know what the boat races entail, you’ll just have to go to the Lakeside Event or the Panorama Easter Meet and find out for yourself.

The Lakeside Event, by far, provided the most value out of any sort of meet I have ever been to. The $50 entry fee included rides up to launch, a dinner, a cool t-shirt, a chance to win prize money, and an almost guaranteed prize at the prize giveaway after the awards. My number was picked almost last at the prize giveaway and yet I still got a paragliding DVD!

Lakeside was great – it’s definitely high on the priority list for next summer.

Last Flights in Golden

Well, the Willi is over and my flying in Golden has come to an end this year. I didn't have any more epic flights after my 66k out and return as conditions were, well, weird.

The typical Golden "holy shit lift" wasn't really there and if anything, conditions were tricky as they involved lots of scratching at times and being quite technical in terms of where to go to find lift, glide lines, etc. As I don't enjoy flying in rough air below peak height in Golden, I wussed out more than once and only flew 10k's or so before coming back to the main landing zone. I'll write more about this topic later. I still somehow managed to get 3rd place in my category though which was a nice surprise.

There were three big gust fronts during the Willi and in all three cases, pilots were in the air. The first gust front had about 8 pilots or so still flying (hang and para) and that one you could see from the air. I'm not sure if the other two were especially obvious as this year Golden had a lot of strange haze which sometimes obscured dark clouds...in other words, it was difficult to tell sometimes if the haze was from forest fires, was a thunderstorm, rain, or what it was. Bizarre.

It was great seeing everyone again and I had fun catching up with folks. It was especially hot this year (30 degrees Celsius almost every day) and there was a fire ban which kind of broke the party-mode pilots are usually in, but then again there are lots of fires burning out of control in BC so I think it's a good idea. Here was one I drove by on my way home that was between Merritt and Hope:

Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what my flying plans are at the moment...I may go to Invermere for the Lakeside Event, or Pemberton once the fires nearby are controlled, or who knows. In a perfect world I'd be flying in Annecy, France right now, but maybe next year I can make that happen. Until then, I'll have to have some local flying adventures only!

A Golden Day

This morning I woke up knowing I’d fly some sort of distance today. It was just a feeling, but I prepped myself mentally and for the first time ever slid on an adult diaper (ha ha ha!), totally ready to be in the air for hours!

The forecast didn’t call for overdevelopment, but the wind had an easterly component again which in Golden isn’t exactly ideal. Thankfully however, it didn’t turn out to be a big deal, and flying was pretty cruisey. Plenty of cumulous clouds filled the sky and there were at least 20 gliders (hang and para) who started flying south, downrange.

It was pretty fun and climbs were decent. A bit choppy at times, but hey, this is Golden. Like on many cross–country days, things were easier if you stayed high, as climbs lower down were lighter and as the wind had an easterly component to it, they were also a bit leeside.

After flying 33k’s, I noticed the pilots ahead of me were getting low and some were hitting the deck. There were plenty of clouds, but with that came a lot of shade. I then saw a couple competition pilots turn around and to try flying back to the main LZ. It was more a case of monkey-see-monkey-do than my own decision-making, admittedly, but that’s exactly what I did too.

I got low once on the way back, but flying back was quicker than flying there. Lots of big sink holes, but I did manage to make it, so all in all, it was a really good day. A personal best for me in terms of an out and return flight (66k's!) which was great. I peed in the air for the first time too! Competition-wise the extra bonus is that out and returns count for more points than straight distance and landing back at the main LZ entitles you to an extra 100 points which is the equivalent of 10k’s straight distance. Not that the Willi is an especially competitive competition, but hey, it’s always nice to do OK.

I didn’t take any pictures from the air as I forgot to bring my camera, but I’ll try to do so tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll be another good day!

Too Close to Utter and Total Carnage

Oh Golden! You never cease to provide excitement.

Yesterday was my first time flying out here in around a year and it’s good to be back. I love Golden not only because of the flying but also because it’s a chance to catch up with fellow pilots who you end up seeing only once a year and only out here.

The forecast called for thunderstorms in the afternoon but that’s typically not surprising out here with such a big valley system. I ended up flying around Mt. Seven for a little while after heading south towards Pegliarrow (the next mountain over). Climbs were pretty strong and choppy at times but nothing unmanageable. After getting to Pegliarrow and getting higher than I had previously been, I could see that the wind had an easterly component to it which meant we had been flying in the lee around Mt.Seven. I climbed to about 9000 ft or so and started heading towards the next mountain past Pegliarrow when my vario started croaking and I started going down at 4 mp/s then 5 mp/s, then 6 mp/s and thought “shit, I’m in rotor here somehow” even though I was directly above the ridge (clearly not enough east however with so much wind). Sure enough WHACK! I got a bit collapse.

I’ve had collapses before (duh), but this was by far my most spectacular. I can’t even recount exactly what happened but it was like a slow motion SIV course where I controlled a big surge, saw my wing below me off to the side, went weightless, fought additional collapses, etc. (not in that order of course!) Anyway, this lasted for maybe 5 or 6 seconds where I basically shat my pants and decided I didn’t want to play paragliding anymore, so I ran away from the mountain as quickly as I could.

I crossed the valley to the other side, flew just past Sanders Lake, tried to fly back to launch to attempt a mini FAI triangle and landed. Total distance: 23 k’s. Total time crapping myself: probably 1/3 of the flight after my SIV show.

Throughout my flight there was a cu-nim sitting around 50 k’s downrange or so to the south. I saw it, everyone saw it. Some people flew towards it (but not toooo close), turned round and came back. A couple other pilots saw it after launching and decided not to head towards it at all. I thought it was OK during my time flying towards it but then again, I never got especially close at all.

I landed at the main landing zone, took a shower, came back and noticed that the cell was much closer and the sky turned milky. The pilots in the air were being sent to the moon! They were going up everywhere without turning and almost everyone had big ears on. Some people got down just in time, before the wind really started to pick up. First to 30 kmph, then 40, then gusts to around 55 kmph!

Some hangliders managed to squeeze in some landings, and they were not pretty. I never EVER want to see something like that again - people fucking pounding into the ground like rag dolls. Amazingly, the hangglider pilots managed to walk away and were fine.

The paraglider pilots who were still in the air were getting collapses closer to the ground and most still tried to push upwind. They were getting blown back obviously and we’d just see them disappear behind the trees towards the town of Golden. Long story short, one guy landed in a school yard, another in the swamp, another at the airport, and another in a railyard, etc. And you know what? They are all fine. Other than some cuts and scrapes and one guy with a tailbone injury, everyone was OK.

It blows my mind that nobody got seriously injured. It was absolutely horrifying seeing people fly in that sort of air and reaffirms my respect for flying in Golden. Big cloud development is not a funny thing here and you have to respect what comes along with it - gust fronts from far away. I’m not being preachy as it could have happened to me too, but hell, if I start seeing wind in the valley or clouds growing, you bet I keep an eye on it and if I get scared, I land asap. If it means I fly less distance than everyone else, so be it.

A paraglider pilot out in Revelstoke didn’t get so lucky as the pilots here in Golden as he also got caught in a gust front yesterday. A broken knee, a broken wrist, a broken arm, a broken leg (all on different limbs!!!), and an injury to his L4 – fuck, how terrible would that be?

Anyway, it’s not my place to lecture anyone about safe flying – pilots make their own decisions and hell, some of the pilots who got caught in the shit yesterday were a lot more experienced than I am. I’m just happy that nobody died, everyone will heal, and that everyone learned something so that it hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, never happens again.

Hot & Sticky at the Bridal Falls Air Races (BFAR)

BFAR is an annual event hosted by the West Coast Soaring Club here in BC to raise money for the club.

Solo pilots pay an entry fee for a chance to win tasks including highest altitude, furthest flight, best picture, etc. Tandem pilots are asked to do free tandems where all proceeds are donated back to the club. There are t-shirts for sale as well as a steak dinner where tickets are also sold.

It is quite a popular event and on the weekend it was my first time participating.

I was asked to do tandems, and they went very well. I had excellent passengers who were super-stoked and we had great launches and landings. It's nice when tandem flying comes together so well.

The organization of the event was also excellent and the weather for flying was great, but man, it was too freaking hot! It was over 30 degrees Celcius for sure, and my guess is that it was more like 35. In any case, I am a big baby when it comes to heat. After doing my second tandem, I didn't feel too well and after being offered a chance to do some solo flying, I declined and instead drove home missing the dinner and a live band. I didn't feel well that night, but the next morning was worse as I started throwing up and I felt like I had a terrible hangover. Needless to say, I didn't do any flying that day.

After spending 5 months in Australia, one would think that I've become accustom to the sun, but after getting sick in AUS, it's almost as if I'm more sensitive than ever. Super-sucky...I drank TONS of water Saturday night and throughout the day as well, wore a hat, and tried to be in the shade as much as possible. Next time I suppose I have to do these things even moreso.

In any case, attending BFAR was very cool. At one point there was more than 40 gliders in the air and people along the Trans Canada hiway were stopping to take pictures. It's a great event to raise the profile for paragliding and money for the club.

Flying-wise, I won't be doing any anything for just under two weeks, at which point I'll be heading to Golden. I'll be there for over a week and my goal is to fly my first 100k's - can't wait!

Birthday Paragliding!

On Sunday my boyfriend and I drove to Pemberton (approximately 3 hours north of Vancouver) to do some flying. I was pretty stoked as “mini-Golden” is a site I’d been wanting to fly for a long time, and it was cool that we were finally making it happen.

Unfortunately Sunday was totally blown out but it ended up being fun anyway as we kept getting lost looking for campgrounds and did a lot of driving on roads not meant for cars which in the end was kind of comical.

Yesterday (my birthday!) looked more promising when we awoke and after a nice fancy breakfast, we met up with some pilots in the LZ and got a ride up to launch.

The launch at Pemberton is quite nice and is well-maintained. A few pilots launched but didn’t really manage to extend their flights as there wasn’t much for thermals. We waited a bit, and after an hour or so we decided it was time to go. I found a light climb almost immediately, which turned into a very smooth 4 m/s that got us nice and high. My boyfriend at that point was with me in the same thermal and yelled for me to “GO!” downrange.

The climbs after that were pretty messy, and not especially pleasant. They weren’t as strong as the first thermal we flew in, and they were just kind of annoying! I would stick in the messy climbs for a while but then decided to keep pushing forward, looking for something better a little more organized. But one mountain short of the ridge splitting, I could feel and see on gps that we were then punching a headwind and flying into the lee of the mountain ahead of me was not something I was especially interested in doing. I certainly didn’t want to have any big birthday assymetrics!

At that point I flew into the valley and my goal was to fly back to the main landing zone (about 10 k’s away). I mentally pretended that it was a competition day and that goal was at the main LZ and that I could only use thermals that were in the valley.

I had a bit of a tailwind, and it turned out to be very surprisingly buoyant over the valley. I didn’t have to thermal to get back, and even had a bit of height to play with when I arrived. My boyfriend ended up following me and after landing, agreed that continuing to fly down the range probably wouldn’t have been very fun.

I kited my glider for a bit, smiling that I had such a cool birthday flight. After taking a dip in a lake and having a nice dinner, we headed home.

From the one flight I had in Pemberton, it is definitely a beautiful valley to fly in and it does draw parallels with Golden. I can’t wait to go back and do some huge XC!