Fly with caution.

Today's forecast was again for a strong chance of thunder storms. When we arrive on launch it doesn't look very good and no one is staying up. When the sun pops out from behind the clouds I grab my glider and start setting up. Nicole, Greg and a few other paragliders launch about half an hour after the sun comes out and struggle to stay up. I suit up as their is a storm forming across the valley which I fear could come over and end the day. Greg is reasonably high and Nicole is still trying to stay off the ground. It is still early by Golden standards but I decide it's time to get going.

I have a hard time getting up too but find enough lift to get me to 7000' with a couple other pilots. Once the lift stops I head south to the punch bowl directly below Mnt 7. I'm reminded why we call it the punch bowl. I continued on to Willi's knob on the south end of Mnt 7 which works well. I climb out to 9000' with a few paragliders. We all head south and get drilled. Every one turns around and heads back to Mnt 7. I climb up again over Willis knob while the rest of my group head back to launch.. I get back to cloud base and look at the storm across the valley. It's time to go land or get going south. I turn south and get a much better glide this time.

With cloud base being so low I need to stop and climb after short glides if I want to stay over the range. I get back to cloud base over Kapristo and keep heading south. Climbs are week and broken. The air is very turbulent for the poor lift I find.

Once down at at Spilli I start down the back range as it is much faster to stay over the high peaks. With cloud base so low I soon jump out front so I don't get caught behind the front range. I continue to push south getting lower and lower. I get high enough height over the low hills at Spur Valley to get in front of the cliffs at Edge water. I find my first good thermal of the day and climb to 10,000' before I pull out of the strong lift. I gain another 700' flying away from the strong lift before I get away from it. The cloud wasn't very big or dark but I was glad I pulled out early as I never like to get into clouds. I make a few turns in stronger lift on the way to Invermere and arrive there low. The Valley here is shaded and I go into survival mode to stay off the ground until the sun comes out. Finally I work weak lift high enough to connect with stronger lift. I get back over the high peaks south of Invermere and push on to Fairmont.

I can see big storms forming to the north east and push harder to keep well ahead of them. I get a good climb over the last big peak at Fairmont and head south towards Canal Flats. I've never been this far south before and head towards ridges I hope will be working. Finding only very week lift I head out to the huge fields at Canal Flats. Many flights end here because you have a big jump with no landing fields to the south. It's late and I'm not at cloud base. Today hasn't been a very good day any way and I'm not going to push further south knowing I'm probably going to have difficult landing options. I burn off 3000' of extra altitude and land into a south wind. I get packed up before the gust front hits and into the local restaurant before the rain starts. Lucky for me when I call for a ride Guy's wife is in Radium looking for him. Soon I was picked up and heading home in good time.

It was tough flight but felt rewarding to make it so far on such a difficult day. Total distance was 148km. Now I need a better day to make Wasa!