Fun in Pemberton
The day before yesterday my boyfriend and I made the trip out to Pemberton for the first time this season. As the west coast has been living up to its nickname of the "wet coast" lately, we saw a break in the weather and figured it was time to take advantage of it.
Considering it was a weekday, there were plenty of pilots out and about. When we arrived at launch, it was the first time it felt summer-like, with the sun beating down and pilots in short-sleeves (and even topless - yeah!!!)
I had a really nice launch - nobody was around and as I had set up quite far back to let everyone go ahead of me, I had a little ways to run. I brought up my wing, expecting just to kite it to the edge, set it down and wait for a cycle and then go. Instead, I brought it up and kind of trotted along, paused at the edge realizing the cycle was still good, and then was airborne. It sounds kind of silly, but it felt really magical.
The air was what I would describe as "squirrely" and is one of my least favourite types of flying conditions. It was the type of air that kind of swirls and seems to have a few directional components to it which makes it hard to figure out where you should and shouldn't be flying. There seemed to be an inversion at around 1450 metres and as I wasn't keen on flying above the peaks, I kind of flew in front where the thermals just didn't seem to get above that height and a south-westerly wind battle ensued. There also seemed to be some northerly winds higher up (which is not a good direction), so I stayed away. In any case, I didn't really like the conditions and after half an hour or so, headed into the valley.
Pemberton Valley, looking towards Lake Lillooet
Valley floor. Racetrack/soccer field is the LZ
I was at around 1000 metres when I started boating around the valley, and that was by far my favourite part of the flight. It was so smooth and lift was everywhere. The air was warm and I could smell the thermals as I flew through them; one from a nearby small fire, another from a farmer's field. The Pemberton valley was so clear, so sunny, so beautiful and without barely trying, I extended my flight by another 15 or 20 minutes.
First vanity shot of the year
Mt. Currie - so gorgeous!
My boyfriend ended up having an awesome flight - top landing 20 k's or so downrange preceded by wingovers with foot dragging to test the snow pack, and flying all the way back. He was the only one to go anywhere that day and although a part of me wanted to join him, a much bigger part was happy that I didn't go with him, as I had a good flight and flying in that messy air longer than I had wasn't my idea of fun.
The next day Jim from Cayoosh Adventures offered to lend me a sort of "hybrid" paraglider to test fly. It was kind of a cross between a light mountain glider and a speedflying wing - the Nervures LOL. I truly believe that the reversible harness, glider and front mount reserve combined weighed less than my paragliding harness!
I reversed off launch and when I felt a small thermal, turned the glider, much to my surprise, a lot steeper than I had intended! I let out a little giddy "woooo" and continued to try and thermal the light morning lift. It was a little early in the day for thermalling, so I headed out to the LZ. I opened the trimmers all the way up and felt the acceleration of that little glider - it was awesome! I really felt like I was going somewhere quickly - it was delightful and a really fun change from a regular paraglider!
After landing, we headed back up to launch for an xc flight but the stomach problems that I had experienced from the night before really started to kick in, so I opted not to fly. Although the conditions looked stellar at first - good cloud development, lighter winds, etc., it didn't last long and a nasty east wind developed and the clouds were not reachable. A handful of pilots did go xc, but not far and few made it back to the main LZ.
All in all, spending time in Pemberton was great - good people, great flying, and excellent adventure.
Considering it was a weekday, there were plenty of pilots out and about. When we arrived at launch, it was the first time it felt summer-like, with the sun beating down and pilots in short-sleeves (and even topless - yeah!!!)
I had a really nice launch - nobody was around and as I had set up quite far back to let everyone go ahead of me, I had a little ways to run. I brought up my wing, expecting just to kite it to the edge, set it down and wait for a cycle and then go. Instead, I brought it up and kind of trotted along, paused at the edge realizing the cycle was still good, and then was airborne. It sounds kind of silly, but it felt really magical.
The air was what I would describe as "squirrely" and is one of my least favourite types of flying conditions. It was the type of air that kind of swirls and seems to have a few directional components to it which makes it hard to figure out where you should and shouldn't be flying. There seemed to be an inversion at around 1450 metres and as I wasn't keen on flying above the peaks, I kind of flew in front where the thermals just didn't seem to get above that height and a south-westerly wind battle ensued. There also seemed to be some northerly winds higher up (which is not a good direction), so I stayed away. In any case, I didn't really like the conditions and after half an hour or so, headed into the valley.
Pemberton Valley, looking towards Lake Lillooet
Valley floor. Racetrack/soccer field is the LZ
I was at around 1000 metres when I started boating around the valley, and that was by far my favourite part of the flight. It was so smooth and lift was everywhere. The air was warm and I could smell the thermals as I flew through them; one from a nearby small fire, another from a farmer's field. The Pemberton valley was so clear, so sunny, so beautiful and without barely trying, I extended my flight by another 15 or 20 minutes.
First vanity shot of the year
Mt. Currie - so gorgeous!
My boyfriend ended up having an awesome flight - top landing 20 k's or so downrange preceded by wingovers with foot dragging to test the snow pack, and flying all the way back. He was the only one to go anywhere that day and although a part of me wanted to join him, a much bigger part was happy that I didn't go with him, as I had a good flight and flying in that messy air longer than I had wasn't my idea of fun.
The next day Jim from Cayoosh Adventures offered to lend me a sort of "hybrid" paraglider to test fly. It was kind of a cross between a light mountain glider and a speedflying wing - the Nervures LOL. I truly believe that the reversible harness, glider and front mount reserve combined weighed less than my paragliding harness!
I reversed off launch and when I felt a small thermal, turned the glider, much to my surprise, a lot steeper than I had intended! I let out a little giddy "woooo" and continued to try and thermal the light morning lift. It was a little early in the day for thermalling, so I headed out to the LZ. I opened the trimmers all the way up and felt the acceleration of that little glider - it was awesome! I really felt like I was going somewhere quickly - it was delightful and a really fun change from a regular paraglider!
After landing, we headed back up to launch for an xc flight but the stomach problems that I had experienced from the night before really started to kick in, so I opted not to fly. Although the conditions looked stellar at first - good cloud development, lighter winds, etc., it didn't last long and a nasty east wind developed and the clouds were not reachable. A handful of pilots did go xc, but not far and few made it back to the main LZ.
All in all, spending time in Pemberton was great - good people, great flying, and excellent adventure.
posted by Veronica at 9:47 PM
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