Teachin, Towin & Snowin

I've had a great fall with students and friends. Winter is knocking hard on the door and looks like we'll be skiing soon. A couple major storms will effect northern AZ Saturday the 13th through Friday the following week. I guess we are going under. I'm looking forward to some cold long ridgesoaring flights and some great skiing. We have also been towing a bit again and are having lots of fun. Happy Holidays

More Balloon Shots

Page Balloon Fest.

Ever do something that is much more fun and suprising than you could have imagined. This past weekend Laura and I spent with Pell and Stacy Wadleigh and helped crew for them at the Page Hot Air Ballon Regata. A great event that brought out a huge crowd and over 30 Balloons. I learned a ton and we both got a flight.

Fall Fun

Its been a while as I have been super busy with work and stuph. Laura and I got to go on a Grand Canyon river trip with our good friends Scott and Emily Perry as their swampers. It was great to be down there together and with friends.


After getting home and caught up I got to head out with Roy to Apache Maid for his first soaring flight! And last Saturday Paul and I got to go to Merriam for a good strong Mid Day flight.

Mingus

3 years ago I vowed to quit flying Mingus Mountain. A 4000 ft vertical paradise for Hangliders due to the dangers or basic lack of a paraglider launch. This past weekend I made some time to help with renovating the site and making it a safer place for paragliders. In the old days we had to ask for the help of people on launch to lay out safely below the concrete ramp on a rock pile or try to get your wing up in no wind in the lee behind the cliff edge. Neither one was all that safe. Long time AZ paraglider pilot Morgan Stine wrote a grant that went through.He supplied manpower and equipment, know how and a ton of time to make the changes required. After hammering rock hauling in dirt stacking of rock and grading everything out we have a launch. Saturday I ran a trackhoe to move rocks and grade the launch. Sunday we all spread topsoil and moved more rocks before test flying the launch. I did a little damage to Morgan's trackhoe but luckily we fixed it. Notice the bent hydrolic ram for the thumb near the bucket in the picture.

The test flight went well with hardly no wind coming up the hill we all got of relatively easy. I then managed a 10.5 mile jaunt around the Jerome and Clarkdale area. Landing in the desert between Sedona and cottonwood.

Paul Alley came to the rescue and we went back to launch to seed and mulch the whole area. It was a great day and a great moment in time for flying in Arizona.

Blossom

Sometimes your just lucky. I have been at a training seminar for work in Lakeside California since Monday. The class is pretty intense and lasts all day from 8-5 with a lunch break. After day one I drove over to Torrey Pines to check it out. I got there around six and watched the locals do their thing. Not having your paper work done at a site like this isn't a good thing so I opted to watch and enjoy the view. Tuesday after class I was headed for the hotel when I noticed a road sign that said Blossom Valley.Hmm I recall hearing of a mountain site with this name maybe its worth a drive. Not 1 minute later did I notice a glider in the sky thermaling high above the hills east of the city. I headed that way and was in the air and at the top of the stack till it shut down 45 minutes later. I top landed and had a beer with the locals. Not a bad way to end a day of sitting in a class room.

Updated Shots

Thanks to mister Boyle we have some shots from last weekends fun! A ridge sesh on Sheba to an XC across the rez!

I'm in Cali for work but I am near some good flying I'll keep ya'all posted!

Livin On the Rez

Yesterday was a fun challenge. After a good smooth climb out from Merriam I headed out towards Leupp and away from the eminent t-storms that were forcast. I never got higher that 8700 which made for a lot of 360's to stay in the air. The climbs out in the valley were tight cores and drifting back the way I'd come. The flight was 11.6 miles and took 1.27 hours but felt like 3 hours as it was very busy work. BJ toplanded and ran retrieval for me big thanks to him. I was too busy to take any pics. BJ may be able to help me out there. Untill next time. T

Automatic Wind Meter

The kite is a good way to measure the wind. When I can't keep the kite in the sky I know that it isn't to strong for the paraglider. After a good hour of flying the kite I hooked the handles to my camper shell and watched until it couldn't stay up then I flew for 20 min.

Sunday Looks Bad

A stationary front has forced the jet stream into hanging out longer than anyone wanted or needed. No flying for me today. It is a sad deal since you couldn't ask for a better format for paragliding than the Teva Mountain Games provides. I'll come back next year even if they don't have Paragliding in the games because there is so much to do and watch. Last night it snowed and it is chilly this morning. It will be good to be back in the desert soon.
T

No Dice

Still no task due to high winds. To bad but you couldn't ask for a better event to not fly at. There is plenty to do and see. Sunday looks good.
T

Teva games day 1

No flying today. Snow advisory above 9,000 ft for most of Colorado. Looks like I'll be kayaking today. Stay tuned.

Leaving

Today I'm packing up and heading to Vail for the Teva Mountain Games. This is the first year they are going to have paragliding as part of the event so I am off. It will be nice to be a little closer to home since most comps. in the US are in the Northwest. Check in here for updates on how the event goes. The weather looks bad the first couple days but looks good fri-sun. For more info on the total event check out

http://www.tevamountaingames.com/

Escape From The LCR

We often see the clouds where we aren't. We are always out in the Blue Hole known as the Little Colorado River Valley or LCR. The crux to many a cross country flight from The Craters is escaping and getting to a place that is working better. Today I managed to get out. I've tried this route many times and only made it once before. Two years ago I got out after taking a frisbee thermal over the back of Merriam and blundered into a real thermal out in the middle of nowhere that got me up high enough to make the jump to Anderson Mesa and into the Rim Country. I managed 40 miles before getting shut down by shade frome the clouds and the activity quit for the day. Today was a much different set up. I launched went right to 8,000 ft and punched back out front for another that booted me up too 11,200. I headed down wind and crossed some real estate fast but got no love from the flats and hoped for some lift at Rattlesnake Crater. No dice. Getting low I edged toward I-40 in hopes of either getting up or making my retrive easier on Paul. I was just about to tell him to come and get me when I started to get worked. Getting worked on the flats is OK it usually means your in the right place and I was. This nasty little thermal was all I could hang on to so I did. It beat me up pretty good but I was getting higher. I was now a thermal away from making the jump up onto the Mesa yet I was commited to a really long walk as the last thermal had drifted me miles from any road and it didn't get me all that high only 9,000ft. Not alot considering when you jump onto the Mesa you loose a thousand feet. I headed for the Mesa in hopes of getting up on the rim. No need as I lucked into a 2000 ft per minute monster that had all the turbulance you would expect to have from a beast that strong in the month of May. Meanwhile conditions all around me were starting to change, my ground speed was near 60 mph and thermals were getting really strong and voilent. The clouds I had worked so hard to get to where changing shape from cotton candy to more flattend and shredded. I had escaped the LCR yet it seemed that the day had bigger plans. I have flown in the Owens and the supper ratty, strong air of King Mountain Idaho but I felt that at this point I was at my max. OK so just land. Normally landing this time of day would not be advised. Remember the air has never hurt anyone! But the ground has pretty much got us all at one point in or lives. However once you get up on the Mesa you are in a whole new world. On most days a better world as there is green grass and lakes every where so instead of heading off to the first cloud of my flight I called it quits and set up to land down wind of a couple small lake's that together were about a mile long. I turned into the wind and parked it straight down if not a little backwards in smooth wind off of the lake and put it away in the grass. Paul was there in no time with a cold beer. It was a fun flight but more stress than I like to fly with. Next time if the weather allows I'll see you in Showlow.

Patience

I'll be the first to say that teaching or learning in May in northern Arizona has its downfalls. 1st is the insain time at which you have to get out of bed after working all week just to get in a few flights before the wind turns on or the thermals come out and scare the @#$%^& out of ya. Then there is the weather liars. Yesterday classic example of how evened trained professionals with years of school get it wrong. Its sad because they are usually correct when it comes to the wind. It was supposed to be light winds a good change as it has been the windiest spring I can remember. My student Greg and I set up on the north side of Sheba in a 10-15 mile an hour breeze with hopes of him getting his first soaring flight. BEWARE Murphy and his infamous Law are always at the hill. The second Greg finished hooking in the nice soarable breeze gave way to a 25-30 mile an hour wind that sent us to the truck and down the hill. The moral of the story is don't get discouraged! No matter how bad Greg wanted to fly and how much I wanted him to get his first long flight we have to remember one thing that I think all pilots have a hard time with. If we were meant to be out there we would have been born with feathers and wings, so don't get discouraged when the weather doesn't work out. Greg and I drove down to the mailbox LZ and kited for a good 45 min in a very demanding breeze which I feel taught him more than 20 minutes sitting in a seat pulling on those little strings. We had a good time and came home with a smile on our face and all our goods where they belong. Don't get discouraged because when its good and we get that flight that lasts for hours we realize how special it is when mother nature lets us ground bound bipeds take to the sky.

Paul's New Ship.

After a long windy spell I set out once again. This time with Paul and Brent to get some action at Merriam. There's no place like home Dorthy. Paul got a lot of time in the saddle (well over an hour) to get to know a new Glider and harness. Brent got to tune up after a long rest.

Back In Action

I had a great weekend that started with a Friday night flight with Paul at Apache Maid Look Out. We got there kind of late so we didn't get all that high just over 8,000 but it was smooth and boaty.

Don't let winter slow you down!

There is still fun to be had you just have to dress accordingly.