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

Here It Comes

Looks like its time for my annual where the hell did summer go. The first big winter storm of the season is setting up to drop 1-2 ft of snow in Flagstaff. This will surely change things as far as frequency of my blogging. I seem to blog more in the winter due to the fact that I'm having more fun. I tow paragliders more and the snow in the mountains means water in the desert and a lot of Kayaking. A lot of folks don't know it but Arizona is loaded with creeks and rivers that come alive in the winter. Not to mention that getting paid to ski keeps me quite busy in the winter also. Looks like that will be happening next week after this storm leaves the mountain buried.
I've been working with some outstanding students from down south. Phoenix brings Donna up here. And Vann of Tucson have been expanding their flight skills when ever we can get together. I'm stoked to have them on board to represent what I know to be the finest paragliding education available in our area. On that note I'll be working with Chandler Papas of Desert Wind Paragliding on a winter tune up coarse. WX understanding, ground handling and towing will be the focus. I'm looking forward to this as he is the only Instructor in AZ that has a solid program. And getting us both on the same page benefits the entire community. Look for these clinics to show up some time in early Jan. and late Feb. Stay tuned to my website: www.flagstaffparagliding.com
It looks like I have some work to do as Laura has just yelled down the hall that its time to go find a Christmas tree. Thanks for checking in here gang!
Happy Holidays!

Been A While

After battling a broken hand from a boating accident and dealing with the busiest Autumn I have ever had I thought I'd keep Ya'll up to date. The hand was broken on Lake Mead. Scott and I were motoring up lake to surf our kayaks on a new wave that has formed as the lake has dropped. Chilling out in the front of the boat not paying attention I was flung from the boat when Scott swerved to miss a rock. Thank god he saw it or the out come would most likely been worse than a broken hand for both of us.

As you can see the wave was quit large and those that weren't broken had quite a time. Don't worry I'll be back.
The Dixon White Memorial Fly In came and went without a hitch. This was the largest ever. 67 pilots and we flew all three days. I even flew twice even though Laura doesn't approve due to the fact that my hand isn't fully healed. Pell broght his balloon and we had the first balloon launch fron the shop. It was a magic moment for me to watch such an undertaking really happen.

Will Victora has put together a fun video of a couple outings we had last summer.
the link is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IchkdSlCp1c

Sorry I'm not tech savvy enough to make it show up on this page.