PS: Almost forgot, we already had one ski day this year! But more to come soon, at Sol Mountain Touring!
Clouds streaming up the mountain
Launch is visible just below the paraglider
Paragliding glory
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Still no skiing, more flying, Jan 22
I’m not certain but I think lack of snow and warm weather and not paragliding-addiction is the cause that this weekend turned into a paragliding weekend again. While snow usually stops us at this time of the year the Woodside logging road was drive-able all the way to launch. Thanks to my much more optimistic and determined flying buddies, after over 2 hours of prime-parawaiting, the fog lifted and we got to surf the front of the clouds and play in wispies in the smooth air for over an hour. Even the sun came out and I finally succeeded in snapping pictures of the ‘Brockengespenst’, also called brocken spectre or glory (hard to believe, a non-German-speaking friend knew this German word I didn’t!). The glory is (usually) ones own shadow projected onto and in a cloud or fog. Pretty cool!
PS: Almost forgot, we already had one ski day this year! But more to come soon, at Sol Mountain Touring!
Clouds streaming up the mountain
Launch is visible just below the paraglider
Paragliding glory
PS: Almost forgot, we already had one ski day this year! But more to come soon, at Sol Mountain Touring!
Clouds streaming up the mountain
Launch is visible just below the paraglider
Paragliding glory
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
First Flights 2011 - Jan 9
We did our first flight of 2011 on the warm and sunny Big Island! Third time lucky (after two sled ride days in 2009 and 2010) both Pete and I got well above launch (400 meter) and had nice thermic flights. Good to crank a few turns. But despite the thermals I left it a bit too late, didn’t make it to the nice grassy church LZ and put down at the beehives instead (no bee to be seen though!)
For the second flight of the year and first flight back in Canada we had to wait for a break in the clouds. When I was in the air it started snowing lightly – how appropriate for a Canadian winter flight! Not much airtime but a great hike&fly adventure in the snowy Coastmountains.
The picture below is from our third flight from snow-free Woodside. Pete and I lucked out and got to soar for about one hour in pleasant temperatures (no frozen fingers or toes). Pretty good airtime for January so far. Now we just have to catch up on the skiing!
For the second flight of the year and first flight back in Canada we had to wait for a break in the clouds. When I was in the air it started snowing lightly – how appropriate for a Canadian winter flight! Not much airtime but a great hike&fly adventure in the snowy Coastmountains.
The picture below is from our third flight from snow-free Woodside. Pete and I lucked out and got to soar for about one hour in pleasant temperatures (no frozen fingers or toes). Pretty good airtime for January so far. Now we just have to catch up on the skiing!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tiger - Rabbit
Although I don’t believe in Zodiacs and other things astrological, it always irritated me a bit that I missed being a Chinese ‘Tiger’ just by a couple of weeks. Instead I’m born in the year of the ‘Rabbit’. But I guess some of the Tiger-traits must have rubbed off ;-)
Tiger - Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous; Rabbit - Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible (according to Wiki).
Guess its pick and choose... something for everyone!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Big Island Hawaii, Dec 28 - Jan 5
Hawaii rocks! After our first visit 2009 I wasn’t sure that it could get any better. And I would have been completely happy with a simple repetition of all the adventures from last year. But wait, there was more fun to be had!
We went back snorkeling at City of Refuge (Honaunau Bay) and Captain Cook (Kealakekua Bay), and also explored a new spot, Kahaluu Beach. The latter is right at the tourist strip Kailua/Kona, and accordingly crowded. Turned out this wasn’t all that bad since most people stayed close to the beach, so one could get to un-crowded waters easily. The fish were used to humans and didn’t dart away when you took a closer look. I also got to watch a turtle feeding for a long time and had it almost swim into me when it came up for air.
With our friends we celebrated New Year on Polulu Beach, a hike-in camping site. Although we joked about hitting the sleeping bags after Westcoast New Year, we all stayed up until Hawaiian New Year arrived – at one of the last places on Earth (2 hours from the date line) and got up early in the morning for a nice New Years swim. We also camped at Hookena another nice beach, but this was very popular over the holidays. If you are into exploring history, check out the Manago - cheap and Spartan old-style Japanese accommodation and yummy food.
One of the highlights was snorkeling with manta rays. Last year we went on a guided manta night dive but didn’t see any mantas. This time we had more luck. We had heard that mantas show up at the Sheraton attracted by the lights. After it got dark we paddled out with a sit-on-top kayak and soon we saw two big black shadows under us. We put on the snorkeling gear and watched two mantas calmly gliding in and out of the beams of our dive lights. Later a third even bigger one joined. At times they would come straight at me and I could see the gills from the inside in their huge open mouths. These mouths were large enough to fit around my head and shoulders. I had to tell myself that mantas are gentle plankton eaters and just trust the creatures – what a feeling! At the last moment, the manta would change course and dive under, often only inches away (tuck in that Christmas belly!) and occasionally brushing me with its wingtip. We watched this spectacle for an hour, until we got too cold to stay any longer.
Here is what the mantas look like with professional lighting (video of trip with Jack's Dive Locker).
Here is my not-so pro footage.
The other highlight was watching flowing lava. Since last year, fresh lava flows have covered a few kilometers of the road we drove then to see lava pour into the ocean (from a distance). Now the lava was flowing right in front of us over the road, encasing and scorching some traffic signs, and we even scooped some of the red hot stuff up with a stick to let it cool. This is what it looks like when our earth grows!
Other cool spots we explored were the Volcano National Park (well worth a full day or two visiting with nice hiking, lava tubes and a steaming and glowing crater at night), Waipio Valley, Laupahoehoe Point and Akaka Falls.
As last year, we had brought our wings along and got a more satisfying flight (almost an hour), but vog (volcanic fog) prevented us from getting very high. Not sure it was necessary to bring the wings along with so many other cool things to do on Hawaii, but it was sure nice to crank some turns in a thermal!
Pictures here (will add some to blog asap).
We went back snorkeling at City of Refuge (Honaunau Bay) and Captain Cook (Kealakekua Bay), and also explored a new spot, Kahaluu Beach. The latter is right at the tourist strip Kailua/Kona, and accordingly crowded. Turned out this wasn’t all that bad since most people stayed close to the beach, so one could get to un-crowded waters easily. The fish were used to humans and didn’t dart away when you took a closer look. I also got to watch a turtle feeding for a long time and had it almost swim into me when it came up for air.
With our friends we celebrated New Year on Polulu Beach, a hike-in camping site. Although we joked about hitting the sleeping bags after Westcoast New Year, we all stayed up until Hawaiian New Year arrived – at one of the last places on Earth (2 hours from the date line) and got up early in the morning for a nice New Years swim. We also camped at Hookena another nice beach, but this was very popular over the holidays. If you are into exploring history, check out the Manago - cheap and Spartan old-style Japanese accommodation and yummy food.
One of the highlights was snorkeling with manta rays. Last year we went on a guided manta night dive but didn’t see any mantas. This time we had more luck. We had heard that mantas show up at the Sheraton attracted by the lights. After it got dark we paddled out with a sit-on-top kayak and soon we saw two big black shadows under us. We put on the snorkeling gear and watched two mantas calmly gliding in and out of the beams of our dive lights. Later a third even bigger one joined. At times they would come straight at me and I could see the gills from the inside in their huge open mouths. These mouths were large enough to fit around my head and shoulders. I had to tell myself that mantas are gentle plankton eaters and just trust the creatures – what a feeling! At the last moment, the manta would change course and dive under, often only inches away (tuck in that Christmas belly!) and occasionally brushing me with its wingtip. We watched this spectacle for an hour, until we got too cold to stay any longer.
Here is what the mantas look like with professional lighting (video of trip with Jack's Dive Locker).
Here is my not-so pro footage.
The other highlight was watching flowing lava. Since last year, fresh lava flows have covered a few kilometers of the road we drove then to see lava pour into the ocean (from a distance). Now the lava was flowing right in front of us over the road, encasing and scorching some traffic signs, and we even scooped some of the red hot stuff up with a stick to let it cool. This is what it looks like when our earth grows!
Other cool spots we explored were the Volcano National Park (well worth a full day or two visiting with nice hiking, lava tubes and a steaming and glowing crater at night), Waipio Valley, Laupahoehoe Point and Akaka Falls.
As last year, we had brought our wings along and got a more satisfying flight (almost an hour), but vog (volcanic fog) prevented us from getting very high. Not sure it was necessary to bring the wings along with so many other cool things to do on Hawaii, but it was sure nice to crank some turns in a thermal!
Pictures here (will add some to blog asap).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
