Dreams of Invermere
What a great weekend I had! Flying, friends and adventure - ahhh, superb.
Saturday was an exciting day. First up, I did a tandem that went well and was enjoyable as always. I've had nothing but great pilots as passengers so far and maybe that's making me spoiled, but it's certainly not any hard work flying with people whose company you enjoy - I hope all my future passengers are just as nice, and know how to run properly!
After that, we all went back up Seven and after some very short parawaiting, I decided to launch; some pilots were maintaining and the (very) scattered clouds indicated to me that the day was working - time to go! I launched, got a great thermal off launch, and had a buddy to get over to the peak of Mt. Seven with. Oooooh, the view, check it out!!!
I flew over to Pegliarrow, where I wasn't very high, but got another boomer just above the cliffs which took me to 3300m. Images of drinking beer and eating ice cream in Invermere (110 k's from Mt.Seven) came to mind, so off I went downrange. Peak to peak I skipped, marvelling at the view (even though it was inverted and therefore hazy) but wow, even when the thermals were rough, I couldn't help but bask in the beauty of the Rockies.
After an hour and a half or so, I got below the inversion and decided to push forward anyway after flying through some weak thermals. Then I found myself in a bit of a precarious situation...
I flew over a spine of a mountain and was flying infront of a peak when I got low, but the venturi made it a lousy spot to get stuck. There was a spine on both sides of the mountain and as I got lower, my indecision started costing me altitude and finally after cursing my own stupidity, I flew towards one of the spines and when I could feel a bit of lift, I flew min sink, not daring to thermal as I didn't want to get pushed to a place I didn't want to be. For a few seconds, thoughts of tree landings crossed my mind as the image of the spine raised in my field of vision, but a bit of outloud reassurance and confidence got me out of there and into the valley.
After feeling a bit frazzled, I dribbled a few k's downwind and landed in a long field next to the highway somewhere around the 40k or 45k mark. Not quite to Invermere, but for a tricky day (sheer layer between NW and W winds), not too shabby.
After that, a bunch of us got together and went for a memorable sleddie. Sometimes it doesn't take much to take what would otherwise be a pretty neutral flight and turn into something very special...
And this morning?! Well, I went tandem on a hang glider! No, I'm not crossing to the dark side, but wow, what a great experience! I'm hoping to get some pics off someone before I blog further about it, but I will say that although it was definitely a lot of fun, paragliding is still better!!!!!!!!!!
To date, this weekend was probably my best ever in Golden; Invermere didn't happen, but in the end, it didn't really matter.
Saturday was an exciting day. First up, I did a tandem that went well and was enjoyable as always. I've had nothing but great pilots as passengers so far and maybe that's making me spoiled, but it's certainly not any hard work flying with people whose company you enjoy - I hope all my future passengers are just as nice, and know how to run properly!
After that, we all went back up Seven and after some very short parawaiting, I decided to launch; some pilots were maintaining and the (very) scattered clouds indicated to me that the day was working - time to go! I launched, got a great thermal off launch, and had a buddy to get over to the peak of Mt. Seven with. Oooooh, the view, check it out!!!
I flew over to Pegliarrow, where I wasn't very high, but got another boomer just above the cliffs which took me to 3300m. Images of drinking beer and eating ice cream in Invermere (110 k's from Mt.Seven) came to mind, so off I went downrange. Peak to peak I skipped, marvelling at the view (even though it was inverted and therefore hazy) but wow, even when the thermals were rough, I couldn't help but bask in the beauty of the Rockies.
After an hour and a half or so, I got below the inversion and decided to push forward anyway after flying through some weak thermals. Then I found myself in a bit of a precarious situation...
I flew over a spine of a mountain and was flying infront of a peak when I got low, but the venturi made it a lousy spot to get stuck. There was a spine on both sides of the mountain and as I got lower, my indecision started costing me altitude and finally after cursing my own stupidity, I flew towards one of the spines and when I could feel a bit of lift, I flew min sink, not daring to thermal as I didn't want to get pushed to a place I didn't want to be. For a few seconds, thoughts of tree landings crossed my mind as the image of the spine raised in my field of vision, but a bit of outloud reassurance and confidence got me out of there and into the valley.
After feeling a bit frazzled, I dribbled a few k's downwind and landed in a long field next to the highway somewhere around the 40k or 45k mark. Not quite to Invermere, but for a tricky day (sheer layer between NW and W winds), not too shabby.
After that, a bunch of us got together and went for a memorable sleddie. Sometimes it doesn't take much to take what would otherwise be a pretty neutral flight and turn into something very special...
And this morning?! Well, I went tandem on a hang glider! No, I'm not crossing to the dark side, but wow, what a great experience! I'm hoping to get some pics off someone before I blog further about it, but I will say that although it was definitely a lot of fun, paragliding is still better!!!!!!!!!!
To date, this weekend was probably my best ever in Golden; Invermere didn't happen, but in the end, it didn't really matter.
posted by Veronica at 9:48 PM
2 Comments:
Like a tandem pilot you bring your reader to sky by your lovely paragliding belog.
Please never stop flying and writing!
Nothing like a low skim out of the woods to leave you frazzelled eh? Had 2 of those myself this summer and am vowing to have none next summer!
Doug
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