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.