Hawaii Big Island, December 12 - 19

In December we visited friends who had moved to the Big Island. What a treat to escape the wet and cold Vancouver for a few days! We kept ourselves busy with something different every day and there was a lot more to - we could have easily spent another week. Here is what we did:



Snorkeling/diving: definitely my favored activity. Cool corals, countless colorful fish, clear water. In many places the reefs are close to the surface and unless you are Pete and want to see how deep you can dive, you can just float and watch. Big sea turtles gliding by. Moray eels poking their heads out of holes. Went to Richardson and Kukio (?) on the Hilo side. This is the wet (east) side of the Big Island. Fresh water from creeks mixes with the salty ocean water in bands of limited visibility. Once past (or below) these bands the water was clear and warm. We saw quite a few sea turtles. I almost didn’t notice one of these fellows on collision course while I was scanning the bottom for interesting sea live. Quite the surprise when I looked up and saw the turtle just a couple of meters in front of me. On the Kona side we explored Captain Cook (Kealakekua Bay) and the Place of Refuge. Amazing. We also went on a guided manta ray night dive near Kona. The dive was spectacular as well, but the rays didn’t show. An excellent excuse to come back next year.




Hiking, high altitude hiking, scrambling: A few hikes, including one that left us rather breathless on top of Mauna Kea (4200 meter). Even the little car had some problems getting up that high (the road goes almost to the top). Another hike lead us close to the active volcano, pu’u oo and involved some interesting scrambling over hollow lava (aa and pahoehoe).



Caving: we explored the long Kaumana lava tubes near Hilo

Other activities included riding mountain bikes (great that our friends have such a good selection of gear!) to Green Sands Beach at the very south tip of the island, body surfing, swimming, kite-flying, sailing at Hilo Bay, and paddling. We even managed the make use of our wings at Captain Cook. Local pilots were very helpful to get us in the air. Unfortunately a combination of smoke from a local wild fire and ‘vog’ (volcanic smog) prevented the formation of good thermals and we had to content ourselves with a couple of sled rides (short flights without altitude gain).

What else? It was great to spent the days with our friends and have them as tour-guides and to stay at their place. Nice to soak up some sun and heat before returning to the cold Canadian winter. Excellent views of stars at night (street lights are dimmed to reduce light pollution for the observatories on Maua Kea). Delicious food (for example at the traditional Manago Hotel in Captain Cook). A pre-Christmas trip to some place warm needs to be permanently added to our yearly schedule!

SNOvember 2009

Another November trip up the Coquihalla for turns on Needle Peak on November 22nd. A bit more filled in, but snow was not quite as nice as last weekend. Good fun anyway!



This month has been called 'SNO-vember' with its record-braking snowfall. Mt Baker opened November 12 with the deepest opening base in their history (64 inch or 163 cm). Whistler recorded 418 cm from November 1 - 19 and opened November 14.

Another PG video

Edited the headcam footage from October 24. Airtime with eagles. Sunny, warm, and very fly-able. Hard to believe that this was only 4 weeks ago. It has been pouring rain for many days. November! Time to edit videos.

First Turns of the Season, November 14

There has been enough snow to ski for a week now and we got out just in time before the Pineapple Express hit. Sweet turns on the Coquihalla. Last time I was on skis was May 28 - less than 6 months ago. Last time we skied the Coquihalla was 7 months ago.

Some of the little Christmas trees are still sticking out - bit more coverage will improve things. But, yeah, the pow is back!

Sunday was Paddle-Day. How 'Westcoast' is this... ski one day, kayak the next? For the first time in two years I managed to get a run in on the Chilliwack Canyon (a dislocated shoulder in November 07 put me off paddling for a while). Was surprised how smooth it went. But the water level was pretty low.

Garden Adventures, Nov 7

Just had to post this picture of what we found in our own garden:
'Slippery Jack' relatives (Suillus caerulescens). With onion, salt and pepper - delicious.

From Garden

Blanchard Flying - October 31

There I thought flying was over for the year, getting ready for the pow season and looking longingly at first dustings of snow on the local mountains.

But no, we keep getting nice flights! Last Saturday at Blanchard was another one of these unexpected nice days (Whidbey not too far away was blown out and raining).

All of us had a couple of sled rides at first. But my last flight was awesome. Wind had picked up and provided good lift. Strong enough that I started playing with big ears, speedbar and small wingovers. Lots of fun on my big swing-set in the sky.

Finally also got the top-view camera set up and it worked like a charm. Editing the HD video was another story – very tedious. Producers of the little HD cameras seem to use their own codecs and while the quality can be amazing, using older software to edit is a pain.



Here is another video of an eagle getting up and close to a hangglider (in a friendly way). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaxFMlkqsEs

Hedley Fly-In, October 10-12

Even the old timers said this was the best flying weather at Hedley ever (not sure if we should come back next year – with expectations that high). We all got plenty of flights in. Pete flew up to 2600 meter, until his fingers went all numb. Great views of the mine perched high on the cliff. Evening board games and fun with friends. Night temperatures -11 oC. Thanks for an excellent Thanksgiving weekend!

Rain - October 17/18

The paddlers pray for rain! I rarely had this wish even in our paddling days (mind you we are living on the wet Westcoast). Now rain started for good with big downpours just before the weekend. And I remembered how fun it is to get out for a quick afternoon run on the Capilano at a nice full level of 5. Couple of flights off Woodside over fall colors in the Fraser Valley completed the weekend on Sunday.

Victoria Visit – October 3

The valley was blown out, so for a change we had some family fun in Victoria.
Pitch and Put with water obstacle and beautiful views of Mt Baker. Riding a tiny motorbike. Making friends with mini horses (13 of them, including 4 foals). Excellent fun!

Baldy Fly-in without Baldy flight, September 26/27

Paragliding is very weather-dependent and planning has to be flexible. So instead of heading to the Baldy Fly-In in South Central Washington right away, Pete and I took a detour over Whidbey Island and Tiger Mt near Seattle.


Early morning flight at Whidbey

We got up at first light to fog, but it lifted exactly at sun rise (7:10). Wind was light but got stronger after half an hour. Pete took to the air, made several passes and sank out. 30 min later the white caps and wind from Smith Island had reached Whidbey (W, 20-25 km/h, with gusts to 30). Second and third flight for Pete (playing with speedbar and big ears). For me first some high wind kiting and then a short flight. Of course by that time the wind was too weak and I was in for a hike from the beach as well. We waited for a while but winds never came up again so we moved on to Tiger Mt.


Launch at Tiger Mt near Seattle

Tiger was quite the zoo. The parking lot was packed, cars all along the road too. Local pilots told us that most belong to hikers, phhh. We decided to go for the full deal and pay $17 for the shuttle, which took almost 2 hrs, with vehicle switch and all. Next time hiking is in order (apparently under 1 hrs). Flying was nice, but unfortunately by the time we got to launch, the clouds had covered most of the sky – so it was extended sled rides. As I said, it’s quite the zoo – lots of people on launch, many students, mix of ridge soarers and thermalers, some people top landing into the crowd – looks like they have BFAR every day.

Saturday night we meet up with the Deimos contingent at Baldy. Quite a change of scenery from the green rain coast to dry inland desert. Sunday morning we drove up to Baldy – all was nice and still until the very top ridge below launch where gusts over 35 km/h welcomed us. A couple of Canadians launched (with the help of almost every pilot holding down their wings), but for the rest of us (including the locals) it was too windy.


Pete enjoying the ride up Baldy


Hiding from the wind at Baldy

Everybody moved on to Saddle Mt. Great conditions there and everybody had great flights. New for me were the interesting landing conditions in the desert. After I dropped low on the ridge, I thought I would be on the ground in a couple of minutes, but there were plenty of thermals from the desert below and I kept cruising around for another 10 or 15 minutes, keeping a watchful eye out for dust devils.


Airtime at Saddle Mt

All said and done – a nice weekend. I finally got to fly two sites I had visited a few times in poor conditions (Whidbey and Saddle) and an bonus site (Tiger) thrown in. Maybe a few more visits and we will get to fly Baldy too!

Fly, bike and hike in the Chilcotins, September 19/20

This was another trip I always wanted to do – fly up to one of the lakes near Goldbridge and ride down. Fly with a plane and ride mountain bikes for a change. It felt weird flying so close to the ground without feeling wind in the face. The pilot recommended Spruce Lake over our first choice Warner Lake, as he thought it would be to windy to get into Warner. The plane, a Beaver, took off very smoothly from Tyax Lake and Resort (where I spent a couple of nights with my parents last year), went along Gun Creek, and much too fast landed on Spruce Lake. The consensus was to take the more interesting route over Windy Pass through Eldorado Basin back to Tyax Lodge. I had forgotten how much work it was to push a bike uphill, and we had to do it for two climbs for a total of about 1000 meter elevation gain. Doesn’t seem much for hiking, but pushing a bike is a different story. But the downhills were sure nice – not too challenging for someone who mt bikes only once or twice a year. The weather wasn’t as stellar as we hoped, but not too bad either. A couple of rain and snow showers. Is winter coming?


Over Tyaughton Lake looking west to Gun Lake and Carpenter Lake


At Windy Pass


Sweet single track down


The boys after scree ride

On Sunday we explored the northern part of the South Chilcotins on foot (since body parts abused the day before needed some rest). Tepee Mt looked like a nice easy objective for the day. Took Tyaughton Creek FSR - Mud Ck-Paradise Ck FSR to the trail head just below 1800 m (from Carpenter Lake 1.5 h / 36 km, easy 4WD). The trail fades in and out through the forest, but flagged. It leads to open meadows and the pass east of Tepee Mt. We opted for a route up the grassy slopes on the north side (aesthetically more pleasing than the steep scree slope from the east). Except for the last 50 meters the route is an easy hike. Tepee Mt is capped by a layer of basalt which makes the last bit to the top a scramble. It’s not technically difficult, but somewhat alarming because one has to climb over a steep jumble of broken basalt columns. Summit at 2500 meters, 3 h up, 1.5 h down at a moderate speed. Amazing views all along. Wildfires up the Yalakom are still burning. Saw first snow on Mt Currie on the way back.

Coquihalla Granite Towers - September 13

Another trip ticked off on my list ... and several more added.

Whenever we hiked or skied Needle Peak I thought we should go and explore the granite spires one sees in the distance between Fraser Canyon and Coquihalla Highway - the peaks behind Yak, Nak and Thor. Recently there was a new report on Clubtread about a trip up Llama-Alpaca Ridge with good info on logging roads and trail. So off we went. With the description we found the trail head and trail easily (although it was more of a ‘route’, not your weekend warrior hiking trail). Along a seriously de-activated logging road, up through steep forest, onto granite slaps up to a pleasant walk along the broad ridge between Alpaca and Llama peak. Not another human being in sight – but wait! Pete spotted a wing in the air! What a coincidence – we watched three paraglider launch from Guanaco and land close to our parked car. On the way down we sampled many delicious blueberries and picked up a couple of King Boletes. Since I found the granite slabs in a couple of places a bit too exciting, so we took a detour through very steep forest. At least something to hold on to…

Great views of the Anderson Group (Chamois, Ibex, Gemse).

What an amazing place to visit. This is another of these spots that would be a great tourist attraction, would it be anywhere in Europe. But just like Jones Lake or the Sumallo Valley few people come to enjoy the spectacular vistas.

Just saw a trip report on scrambling up Vicuna…

Vicuna

Ridgewalk

Fallcolors

Red Blueberries

Kings

Saddle Rock, September 5-7

The rainy season has begun just in time for the last long weekend of summer – Labour Day. We decided to run away from the rain and spend the weekend east of the Cascades. Conditions were not promising for flying but at least it would be mostly dry. In the end, 3 days of parawaiting yielded 4 hrs of ridge soaring in rather strong winds at Saddle/Silos in central WA. While parawaiting we kept ourselves busy with climbing at Frenchmen Coulee. But it was time for only 2 climbs before we got rained off. Very windy so tents were getting blown around in the gusts.

Other weekend adventures: most amazing views of clouds, rainbows, overwhelming scent of sage brush after the rain, waking up on top of Saddle Mt when tents almost blew over, watching pelicans soar in +50 km/h winds and being buzzed by an owl interested in our lonely tent (after it finally calmed down). Despite low air time - a great weekend in the empty WA desert.

From Saddle Mt, WA

From Saddle Mt, WA

Surf and Fly, August 29/30

Sweet weekend!

Saturday was one of the 'you should have been here days' at Skooks. No kayakers on the ferry and nobody at the dock got me wondering if I had misread the tide table. In Egmont we met a Montana paddler looking for company on his first visit to Skooks. In the end we were 5 boaters - it was a tough job to entertain the endless stream of tourists (several thanked us for the show). Among the 'tourists' was a PG pilot friend. Small world!



Alpine start on Sunday for another hike&fly from Mt Cheam. Lots of tasty blueberries slowed us down. At launch we waited for an hour for the thermals to build and overpower the light easterly crosswind. All got off without a hitch to a nice smooth flight down to Bridal Falls LZ. Although there were no thermals for soaring like for my first flight from Cheam it was just amazing to glide high above the ridge and out over the Fraser Valley way below.


Alpine start


Landing zone is 2000 meters below - just east (below) the highway exit.


Pete fluffing his wing

Black Mt Fly-In, WA, August 15/16

Black Mt is the first big ridge on the right driving east into the Fraser Valley. Must be a pretty amazing site if its on, but it wasn't to be. Saturday we did a sleddy from a lower launch just below cloudbase. It didn't clear and we gave up waiting and drove over to Blanchard. Best launch conditions ever - smooth west wind - nice, slow inflation - lift off; but it was too late and only Andrew managed to stay up. Sunday we tried Black Mt upper launch, but wind was blowing over the back. Watched some interesting launches before driving back down and on to Bridal Falls. After all the driving and waiting I had almost an hour air time - shows again how nice and dependable our 'house berg' is.

Check back for pictures soon.

BC Day in and on the Clearwater (August 1-3)

Being on the water is the only way for me to doing something active in this heat. And being on the Clearwater with its nice big water drops and endless surf waves is a lot of fun too. Added bonus – the alpine flower tour at Trophy Meadows. It was a pleasant surprise that the bloom was at its peak – even after the recent heat wave.

July 29, 30: Vancouver’s Hottest Day on Record

Environment Canada recorded 33.8oC at the Vancouver airport (which is next to Georgia Strait and cooler than most of the city). The last record was set in 1960, with 33.3oC. Victoria hit 35oC, Bella Coola, up the coast, 41oC. Temperatures were 38oC outside our place at 6 PM, 28oC inside but luckily only 25oC downstairs – just cool enough to sleep. The heat has been building for the last 10 days, but it will cool down somewhat over the weekend.

Update: Record broken one day later, July 30 with 34.4oC.

Pemberton - Nahatlach Weekend, July 25/26

As the title says - we checked out Mackenzie Launch in Pemby and then made our way across the Duffy Lake Road to Boston Bar. Just before Lillooet we watched a wildfire starting across the valley. The recent heat has parched the landscape and all that is needed to set a hillside on flames is a spark or a lightening strike. While driving on into a black wall of a thunderstorm between Lillooet und Lytton the wisdom of driving into the Nahatlach Valley in such dry conditions seemed rather questionable. But the storm brought with it a good quantity of rain – literally ‘extinguishing’ our concerns.

BFAR: July 11 and 12

Lots of pilots came out for the Bridal Falls Air Races put on by the Westcoast Soaring Club. Over 40 gliders were in the air on Saturday. Best flight for me was the first one from Mt Cheam on Saturday morning. The flight around the ridge and out over the Fraser Valley was well worth the 1:45 h hike up the back side. Friends came out on Sunday and enjoyed their tandem flight (including spiral) immensely.


High traffic volume at Bridal Launch.


Flying from Mt Cheam. Mt Baker in the background.

Okanagan Flying: July 3 – 5

Over the long weekend we checked out some Okanagan flying spots around Vernon and Lumby: Coopers, Baldy (King Eddy) and Vernon Mountain. Pete went for some interesting x-country flights, while I checked out the local thermals and a clearing in the woods.

Solstice Magic – June 27/28

OK – not quite solstice, but Solstice week ... close enough.

Let’s start at the end of the day: I watched the sun set from the air on a sweet evening flight at Bridal Falls. It had almost turned katabatic, but a forward launch got me in some unexpected lift. I bobbed around for half an hour at 100 meter above launch (850 meters above the Fraser Valley), watching the sun and the moon and some spectators watching me until the sun was close to the horizon and it got cold.



Only a few hours earlier we had drifted in our kayaks through the clear green pools of the Similkameen River with its canyons rarely visited by humans. There was a deer and some raven to keep us company. And to keep things interesting there were some rapid to run and some holes to punch (but none seemed really big after the Grand Canyon).

What a great summer day! What a delight to visit such magic places!


Similkameen Canyon


Some whitewater


Lots of clear green water

Grand Canyon - June 3 to 18

So far it's a photo blog. Will write more when it starts raining seriously.




This is were all Grand Canyon trips start. Lees Ferry.















Mike done with rigging.


















Somewhere in the Roaring Twenties

















Kath on the oars


















Side canyon exploration









































Nankoweap
















Below Nankoweap






















Random Campsite
















Redwall Cavern









Sunset at another campsite






















Another camp - Cardenas, just above Unkar















Sacret Datura







































Below Marble Canyon


















Elves Chasm






















Sockdolager


















Camp in the Inner Granite Gorge















Ducky in action (The Terminator)

















Floating


















Crossing of Havasupai Creek















Cooling down in Havasupai Creek































Mixing of the waters (Havasupai/Colorado confluence)















Deer Creek Falls























Lava boulder

















Yup - it was hot

















Pete cooling down























Running Lava


































It actually rained for one day!

















Exploring one more slot canyon.