Mara fly in.

leif and I hit the road on Friday planning to fly in Golden in the afternoon before pressing onto Mara to fly Saturday. It looked really bad in Golden so we didn't even slow down. Just kept pressing onto Mara. The sky looked great when we got to Mara and we thought we had missed a really good day there. As it turned out we didn't miss much. The wind wasn't really cooperating that day.

Some one tell me what these two are thinking?

I can't figure it out.

Saturday I didn't get out of bed in time for the first trip up but some paragliders went up and did some tandems and sledders. We went back up in the afternoon and things were looking good. Nice looking sky and the winds appeared to be light. The wind was cross a lot but some really nice cycles would blow in regularly. A few of the paragliders got off and were up but not really high. I was getting ready to take off in a nice cycle when I saw Tonya dropping like a stone from a 1000' over and ended up landing. This didn't inspire me so I waited for the next one. Once the wind started blowing in nicely again I figured I should get off the hill. I flew threw what seemed like pretty good lift right in front of launch but just wasn't on top of it. A little further out I found enough to get me above launch. The lift was disorganized and hard to follow. Good climbs just suddenly stopping or moving. The wind was stiff out of the south and it was a struggle to make progress. I didn't think anyone else would bother trying to fight into the head wind so instead of waiting for friends to join me I headed out on my own. As the day wore on the lift got a little better and I was getting a little higher. As many who have flown here will tell you the Enderby cliffs look like a great place to find lift but never seem to work. You need to try and get high here as you have to jump a bit of a gap in the range. Knowing all this and fighting into a head wind I tried to get as high as I could before crossing the gap just behind the Enerby cliffs. When I felt I couldn't get any higher I press on. I found a bit of lift and a lot of birds on the other side but just didn't have the Patience I needed to get up again. I pressed on and soon landed before getting to Armstrong. It was a fun flight and I was happy to get some air time.

Our new paragliding friend Amine from Vancouver.

Tonya stylin in her new shades.

Sunday the paragliders went up early again and drove down as the wind was cross all morning. Not being inspired we headed home early. It was great meeting some new friends and hanging out with other friends we don't get to see often enough. Looking forward to some better flying days ahead.