First powder day of the season

Nice relaxed day skinning up to Red Heather and skiing Paul Ridge. Lots of folks out on this nice November day but we still found some untouched lines. Snow was very acceptable for early season and in the upper 10% of powder goodness for Paul Ridge. The road down was well covered except for two spots with minor rocks showing. With the high skier traffic it was also well groomed for quick parallel turns on the ski out. (Thanks to Ben for getting us going after the paragliding party the night before.)

November Thermals – Nov 5

Although I’m by no means an expert of thermal-powered flight, I’m pretty sure that it is a rare occasion to have cross country flying conditions in November in our part of Canada. There have been quite a few nice flying days lately, but unfortunately only during the week. Well, last Saturday we hit the jack-pot, mother lode, bonanza of early winter-flying.

We met a couple of friends early for a hike&fly from Elk Mountain, the 1400 meter-high first bump on the ridge between Fraser and Chilliwack Valley. A dusting of snow started where the trail got steep. Combined with sub-zero temperatures this made the approach rather treacherous, but my newly acquired mini-crampons made short work of it. Although the 1 h 50 min hike had warmed me up nicely, only minutes after launching my fingers were frozen and in pain. Not very motivated to spend much time up high, I searched for lift lower down, but had no luck and I soon was on the ground. The rest of the crew kept soaring at and above launch height until the cold got to them too and everyone landed, trying to warm up painfully cold hands and fingers (aptly named ‘screaming barfies’). After this for me somewhat disappointing flight we moved over to Woodside for afternoon air time.

We were much intrigued by the interesting cloud shapes over Mt Woodside, Agassiz Mt and Bear Mt. Looks like some thermaling potential! After launch I sank out again, but patiently worked the lift until I joined a fellow flyer and many eagles floating around at 1200 meters. The first thermal flight on my new wing, an Artik 2! Although it had felt pretty sensitive on the sled-rides I had done so far and surprised me with a somewhat dynamic exit from a spiral, it felt just fine in the thermals. Pete had already taken off to Agassiz Mt, and after some wisp-surfing and close and personal views of several eagles I headed for Agassiz Mt too. There I arrived low at 500 meter (probably the lowest ever) and worked my way up to almost 800 meter a couple of times. Alas, November sun doesn’t stick around long and so I left to fly back and land at Harvest Dykes to shorten the walk back. But there I lucked out again. As soon as I had packed up and got to the road, a PG pilot on his way home picked me up, turned around and delivered me to the Coffee Kettle where our car was parked.

Ocean River Skookumchuck – Oct 22/23

 

One of my favorite trips in fall is to drive up the Sunshine Coast and surf Skookumchuck Narrows, so I organized a VKC club trip, drummed up a crew and off we went. The weather looked marginal for camping and we joined everybody else at the Backeddy Resort, relaxing in cozy cabins, nice rooms and around a very social campfire, shared by a pod of pre-Halloween pumpkins.

As always the surfing was a lot of fun and many wide-eyed Skooks-newbies had there first rides on the wave. I got my share of wave time and was almost ready to pack up, but had to do this one last surf... when I flipped on the second wave. The water pulled hard enough on the paddle that it tweaked my shoulder. Trying to roll up I immediately realized that I couldn’t use my left arm – oh, not again! So I pulled the deck, popped out and up a distance away from boat and paddle. Theoretically the kayak provides extra buoyancy and I struggled to get to it. But as soon as I got hold of the grab loop, a whirlpool formed and sucked the boat under. Here goes another theory, I thought, and gave the boat a good push into the centre of the whirlpool hoping this would keep me out of it. No such luck. Soon I was getting sucked under too but was strangely calm, enjoying the green light filtering down from above. Fortunately the underwater venture took only a few seconds and when I popped up again, Pete was there to the rescue. 

The rest of the story took about half an hour. Pete and I in tow went for the Tour (that's how we call it when a paddler doesn't make the eddy and has to paddle through the run-out of the rapid with its crashing waves and whirlpools). Back on shore it took a couple of tries and some repositioning, but we successfully put the shoulder back in its place (all the while watching the 'surf lions'). Knowing how to deal with a dislocated shoulder is certainly a useful first-aid skill to have as a paddler. This and a bit of luck saved us from a trip to the hospital and another night’s stay on the Sunshine Coast. I was pretty bumped out about this injury, recalling the months it took to heal my other shoulder 5 years ago, but a few days later the shoulder felt way better and only one week later, I flew my wing already. But I guess I will have to lay off whitewater paddling for a while.

Mt Cheam Early Winter, Oct 15

First snow of the season!

After two years we finally got around to fly from Mt Cheam again, the 2112 meter high sentinel of the Fraser Valley. It’s a pleasant hike&fly (the hiking part took me just under 2 hours). But the shuttle logistics make some serious planning necessary. I managed to spark the interest of two German paddling friends to join us for the hike. Since a 4WD vehicle is needed to access the trail head they would get to ride up with us and then drive the car down (Danke, Caro und Arndt!).

I had expected intense fall colors with red blueberry bushes and yellow alders (or is it ash?), but most of the flank of Mt Cheam was already covered in ankle-deep snow. It still made for a nice hike and beautiful flight launching from the snow, skirting the bowl with tiny Spoon Lake below, over the ridge to the Fraser Valley and down to our usual landing at Bridal Falls.

Not a single beep on the vario. Better get ready for winter flying…



Summit of Mt Cheam and Harrison Lake behind the ridge