Back at it
You know why I haven't updated my blog for over a month? Because I haven't flown since I last posted, that's why! Isn't that awful? I was sick for a few weeks and that prevented me from doing really much of anything. But now I'm back in the game!
I drove out to the Fraser Valley today and tried my luck at Mt. Woodside. I was really surprised at the cloud development as I didn't see anything in the forecast, but nothing was overdeveloping, so I didn't worry about it too much. There was talk of a strong wind developing, but I don't think that happened until very late in the day.
In any case, I prepped myself today for flying in Golden and I had a really great 1.5 hour flight. There was a series of conjoined clouds which hovered over the ridgetop behind Woodside for quite some time, but it was really fun to get up to base, try finding lift elsewhere, then returning back to the reliable clouds - I like cloudsuck when it's in small doses!
The big family of clouds slowly started dissapaiting and cloudbase rose too. After purposely taking a shitty climb in the lee for my Golden prep, I thought it was time to try to go somewhere.
I headed towards the antennas to the northeast of launch and at first it was a little sinky with kind of average climbs, but finally I managed to hook a ripper (ok, 3 m/s) and got myself back up to base.
I skirted around the cloud band and got to Aggasiz Mountain where the clouds there were a little on the big side (you can't really tell from the pictures). I thought about flying back to Woodside, but instead I thought I would hop over to Cemetery Hill, see if anything was there, and if not, land at Harvest Market. The thought of crossing over to Bear wasn't really on my agenda - had I hung out for twenty minutes or so around Aggasiz Mountain, I think it would have been more doable, but heading to Cemetery Hill seemed like more fun rather than landing out far again. On the way there, I took some pics:
You can see Harrison Lake in the background - so pretty!
I found no lift at Cemetery Hill (nobody ever seems to) and landed at Harvest.
The grass was quite long and it was the ankle twisting sort - it kind of bunched up as you walked and I tripped on myself a couple times. After packing up my glider in the heat, I hitchhiked to get back to the where my car was.
The lady who picked me up was super nice and offered to drive me all the way to my car, but I politely declined, thinking it was too much hassle, and told her that dropping me off by the highway was fine. I thought I could use a little exercise. BIG MISTAKE!
My walk back to my car was more Golden prep - the mosquitoes were terrible! There was an absolute swarm of them following me, biting my shoulders and arms, and as I waved my hat trying to keep them away (so glad I had it with me), my arms burned in the sun. That was one long-ass 1.5 k walk!
I got to my car sweaty, frazzled, and with severe blood loss, and so thankful I made it back in one piece. Ha ha ha, an exaggeration, but I was done for the day.
I've missed paragliding these last few weeks - as long as the weather holds over the next while, you can be sure I'll have more flights to write about.
-----------------
On a somber note, I think it's important I mention the deaths of three paraglider pilots this past week. Everyone in the community, around the world, is in shock that two pilots at the PWC in Spain died on the same day and Xavier Murillo lost his life in Peru.
I had the pleasure of meeting Xavier last year in Golden and will always remember his funny yet appalling t-shirts, his infectious smile, and his overall charm. Xavier gave me some sort of DVD on DHV Certification which I've yet to watch, yet whatever the DVD is about seems of less importance now than who it came from. It will serve as a reminder of how fragile life truly is. Bon vol Xavier.
I drove out to the Fraser Valley today and tried my luck at Mt. Woodside. I was really surprised at the cloud development as I didn't see anything in the forecast, but nothing was overdeveloping, so I didn't worry about it too much. There was talk of a strong wind developing, but I don't think that happened until very late in the day.
In any case, I prepped myself today for flying in Golden and I had a really great 1.5 hour flight. There was a series of conjoined clouds which hovered over the ridgetop behind Woodside for quite some time, but it was really fun to get up to base, try finding lift elsewhere, then returning back to the reliable clouds - I like cloudsuck when it's in small doses!
The big family of clouds slowly started dissapaiting and cloudbase rose too. After purposely taking a shitty climb in the lee for my Golden prep, I thought it was time to try to go somewhere.
I headed towards the antennas to the northeast of launch and at first it was a little sinky with kind of average climbs, but finally I managed to hook a ripper (ok, 3 m/s) and got myself back up to base.
I skirted around the cloud band and got to Aggasiz Mountain where the clouds there were a little on the big side (you can't really tell from the pictures). I thought about flying back to Woodside, but instead I thought I would hop over to Cemetery Hill, see if anything was there, and if not, land at Harvest Market. The thought of crossing over to Bear wasn't really on my agenda - had I hung out for twenty minutes or so around Aggasiz Mountain, I think it would have been more doable, but heading to Cemetery Hill seemed like more fun rather than landing out far again. On the way there, I took some pics:
You can see Harrison Lake in the background - so pretty!
I found no lift at Cemetery Hill (nobody ever seems to) and landed at Harvest.
The grass was quite long and it was the ankle twisting sort - it kind of bunched up as you walked and I tripped on myself a couple times. After packing up my glider in the heat, I hitchhiked to get back to the where my car was.
The lady who picked me up was super nice and offered to drive me all the way to my car, but I politely declined, thinking it was too much hassle, and told her that dropping me off by the highway was fine. I thought I could use a little exercise. BIG MISTAKE!
My walk back to my car was more Golden prep - the mosquitoes were terrible! There was an absolute swarm of them following me, biting my shoulders and arms, and as I waved my hat trying to keep them away (so glad I had it with me), my arms burned in the sun. That was one long-ass 1.5 k walk!
I got to my car sweaty, frazzled, and with severe blood loss, and so thankful I made it back in one piece. Ha ha ha, an exaggeration, but I was done for the day.
I've missed paragliding these last few weeks - as long as the weather holds over the next while, you can be sure I'll have more flights to write about.
-----------------
On a somber note, I think it's important I mention the deaths of three paraglider pilots this past week. Everyone in the community, around the world, is in shock that two pilots at the PWC in Spain died on the same day and Xavier Murillo lost his life in Peru.
I had the pleasure of meeting Xavier last year in Golden and will always remember his funny yet appalling t-shirts, his infectious smile, and his overall charm. Xavier gave me some sort of DVD on DHV Certification which I've yet to watch, yet whatever the DVD is about seems of less importance now than who it came from. It will serve as a reminder of how fragile life truly is. Bon vol Xavier.
posted by Veronica at 7:07 PM
1 Comments:
That is very sad. I wonder if I met Xavier when he was here.
You've not blogged again since over a week. Outlook not good for PG national. Who said Golden is always sunny? Certainly not me. This year is the worse in over 15 years though. PG nat has bad karma?
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