Benny to Woodside

Surprisingly good conditions for October made this nice little XC flight possible. Another first timer for me and only my third or fourth flight from Mt St Benedict. I was struggling a bit to get up and well behind three friends (MON, James and Paddy) but this way I avoided following them into the bowl between Deroche and Sasquatch mountains which got progressively darker and wetter. Instead I finished along the edge of the clouds with a smooth 10 km glide to Eagle Ranch.

Doarama Flight Display

Click on link above for the virtual flight

Europe Fall - Leipzig, Tolmin, Bassano

This year we decided to combine the yearly visit to Germany with a trip to Slovenia and check out Tolmin and Kobarid. The cities are in the Julian Alps, the eastern extension of the Dolomites. As the name suggests, it’s a limestone/dolomite range. The Soča river in the main valley is well known in the kayaking world for its turquoise whitewater. The highest peak is Triglav (2864m), closer to the flying sites Krn (no idea how to pronounce it… 2244m). Cloud base never got above 1800m for us and we didn’t see much of the big mountains. Nevertheless the flying was nice and good enough to go cross country (+60km for Pete with a little cross border flight into Italy and +40km for yours truly) from the Tolmin launch called Kobala. Sadly a front rolled through the Alps and strong west wind put an end to the good conditions after only two days. We didn’t get to launch from Stol (the launch near the town Kobarid) but got to check it out from the air when we flew over it from Tolmin on the days before.

Too much wind in Tolmin had us search for other flying sites. The go-to bad weather spot is Bassano in Italy on the southern edge of the Alps. But since many pilots are looking for a fly-able site it makes for dense traffic and fish bowl style flying. Just like on our first visit a couple of years back the fishbowl was very murky and the air so hazy that we could barely see the ground. The south wind may be the culprit as fellow Canadian pilot Daniel suggested. It didn’t help the crowded feeling that many pilots had their own opinion where the best lift was and different interpretations of ridge-rules. After getting tired dodging other paragliders and hangliders I tried my luck out front and found a nice thermal expecting everybody to rush over to join. To my surprise I was still alone after a 400 meter climb. Even the pilot next to me kept circling patiently in his zeros below.

On the way to back to Munich we stopped at Werfenweng near Salzburg to fly Bischling. A fun flying site! It’s like small Dolomites with limestone cliffs and towers of the Tennengebirge 5 km across from launch. Although it is a popular site most of the pilots are students in training who launch, land and return. That makes for good entertainment over a coffee from the restaurant next to launch while waiting for conditions to turn on.

Some of the great things about flying in European are gondola access, restaurants at launch and landing, lots of flying sites; but the crowds can be a bit annoying. And with the end of the tourist/hiking season many gondolas shut down or operate only on weekends, so it’s a good idea to check before making plans. There are no lifts in Tolmin and Kobarid (or in Bassano). Vans drive up to launch from the LZs. The vans can be busy and it helps to call ahead to reserve a spot. For weather forecasts we used Wetterfex.com.

Tatshenshini - August

We finally got to paddle our whitewater kayaks again, on the Tatshenshini River from Yukon to Alaska. It was our second trip on the Tatshenshini and the third on the lower part, the Alsek River. We spend 12 days with friends from all over the Westcoast (Vancouver, Trail, Seattle, WA Pocatello, ID and Eli, NV), most of them in rafts (so there was plenty space for our food and gear).

The Tatshenshini runs through the most glaciated mountain range of the world outside the Polar region. The high point of the journey is Alsek Lake with its many icebergs. The bergs are very scenic but may also pose a problem. Moved by wind they can block the route through the lake. Good thing that on our way down the river we met an old friend who was guiding a commercial trip. He told us about a different route to avoid the bergs.

Pilot Hans from Yakutat brought us back to civilization to Haines, Aaska with his Turbine Otter (a bush plane). Although bad weather was chasing us this was our most amazing plane flight so far, with stunning close-up views of snow covered peaks and endless valley glaciers below. The drive up to the Yukon was an adventure in itself; I watched a lynx, got stopped in the middle of the road by a bison herd, had a great northern light photo session and of course there were countless road-side bears (I stopped counting at 20).

100 Kilometer! (June 21)

My first flight over 100km! First time all the way to Spindrift and the Meager Valley. Almost all of it I flew alone. Air was a bit rough in spots and I never got over 3000 meter. It took me 5 hours (4:58) of flying and seemed a lot of work!