Turns in Town!

January 15th and 30 cm snow in town! I even do some turns down on McKay Avenue in front of our house, boot top pow but the base is thin. In the park across the road I also run into a paddling friend I haven't seen for 10 years or so. She lives with kid and husband just a couple of blocks away! Lots of snow in the local mountains too and it was needed!

Of course the snow wreaked havoc on the traffic in town.

Cold Snap - Feeding the Hummingbirds

A week of very cold temperatures in Vancouver and I'm experimenting with techniques to keep the hummingbird food from freezing.

Valkyr Pow

Great skiing this year at Valkyr Lodge! Lots of surface hoar when we arrive and new snow on top of this makes for slippery conditions. We trigger some remotes in the trees but work our way around everything and get good turns (mostly Stoney trees and Sunset area). An American couple who joined our group last minute was more 'adventurous' and went into the alpine where they kicked off a class 3. Luckily no involvement. They skied more conservative for the rest of the week. Last day we get lots of wind and sleep in. The total elevation gain of 8000m wasn't quite up to our best years (over 10,000m) but given the conditions still a very nice week!

Our home for the week - Naumulten Lodge

Pete testing the pow

Yes, we were here before (2007)... proof of it hanging on the wall in the lodge

Canadian Paragliding Nationals, July 20-27

 

This was a nice week flying with pilots from all over the world. We get to fly 4 tasks with one very nice and memorable one cruising under the clouds along Copper Mound to Macleod. Not sure what happened but one of our friends had to deploy his reserve in a wide open space at the end of the course. Some buddies went to help him from his landing spot. Another pilot had several deployments (twice in almost the same spot) necessitating two helicopter rescues.

I made goal twice (of 4 tasks) and came in 'solid' second after Nicole (same as in 2017). Pete placed second place too, in Sport Class (of 77 pilots, I'm 21 in this group). Oh yes, and I also was second in Fun Class (EnB wings, of 22) and 2nd Canadian women.