Another AZ Sunset

Lena took this shot on our way home from Skiing in UT


Somewhere Between Fredonia and Jacob Lake. Arizona Strip Country

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Well ya I know it seems I fell off the planet. A lot of you that regularly follow along here have called to make sure I'm alive. Thank you! I have had quite a full plate with friends life changes, life changes of my own and work. I have also been out of a computer that is capable of getting on line or has the ability to type without making me want to throw it out the window for the past month. At first this seemed like a problem but after a week or so I actually liked not being tethered to this make believe world that doesn't involve interaction with people in a real setting. I have been living at the shop most nights so that also puts a damper on my intergeeking. Since my last post I have had some fun however, from a San Juan river trip to great day hikes and dirt bike rides, short flights with great friends I have still managed to remain a fun hog and will do my best to get out and play in this amazing world we live in. Winter is in fact here and I am struggling to get work done as the season comes into full swing and I have to work on the mountain. I'll try to get some photos up when I get time. Thanks for reading!

48.3 From Mingus

September 2nd, 2010 I will always remember. A new site record. It may be broken already but I sure had a fun 48.3 mile, 3 hour 22 minute flight from Mingus mountain to Crookton rd. west of Ashfork.
Launching

The day seemed to be starting slow but once we could see the inversion breaking in the valley we started hucking. A quick hunt out front and I was off to 12,000 ft pretty rapidly.

I headed northwest in hopes of getting another climb at the big mountain above Jerome. No dice but still had a bunch of altitude so I kept going onto the foothills near Perkinsville, a remote crossing of the Verde river in the middle of nowwhere. I radioed my plans to BJ and hoped for the valley to be hot enough to give'er.

I headed to a ridge that seemed to have a few things going for it and got my second climb and back up to 9000 ft. A few miles later another climb to above 10,000 had me relaxing a bit as the terrain isn't all that friendly out there for landing any type of aircraft. Highway 89 became my next goal. It connects Prescott to I-40 and runs north/south. Another climb got me near 11,000 and I had the pavement on glide but I didn't plan on stopping there. Meanwhile BJ had chose to land and gracefully decided to chase me.

Once I linked up with the highway BJ was navigating the 20 miles of terrian I had flown over. Which is more like 50 miles of, well not the easiest dirt roads to travel over. I looked back trying to see him but no luck. A couple low saves as the miles went by and I was on my way to Ashfork. As I approached Ashfork BJ radioed that he was on the highway. I hope I thanked him enough for the beating he gave his truck. As I approached Ashfork I got to my highest altitude of the flight, 12,888. As luck would have it I ran into headwind just south of the town so I headed west.

As I flew west toward Seligman I got my last climb back up to 12,200 before I went on my last glide out Rt. 66. BJ had caught up to me and had site of me for the first time in about 3 hours. I set it down next to the mother road for high fives and cold beer. Huge thanks to BJ!!!!!!! Not only did he come get me we retraced the trip back to the top of Mingus to get my truck. I think he drove well over 200 miles for me. I think I owe him one. My friend Dustin flew as well. He had launced before me and took a different route to the southwest. I beleive he flew near 44 miles and landed near Peeples Valley, AZ. Nice flight D!
Until next time!

T

Echo Cliffs

All I can really say is that I live in a really cool part of the world.

Maid to Mormon

This makes twice this season that I've done this. The first time was just unbelievable and this time was even better because I got to fly most of it with my friend. After a nice smooth climb to near 14,000 ft Chris and I headed towards Mormon Lake from Apache Maid Look Out.

The views were incredible and the late day glides were 11 to 1 at 40 mph out of the south yet the thermal drift was to the west. Chris had a couple personal bests, highest ever and first flight over 10 miles. Did I mention the incredible views.

A near 20 mile flight that only took and hour not to mention we could have flown Mormon Lake until sunset

Fire Season

The largest mountain in Arizona is behind the smoke.

Dog Gone

Farewell buddy. On Sunday Laura and I had to put down our companion Drew. He was 15. We miss him. Those that understood him and loved him know how special a dog he was, he touched many a sole.

Memorial Weekend

I always try to spend Memorial Day weekend at my moms house in Colorado. Last year it rained the whole time and we spent a ton of time inside eating and drinking. This time, although it was windy I got to get in my kayak and do a fair bit of paddling. Always good for the sole to be on the water.

Full moon rising over the Dolores River. Taken from Moms front yard.

Its Fun When It Isn't Blowing

The last week has been an interesting one. After my South Mountain adventure, Saturday was an Epic day. Cumulus clouds as far as the eye could see, yet strong rowdy air. Roy and Ben got to launch before me and were up and established. Roy got to 11,111 from Sheba and was headed south. Ben was not liking the beating mother nature was giving him and top landed. I finally sorted through my gear and set up to launch and catch Roy. Ben told me of the textured air and I was eager to sample it. Yep strong. After some rowdy conditions around the take off I was screaming upward at over 1000 feet per minute thinking this is gonna be a long day. At 9500 feet I left my good climb to head towards Roy. A couple turns in another strong thermal along the way I saw him only one cloud away. Greed took hold of me and I made a total rookie error. I flew straight toward him, forgetting any XC potential and the fact that to stay in the sky you first have to stay in lift. After landing I laughed out loud as he came and landed next to me, only 4 miles from Sheba. He was cold, had to piss and was overwhelmed by the air. He will be prepared next time. So what we blew the best day of the year for a huge flight but we were all together laughing. That should always be the real goal.
Sunday didn't look so good but the afternoon had great potential for Apache Maid. Layback, Ben and I headed to the hill and couldn't set up fast enough when we saw the conditions. I punched of first and with minimal searching went straight to 10,400. I got another climb just east of Stoneman Lake and headed towards Lake Mary Rd. Here I was getting low and found an area of 0 lift. Learning from my reminder the day before I made some lazy turns in this area and drifted with it only to reap the rewards of it getting stronger and stronger and next thing I knew I was looking at Mormon Lake from 13,700 ft. After a long late afternoon glide I came in 100 ft above the Mormon Lake overlook where we launch when we fly there. I was laughing out loud in my harness when I started ridge soaring the smooth air off the lake. It was late in the day and I would find no more thermals but I flew for another hour or more until sunset. Why land and wait for your friends who are going to fly till dark when you can fly till dark as well. Just as I finished packing up they came and picked me up. May is windy here and these magical days are rare yet Thursday evening had the perfect ingredients for an Aubrey cliff session. Paul Alley has had quite a winter while being a new father and remodling his house he hasn't been out since Oct. I let him know what I thought and he was in. He with his hang glider and I with my paraglider headed to Seligman. Again the conditions were perfect and we flew for a couple hours and around 20 miles of mixed ridge/thermal lift. Glad I got to share another epoch night with him after his long break. Wow is the word most people use after a week like that. I actually managed to get some work done during this time period as well. But I don't think I'll remember it like I will flying with my friends. 6 hours of airtime and near 60 miles of ground covered I think I'll be able to sit back and watch May do what it does best for the next week. Between gusts I'll be day dreaming of the past week and smiling. From Dustin and Sean to Paul and everyone in between this was a really cool week in my flying career that I'll remember always. Huge thanks to Will for the laughs, the shuttles, and the ideas. You rock! Sorry no pictures were taken by me during the construction of the huge smile on my face.
T

South Mountain

Downtown Phoenix From 5000'

Well it happened. If you write it down it'll happen. On Thurs. I had to go to Phoenix to get some building materials. After loading my trailer with the goods I met up with Dustin Pachura and Sean Buckner. 2 Phoenix locals and down right good dudes. They took me to South Mountain and showed me around. In a little less than an hour Dustin and I got quite the tour from above. I even got to land at my truck and make it home before dark. Thanks guys! Too Bad there is a ceiling at 5000'.
Past this casino the airpace drops down to 3000 ft

May

May has been typical. Wind, wind, wind and you got it more wind on the way. The flying scene in Arizona has really taken of in the last few years. The Phoenix group has grown to a Phoenix sized group of good pilots and a few hacks. I have been trying to link up with a few of them and fly but this damn wind keeps getting in the way. I really enjoy flying with good pilots from other places and think that it is a great way to learn skills you may not realize until you see them in a different light. Stay tuned as summer is on the way and I'm hoping for great things this season. We are seeing some big numbers go up on marginal days. I'm excited to see what happens on the right day. It used to be that with such a small community good days were rarely capitalized on. Now with more good pilots with different schedules anything could happen on any day. I think we will see a new state record this year. I think it could happen at any site on the right day as long as there is a pilot ready to send it. I hope its me. I would like 100+ from The Craters but we'll just see how the cards fall. If I get 100+ from another site I won't be complaining. Yet they may not fall in my favor and its still exciting to see this change in the AZ scene. Good luck boys and girls!

Tan/Dom

Will Viktora is at it again. He is working on a paragliding film and has been making sure we get as much footage as we can. Here is a small preview of the sweetest flight I've had in a long time. Not huge distance or super high just a great XC with my Bro's from Sheba to Rhoden Crater. I've been wanting to share a flight like this for years and when it happens unexpectedly it is that much sweeter. Thanks Will for the time your putting into this and thanks for making sure Dominic had a camera!

Blow

The wind talker at 2 Guns which is the closest to the hill shows sustained winds at 45 and the gust at 2 p.m. read 67 mph! YIKES!
Edit: Gust at 3:31 showed 70 mph.

Good Fun

The End Of a Great Day

It has been a fun couple weeks. I have been teaching my friends to fly and flying a fair bit myself. The days have been rewarding and challenging but always fun.
Always Worth The Trip

March Kicks Off XC Season

Roy and I had a great day on Tuesday. We both had the day off and headed to the Craters. Roy got off a quick warm up flight to the mail boxes. Then we went back up to try out some late morning thermals. Roy went first and I followed once I saw him with a good climb. We boated around in smooth lift for over a half hour getting about 1400 over launch. It seemed to shut down so I went and looked way out front for more as Roy top landed. He picked me up and we laughed our way up Merriam for some possible XC. Our 1st attempt was feeble as neither one of us had our game on. I left the storage compartment of my harness open and had to side hill land to avoid loosing precious cargo. This left Roy alone and he sank out. He said he was done and would chase me on the next one. So back up we went. I planned on going to the shop just for a quick fun flight and minutes after launching had the needed altitude to make the 2 mile hop. As Roy drove down and I made turns to land at the shop I slowly began to climb and soon found my self at 9000 ft msl. I let Roy know my plans had now changed and I would head out to Leupp Rd. Just south of Junction Crater I found another climb and headed for RC Crater nothing there so I headed for the RC field. A small climb here gave me enough altitude to make it to the Junk Yard so i went for it in hope of lift along the way. There is a little luck to every cross country flight and this was the lucky part of this flight. As I crossed over a small piece of no-mans-land with trees and 2 very large power lines I started climbing. Not fast, yet drifting toward the junk yard and not loosing altitude. This is great because the place usually goes off. It turns out that it was in fact going off. I had my best climb of the day and topped it out at near 9900 ft. Crosswinds and terrain forced me to head south on Cosonino Rd until I ran into snow covered ground and nowhere else to go. I landed near the edge of Walnut Canyon after 1 hour 20 Minutes 16.2 Miles.
The day still had some hours left so we ended the day perfectly by heading up and powering in a couple runs at the Snowbowl then Beers with friends at Harlans Birthday Party.

Looking South Down Leupp Rd From RC Crater.

Valle Pictures

El Pinon

Chris Out Front (yellow glider above horizon)

Chris At Cloudbase

Tres Reyes Day 5 - just after the start.

Back Home

When you go to Valle you know your going to have a blast. I had a ton of fun. Chris and I got out of town late due to the largest storm Flagstaff has seen in 30 years. With the airport shut down and all roads out of town closed there was only one thing to do. Help everyone dig out. When I-17 opened we where off to Phoenix to catch our connecting flight. A day late but we had escaped. My one practice day was a fun flight of 2 hours all around the launch area and towards the lake. Then came day one of the comp where I felt I flew just fine for not competing in many years. Climbs where low and things got tricky. A lot of top pilots hit the deck early. That night the cold I had been fighting took hold of me and I was down for the count. The next day I debated even launching. I decided to give it a go thinking I can feel bad in the air or feel bad on the ground so why not fly. It was a bad move. The head cold mixed with going up and down in turbulent air was a bad combo. Dizziness took over and I was getting my ass kicked in the air. I radioed Chris and he got us a cab. I spent the rest of the day and night in bed and hoped for a speedy recovery.
Day three was much better it seemed that the funk that I had wasn't going away but had moved out of my head and into my chest. I launched with some apprehensions yet there was no dizziness only a cough that kept me company for my 2.5 hour flight. Getting out on the course helped my score a little but taking the day before off had put me out of reach of a decent finish. With a goal of having fun as my main agenda I was still doing great. Day 4 was a total junk show. Light lift and the lowest climbs anyone had seen turned out to be a crowded sky. 150 pilots circling around looking for the same scrap of lift took all the fun out of my day and I went off alone low and then flew to the LZ to call it a day. Not long after landing my good friend Brett Zanglein encountered a mid-air collision with another pilot. Confirming my decision was a good one. Both pilots where uninjured and flew the next day.
Day five of the comp proved to be the best flying we would see the whole trip.
It started out slow but an hour and a half into the task the climbs got strong and higher we were finally getting above 11,000 ft and able to cover some ground. The next day was rained out and the partying started early and finished early the next morning. What a great trip. Chris learned tons and is hungry for more. Yesterday was our first day back at the Snowbowl and it took us both a while to get used to wearing ski boots instead of flip flops. I left my camera at the house we stayed at so no pictures for a few days until it gets mailed. Stay tuned! T

Mexico Bound

I am leaving on Friday to compete in the Monarca Open in Mexico.

You can follow along at: www.monarcaparaglidingopen.com

I don't plan on being on top just having fun. It is on of the most well run Comps in the world and in an amazing place. Well worth the entry fee.

Stay tuned!

Craters During Winter Storm