Saturday, August 18, 2007

Rampart is ON

I picked up a new Litespeed 4s last week, just as the Keechelus lake level was dropping low enough to expose the LZ for my favorite flying site, Rampart Ridge. Rampart is flyable much earlier in the season but the problem is there are no good LZs available until the Army Corps of Engineers begins releasing water from the lake which then exposes the lake bed and a small strip of dirt we call the Carrier Deck. When your on final over the water, getting tossed around by turbulence you'll know why it is called that.

The first couple of flights on the LS4 were in weak thermal conditions and gave me an opportunity to get use to the new wing in relatively mellow conditions. It is a pleasure to fly and handles very well. I'm liking it a lot.

A front blew through a couple of days ago bringing stronger winds and unstable air to our region. The next day the winds diminished and cumulus clouds scattered the Cascades. Perfect Rampart conditions and a great opportunity to go on some long glides over the rugged crags of the Cascades. Cloud base was 7200' with abundant lift, but very cold. We launched and beamed up to cloud base, heading north up the valley and maneuvering to stay out of the clouds that were forming all around. The lift diminished over Alta peak, and at only a couple hundred feet over the peak, I decided not to push on into no mans land and instead headed West to Red Mountain and toured the Snoqualmie pass area.

None of us were very prepared for how cold it was going to be and after only an hour and a half of racing around, we were all shivering and looking for sun and lower altitudes. Brain was the first to head to the LZ and we all soon followed. Winds were West at about 12mph in the air but on the carrier deck it was switching and variable and my nice head wind at 200 feet turned into a slight tail wind on the deck. I used up the whole LZ but had a well timed, hard flare and landed well. Did I say I'm really liking this wing? :)


Looking towards keechelus lake


Back on the deck

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Glass Off

Took some snapshots with the point and shoot during a late afternoon flight at Dog Mt. The first shots I've taken in flight for quite a while. I always fly with the point & shoot in my harness but lately haven't been motivated or inspired. Hopefully that'll be changing soon.
That's Dave Scott, way out there to the right of Dog Mt, with Riffe lake in the background.
Interesting fact: Dog Mt was the site of the 1976 US Nationals.