Blanket Glacier Chalet 2013/14

After the December drought and lack of snow we were not sure what to expect from our second visit at Blanket Glacier Chalet. But there was no reason for disappointment! Temperatures were warmer than last year, but still cold enough (-4 to -8 oC) for lots snow to fall. During our week it was almost 100 cm.

We didn’t quite reach our elevation gains from last year with over 10.000 meters climbed during the week, but got very close (250 meters short). Most days it snowed heavy which made the sauna look simply too tempting at the end of a long skiing day. We still got a couple of +1600 meter days in. Just like last year our fellow skiers (most from Alberta) were very keen and lots of fun to ski and hang out with.

Before the hut trip we skied at the Revy ski hill and crosscountry. And we almost had to stay longer. On the day we flew out of Blanket Highway 1 was closed due to avalanches, west and east of Revy. But when the highway opened we decided to leave. The line up at the ski lift was over two hundred meter long. Hard to get enthusiastic about lift line-ups after 7 days of untracked pow!

To the photgrapher's delight bright colors are in fashion again!

Pete enjoying some Monashee pow

Coming back to Blanket Glacier Chalet after a long ski day

Blanket Glacier: New Years 2013

Back from skiing and New Years at Blanket Glacier Chalet near Revelstoke. Sweet terrain with plenty of tree skiing (from steep to mellow; north, west and south exposure), great snow, stable avy conditions and an excellent crew. Several of our new skiing buddies were in their late 50s, but fit and keen. They dragged us lazy bums out of the cabin as soon as daylight broke (9 AM Alberta time) every day for a total of over 10.000 meter vertical for the week ... on a couple of days we did close to 1800 m. And that’s with extra 2 kg backpack weight of our new avy airbags. We haven't done this much vertical in a long time! Early starts combined with sweet pow and a great group did the trick. A good start to the New Year. Now we just have to keep the well earned fitness up, but its difficult to get motivated back in the Vancouver rain.

Pete below Pollux. Caribou Ridge across the valley.

Off to another powder day

Last run in evening light

Blanket Glacier Chalet

Between the layers

Revelstoke SIV: July 27 - 29

My first real SIV. For the non-flyers: SIV stands for Simulation d'Incident en Vol, practicing 'non-standard' flying configurations in a (relatively) save environment, over water with a boat on stand-by to fish out watered flyers. I had done a couple of SIV flights over the years and felt happy with all kind of induced collapses and short spins on my Sport 4, but hadn't really tried anything on my new wing and no full stalls at all. Pete had done some full stalls but didn't seem to overly enjoy them.

So I signed up for Pal Takats' SIV course in Revelstoke, together with 10 or 12 other flyers, half of them friends from the Lower Mainland. I had my first flights in Revelstoke just a couple of months ago on skis, now with the snow gone everything looked different. We were also using a different LZ on the lake shore and since the lake was still very high landing was a little tricky.

On the first flight I put my Artik 2 through various collapses. The fully accelerated assymmatricals went rather dynamic, but nothing too exciting. Since I had never tried full stalls I thought it would be best to start on my trusted Sport 4. Pal's advice was to stall relatively fast, then evenly release the brakes to a point where the wing partially re-inflates and stops thrashing around. That's the sweet spot. Once the wing is (relatively) stable overhead it can be fully released. If it surges too much it needs to be stopped, but it must be allowed to start flying again and must not be braked too long as another stall will result. The first round of stalls was rather exciting! Did 2 stalls but just couldn't release the brakes evenly which resulted in some serious thrashing around. Back on the ground, Pal's buddy recommended to slide my hands up along the harness straps or even grab something for even release. With this method the next set of 3 stalls went much smoother. On the third day I gave the Artik2 a try, with similarly 'smooth' results. But I definitely need to be more gentle (or less controlling? ;-) on the brakes when checking the surges. I stalled the wing again on 2 of 7 stalls. Nothing dramatic happened as I was watching my wing, immediately realized what I had done and went back to the sweet spot. Video of stalls will be put up shortly.

Great SIV. Excellent instruction before and during the maneuvers and thorough video debrief in the evening.

As I had already driven so far, I added two days in Golden to my trip. The place is know for great XC flying, but also for scary conditions with thunderstorms and far reaching gust fronts. Had a couple of sled rides from Mt Seven, hiked up Swansee twice, the second time with a group of Oregonians. After one of them flew and had an exciting flight, and one tried to launch and had an exciting abort we walked down again. Also met a couple of old friends and got to see the famous Golden overdevelopment, complete with thunder and lightening and a couple gust front, from the ground. Apparently for the good XC flights one needs either luck with the weather or some serious time put in at this place. But how nice to visit Golden, Radium Hotsprings and Invermere again. Must have been 10 years or so since we were last here. Great memories of climbing in the Bugaboos (Bugaboo and Pigeon Spires) and paddling the Kickinghorse, White, Elk, Bull, and Skookumchuck Creek. Have to do a Rockies trip again!

Revelstoke - Easter Fly and Ski

Easter trip with Andrei and Elena to Revelstoke. First time for us to fly here. What a nice place to fly! The chair lift to launch makes for a very European feel. We had not skied at the resort after the new Ripper chair lift was added and did some skiing too to explore the new runs in the North Bowl. The runs just kept going and going and going. Quite the vertical! Pleasant warm temperatures in town, but still rather chilly in the morning before the sun hit the slopes and up in the air.

Pete after launching

Waiting for snow squall to end

Top of Stoke chair left, launch in the center below Mt Mackenzie, Rogers Pass area behind

Two flights for us on both Saturday and Sunday, with thermals, lots of sun, and some parawaiting for snow squalls to end and for the cross winds to calm down. Almost 1300 meters vertical between launch and LZ. Plenty of lift to climb over the top of Mt. Mackenzie from where we could admire the panorama of snow-covered peaks of the Selkirk Mountains near Rogers Pass.

Apart from one short test flight these were our first launches with ski and there was lots of new stuff to discover: strong wind in the face doesn’t work well for forward launching, since moving back isn’t easy on skis (a slight back wind is actually helpful), landing with some back wind is no problem cause its much easier to ski fast than to run fast. Flying my lightweight harness without using the footrest makes it feel more wobbly. And I didn't really like the close proximity of sharp metal edges to my paraglider lines.

Sunday was the last day of operations for the ski resort and in the afternoon it felt much saver in the air – too many partying kids all over the hill!