High pressure. Some ok climbs at the start. Tough to stay with it between 6-7000 Then it changed and got rowdy. Hard to get past 4500'. Low save by the power lines. Punchy bullying air. 2 hrs later, cues started, a couple of decent climbs confirmed it was on and I was off. Couldn't get past Mica. Ran into nasty air approaching it. Went E to previous days LZ. Thanks Jorge for the retrieve!
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/887861
Rick, Jorge, Karl, Jim. Did the toilet & wind sock work. Karl had his best to date.
One good climb then try to outrun the high clouds and shade. We did a good job of it, and had a good time!
Thanks Michele for the retrieve!
My flight
Jorge's flight:
Finally a chance to get back on the local hill. Cold temps. 32° on launch. It was forecast 17° at 6000' and 5° at 9000' so with the wind chill at 8000 it was -20° give or take. Bloody cold!!! But such a great time! Frozen camel back tube again. Lots of sink if you weren't in lift.
Tough conditions. Top landed, made a retrieve then took another flight. http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/885732
flight #2 http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/885733
Strong S winds leaving town. Arriving at the hill to find N.....WTF?
Killed some time ,check some other local sites, then our suffering was over. Had a near miss with a hawk. I think he was playing on his radio
Having a good time till the rain started. Through the drag chute. Managed 1200' without much effort. Very effective tool. http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/884526
We had a great time.
My launch: (Thanks Steve)
Managed 25 min before “arriving” at the bottom. I had a less then perfect landing. 
Finally! Haven't flown the hang since Oct 31st which was a really good time .
Lot of wind forecast in Spokane, to the N usually works having less wind. It did! Steve and I ran up to Inklers hoping the snow on the backside wouldn’t be too bad. We lucked out and were able to make it up.
Snuck in a 35 min flight before running to land with threat of snow. Hawk said hello 1:14
It was the right call as we broke down a bit of rain started.
We had a great time!
(Really slacked in keeping up last year, I’ll try again)
Weather, Nov – Dec offered no chance of flying anywhere within a days drive. Finally, a ray of hope came (enough to go have a look) came and Greg and I headed for Tekoa. Given the light forecast I opted for the paraglider.
Cloud base was half way down the hill. On top was in the 35-40 mph.
Greg Ritchie and I gave mid point a look.15-20 mph. Greg grabbed his speed wing & I my paraglider. It was good for about 15 min getting a 100' or so over, then I was parked. 1/2 bar then full bar, then going backwards. Was a able to get a touch S and land while full bar pulling a B line stall as to not get drug. Worked out. Greg got his workout in with the speed wing with the semi thermic gusty conditions. Welcome 2014 flying season!
You just never know what you'll get until you land.
20 minutes standing on launch to find something straight enough to launch in. It'd been 90° cross during cycles, almost 0 otherwise. (Launch timing was going to be crucial on this day.)
Finally the wait paid off and something came in to launch in the rest as you can see........
After a good climb and glide from the hill I did not remember well enough the forecast and blundered to the south where as the forecast said it was not going to be as good.
Struggle for some time trying to climb out only getting back to 5000' asl to get me back 2.5 miles from town.
A quick retrieve back to the hill and snuck in a late day extend para extended sled ride.
No complaints on this day.
It was a high pressure un-motivating day. Getting to the tow rd around 3 pm. Some of the local paras had done some training & had some flights already. Wind had been on the L & V side.
A bit of coercion to set up & I was ready. Maya was taking another para tow ahead. She was off & we were shortly after. Finding nothing on the glide back I see Maya getting her first thermal ever! This was good for me as well as I had a thermal marker. Shortly after we were climbing. She did really well. Leaving it around 5000’ asl.
I stayed in it. Drifting about 3 miles topping out at 6800’ asl (highest for the day) Had a NE light wind & was just going to go to the Spangle airport.
After getting a couple miles from it I was convinced to get some mileage. (Thanks Michele & Jorge) It was late in the day, conditions were soft & the climbs were short (6000’ ish would be it for the rest of the flight) But what the hell, why not.
Eagle past by me, really cool to see.
Windmills near Oaksdale WA
Low & slow climbs I eventually made it about a mile short of the Steptoe LZ. There is a small hill I did not have enough to get over & I saw a great LZ a ways back.
Some conflicted forecasts said it could be bad or just not so good to the south of the tow road. The sky looked fantastic as we set up.
Had a great tow but released in the absolutely worst place if something goes wrong……. well it did, no re-wind. The tow line dropped down onto a line of trees (the only ones on the road) and some old barb wire fence. I cant believe I did that. Jorge had to walk the 1.5 miles down to get the rewind going & finish helping to get the rest of the line out.
40 min later (so sorry guys) Jorge was up. I had pushed down to Rosailia where I found broken & weak lift. The sky didn’t look as good either.
Gave up on the push south & headed east. Jorge was pushing east also. Into a blue hole end ended up decking it from 7700’ on what was a final glide.
Got up in a good thermal at the home site Tekoa & was going to push south in the mtns.
After getting near Tensed gave up on going south. It just wasn’t looking good. Headed NE thinking I could work the mtns & get to St Maries. After getting low(ish) over no mans land I was going to give up on the idea & keep going N (At least there were LZ’s that direction.
Getting nearish Plummer I got a climb that was good enough to get me to St Maries. And so I went.
Hell of a great day! (Thanks Conrad for the retrieve) Link to the flight
A day with a great forecast was well....…… we tried to make the best of it. Steve launched first & was 75’ over launch quickly. By the time I was finished getting ready he was on the ground in the middle of the field. Said he found a lot of sink.
Waited for it to get better as graupel was falling. Accepted that it would probably be only a sled ride. Struggled for awhile & was able to stay up long enough for it to better. The better it got however, the more graupel fell. Was ready for the sky to fall on me as it looked quite ominous. It stayed very civilized. Had a few 700-1000 fpm climbs. Temp at 6000' was forecast 17°, it was very bit of that + the wind chill. Managed not to pile in with a no wind landing. Glad I was able to still move :- )
Way behind on posting. No one reads it so …. no one knows.
Broke most of my personal bests so far. Longest flight. Broke my 100 mile barrier… twice! (#1 & #2 )FAI triangles to boot!
Lots a great flying with Martin, Mia, Randy & Jorge, Michele & cant forget Nick!. The lake is always a great place to cool off & the Becks never tastes so good after a flight breaking down on the lawn.
Life is good. Cant wait to get back over. (so long as Martin doesn’t decide to move…. & not tell me :-)
Man is the VR ever sleek!
Yeah these guys are in the sky on any given day!
Mia was back & it was Martins turn to fly. Jorge & Michele came out also (I forgot the mem card for my camera :- ( of all the flights to do so….)
Heading S to the Beasley hills then to Waterville. Martin drove deep to the S for the turn point but I was leery after yesterdays struggle there. He made the TP but it was tough getting back up & out. (There air was funky down there again)
Eventually he dug it out & got past me as I floundered it whatever I could find on the way to Waterville. It got much better & we continued past Waterville to the edge. Lift was good & the mts were calling. (Looked very good over there)
Neither of us had crossed over there to play in the mtns but getting close to 12,000’ before crossing gave us some room to play. We had a good crossing not loosing much as I started to see we were pushing into 15-19 mph winds. Martin said he was leaving when he got to 10,000’. Not finding much of anything (as good as it looked) 10 became 9 and then 8 was it. Time to get out of there. (No LZ’s in sight)
Arriving back on the flats we found her to be quit upset that we left & flew another area. (Never cheat!) After begging & pleading she finally forgave us & we were able to get a climb out to 11’000 (that’s better)
On towards Leahy. I called it quits a few miles short & headed back. My neck was killing me. I “arrived” back in Mansfield. Less than perfect landing but after my personal best for duration 5:45 & distance 114.2 mile FAI Triangle I was on cloud nine! http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/636769
It was great to fly with Martin awhile. He had a 122 mile FAI Triangle & almost 7 hrs in the air. http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/632219
Jorge had a great flight as well. 75 mile free triangle & 4;40 airtime!http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/633657
Thanks Mia & Michele for crewing!
I’m a bad blogger, its been so long…. anyway…..
After a few days of bad weather made my way over to Mansfield to bother Martin & Mia.
A quick tow up (Mia had gone home) and I was on my heading S toward the Beasley hills. Had some great cues on the way down and tried to push out into a blue hole.
Having good lift & climbs to 8-9000' seemed doable. (So I thought. Respect the blue hole!)
Scratching down to around 1200'agl before finding lift. There was a bit of wind there and I gave up on pushing further S.
On to Waterville then back to the tow site to close, then Mansfield to break down on the lawn.
It was a really good day! Love the Atos!
Thanks for the tow & ground support Martin!
4:25 min, 84 mile (134K) FAI Triangle
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/636767
Light & switchy winds. Filtered sun most of the day. Long intervals between cycles, more sink then lift. 1st flight got 1 climb to 5100' then sink. 2nd flight Morgan & John got some climbs. (extended scratch fest for me) Morgan broke 5000' & got a top landing in.
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/590590
Flight #1 -- (This maybe 17 minutes of your life you cant get back.......)
Flight #2
