King Mountain -2

Contrary to the forecast and what we've been told by other pilots, it didn't blow out.
When we arrived at launch everything looked perfect and we could make a great evening flight / glass off. Landing with the setting sun ;-))

Andy

King Mountain (ID) -1

King Mountain is very much a high desert flying site as Owens Valley (CA) or Richfield (UT) with strong thermals and strong lift. Therefore we headed up the mountain rather early hoping to catch a good window. The first launch was off 'Coyote' but I had to launch in rather switchy and crosswindy conditions. There was a little lift (or should I call it reduced sink?) just above the upper LZ, but nothing to keep me up.

Jim (right) and me (landing)

Hoping to have a chance for another flight we drove up again, this time to the so called lower launch.
But unfortunately again, the winds didn't behave according to the forecast  (which was SW), but came in with a northerly copmonent, which made launching difficult and flying bumpy. After several attempts I was soaking wet in these temperatures (around 30°C at 2200m!) and gave up. Jim, Andy and Stacy made a short flight.

Andy

Stacy

So we returned to the motel in Arco hoping there would be a chance late in the afternoon, but presently it looks as it would be blown out :-((

A good description of the King Mountain site can be found here.

across Montana (MT) and Idaho (ID): 710km

Fri (4.July.): today was 'transfer day': 710km across Montana and Idaho in order to reach our next flying site: King Mountain (near Arco, ID)

interesting 'rig'

snow peaked mountains...

...winding canyons and rivers...

...endless plains...

...and finally King Mountain.

We also tried to find a launch near Salmon,ID, but the road was blocked by a chained gate...
Here at King we saw a HG flying very high above launch (and still climbing at 1900).
So we have great hope for tomorrow, but wishing it will not be too strong!

Chelan -day 5

Thur: unfortunately another blown out day here at Chelan. After much discussion and studying wx pages we decided to try again a flight from Chelan Butte. We packed our car and left Moms Montlake Motel , where we had stayed for the last 4 nights. At first sight the motel it didn't look very promising, but it proved to be a friendly, clean place offering all the amenities you'd need for a really fair price.

Moms Motel

When we arrived on the Butte at 1030, the winds were pretty mellow, but by the time the pilots briefing had ended (1200), speed had increased to a level not suitable anymore for PGs. Stacy got off in a lull and flew to Lone PineLZ.

CJ and George, today's launch directors

Stacy launching in a perfect cycle

So we started othe long drive towards Arco (King Mtn) ID, our next destination.

After 310 km across Washington State and Idaho we arrived in Coeur d'Alene to stay for the night.
Tomorrow there will be another approx 700 km before we'll reach Arco.

Goat Peak (Mazama, WA)

Wed: today's forecast was pretty pessimistic and I didn't want to spend another day parawaiting on Chelan Butte. So Stacy and I headed for Goat Peak near Mazama (about 1.5 hours away from Chelan). Andy and Jim hoped for something here on the Butte, so they didn't join us.

On the way there we passed Winthrop, a nice little town looking like one would imagine an old western town (except the cars though).

Winthrop

We had to serach for a while for the road up to launch, as we had been given incorrect information in Winthrop's info center, but when we finally reached TO, the wind was coming in straight - perfect for a forward launch. Driving up, we saw a black bear, but he was gone by the time I had the camera ready.

Unfortunately there were just a few weak thermals, which wouldn't get me up, so it was more of an extended sled ride.

As the Continental Divide was just a few miles away, we then headed up to Washington Pass.

Washington Pass Overlook

Driving back down we saw that Goat Peak was by now out of the shadow and the sun was fully heating up its SW flank. So we drove up again and this time it was Stacy's turn: the wind was much stronger and also a little more turbulent. It was not a very clean TO for Stacy, but very well handled...
He was able to climb quickly above Goat Peak where it was a bit turbulent, but further away from the mountain it was pretty smooth. Flying down he even saw an other (east facing) launch (called 'Flagg?)

Stacy 'in trouble'

In a barn at the LZ we found this approx 60 years old car. On the way back we stopped again in Winthrop, where we had an excellent dinner.

This 'side trip' had turned out very well. In Chelan they could fly, but nothing really worthwile.

Chelan -day 3

Tue: (again) no luck today: the winds came out of the NE. East is the only direction, for which there is no TO at Chelan Butte. Most HG and PG who did launch sank out, a (lucky) few got off well and high, the best of them could complete the task; Len (PG) and Zac (HG), who actually did it twice!

Jim, in a text book launch position

Jim got his P-3 rating this morning from Stacy and used the conditions early in the day for his first flight as a P-3.

Stacy

Lenny, the meet director at the pilot's briefing

Len ready to launch into the bumpy afternoon air

Chelan -day 2

Mon: today the conditions on launch were much better than yesterday, when most PG couldn't launch due too high winds. Only 3 PGs had been able to get off during a lull in the late afternoon: one of them flew 75 miles!

The first 2 PGs (above) could launch in a perfect cycle; then the winds became switchy and at times people would simultaneosly launch in 3 different directions...

getting ready; in discussion with Zac (launch director)

above launch, looking West towards Mt.Rainier (left side: white pyramid)

I had good launch and could climb to about 2700m before starting to cross the Columbia River. Just before heading East quite close to my position (approx 300m) a pilot had a collapse and got twisted, so he had to throw his reserve. He landed unhurt below launch.

 

Once I was out over the plains, the wind direction became very variable and I couldn't really figure out were they were coming from... I ended up landing about 20km from Balde Butte.

after crossing Columbia River, looking back to launch/ Lake Chelan

While I was landing a couple had stopped to watch me. The offered to take me back to Chelan. I didn't even have time to fold up my glider, so I just dumped it in the back of their car. They even dropped my right at the LZ in Chelan Falls Park - many thanks!

Unfortunately I had a communications problem with my friends. They misinterpreted my msg (which unfortunately was a little ambigous), so they went looking for me for quite a while in a spot where I was not anymore -sorry guys!

A video by Andy can be found here.

Chelan (OR) -day 1

Sun: today we arrived at Chelan; we dropped of our luggage at the motel, so we had more room in our car, picked up Jim and another pilot (Jeff) and drove up to Balde Butte, the local launch. Here we met Lennie, who is directing the Chelan XC Classic meet. We completed registration, got an information booklet and a t-shirt. Zac, who was launch and safety director at the 2011Red Rock PG Nationals in Richfield UT, will be launch director here for the coming week.

Andy, me and Stacy; Chelan Butte in the background

looking SW towards Columbia River

Chelan lake

Unfortunately the winds today were forecast to be still too strong for us paragliders and I think also not all HG pilots elected to launch either - as off tomorrow it should be much better (and also warmer)...

Grizzly, Saddle Mountain (OR)

Sat: knowing that we had to drive around 600km today, we left Prineville early. But already after less than 10min we saw this nice mountain. Stacy knew that it had a launch on top, so (of course) we had to drive up to explore.

Stacy on Grizzly, looking South

Stacy landing

Stacy landed near the road and was greeted by Charlene, Charles and their kids, who had wanted to know what kind of 'contraption' Stacy was flying. They welcomed us to land in there if ever we would fly here again - thanks!

wheat fields in northern OR

Then we continued north across endless cropfields, across the Columbia River into Washington state.

With winds out of the West, we knew there was another flying site along the way: Saddle Mountain, on the Columbia River. So we went exploring again.

Launch overlooking Columbia River near Wanapum dam (right)

Andy launching

We needed to drive around a while to find a suitable launch, but in the end, Andy was launching into pretty strong winds. On landing the winds had increased even further, so he was flying backwards...
Today I declined to fly: in Grizzly there was very little wind on a flat, rather stony slope; in Saddle it was too strong for me - even Stacy didn't launch in the end.

Sunset in Wenatchee (where we stayed for the night)

A video by Andy about flying Saddle can be found here.

Whaleback Mtn (CA)

The conditions didn't look too promising for Woodrat in the morning, so we drove even further south; across the border into California to Whaleback Mtn. Upon arrival, TO was still in clouds, but after about an hour they started to clear.

Shortly afterwards, Stacy and Andy decided to launch; I offered to be the driver, as it was still pretty cold (< 10°C) ...

Andy launching

Stacy coming in for landing

Mt. Sashta

Later in the afternoon it cleared further, became a little warmer and conditions got better (but a little windy). So we drove up to launch for another flight, this time Stacy being the driver.

Taggi                                Andy

Is think Whaleback Mtn is a great site with lots of potential, but being in the high desert it can probably be a little like the Owens Valles: pretty rough during summer/ middays. But the guys from RVHPA (Rogue Valle Hanggliding and Paragliding Association) did an excellent job preparing the LZ and launch!
Well worth a visit!

A video by Andy can be found here.