Kicking trees and running from clouds

I started out the day by doing an early morning tandem. By the time we get to launch the cu’s are poping already. A beginner student got a hold of me and wanted to come out for a tandem flight. She told me after that she was afraid of heights. This was obvious as soon as we launched. After the normal launch screams she started to cry and took a while before she pulled herself together and enjoyed the view. The landing freaked her out to but I think she enjoyed the flight.

After a quick breakfast we headed up for an early start to the day as it was looking good already. I got set up right away and suited up to go. I declared a 200km out and return task and wanted to get going. Doug Litzenburger took off ahead of me and I launched soon after as several paraglider pilots were already getting up. It was 1:30 and I was climbing out over launch. I got to cloud base and headed south. Once over Mt 7 I made a few turns to top up and headed over to tag my start circle. I turned south and was on my way.

I was going good finding the best lift and pushing down range at a good pace. By the time I got to Parson I had passed all the paragliders that took off before me. Cloud base was a little more than 3000m which isn’t really high but not bad. I started losing my focus and was slowing down. I tried to keep pushing until I was very low at Spur Valley. I was flying through a lot of shade and not finding any lift. I got drilled crossing the gap to Edgewater and had to claw my way along for the next ten km. Once I hit Radium I found strong lift and shot up to cloud base. I had to divert around the large black cloud so I wouldn’t get sucked into it. I looked back to the north and it looked the clouds were starting to clear out and the sun was shining on the mountains again. I decided I would head back after I got my turn point as long as I didn’t have a big head wind to fight back. I got a great glide all the way to my turn point near Swansee and made my turn.

I took too long to get to Invermere but if I could make it back in two hours I could still set the 200km out and return record. I’ve made it to Invermere in two hours so I headed back with renewed focus. I made a few turns in strong lift and was getting great glides under the black clouds. Once back to Radium I could see it was still totally shaded from Spur Valley as far south as I could see. I wasn’t going to turn around now and head back south. I made my decision and now I will have to just go and hope I can find some sort of lift. I was pleased I was able to make it through once. I found some lift in the shade at Spur Valley but that would be it before a long glide to the deck just south of Spillimacheen. Total distance was 150km and I was in the air for four and a half hours. I was disappointed that I didn’t make it back but still a good flight. Tomorrows another day.