Monday, February 22, 2010

Valle Pictures

El Pinon

Chris Out Front (yellow glider above horizon)

Chris At Cloudbase

Tres Reyes Day 5 - just after the start.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

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