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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - December 2006

Quote of the Day:

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship." - Saint Thomas Aquinas

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Date
Site
Forecast
Winds
Aloft
@
3000'
NOAA
Sounding

CYXX
Lapse
Rate
/1000'
Cloudbase
Forecast
calc
using
SOAR8.XLW

Comments
12/31/06
Woodside
Cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. High plus 5.
180° at 9 knots
-1.5°
(stable)

1400 m
Woodside Report - after several frustrating hours working on the heater core of the Van, I decided to go flying. Ken showed up after a 3 month hiatus and Colleen, Ken and I drove up. No wind to catabatic winds at launch, Colleen launched first, then Ken and rather than miss the last sledder of the year, I flew too. No thermals but buoyant over the highway so I followed it all the way to School Road, and landed at the Community Centre, scaring a Bald Eagle perched in a tree as I flew over. No wind in the field either, but some smoke at the bridge told me to land to the east.


View of Woodside Mountain from School Road - photo by JPR



12/30/06
Woodside
Cloudy with sunny periods. High plus 5.
130° at 5 knots
-1.5°
(stable)

1400 m
Derek & Martina's Excellent Mexico Adventure Report - Martina emailed us to report "she broke her top-landing cherry" with a top-landing at La Salinas Ridge yesterday. Apparently Derek had to top-land several times too to prove himself after that. Despite all the top-landing hoopla, they managed about 4:30 in the air!

Woodside Report - Vickie came out to try her new Buzz XS, and flew her 6th and 7th flights into the Ranch. Light winds at launch for everyone. Annette and John came out, Andy flew a couple of flights, thanks to Norm and Colleen for driving a few circuits so I could do tandems flying the new Magnum. We flew all day but the thermals were very small, so mostly buoyant sled-rides, with some turbulence at the ridge.

12/29/06
Head to Woodside before noon due to incoming front
Cloudy with sunny periods. Rain showers and wet flurries beginning this afternoon. Becoming windy near noon. High plus 3.
190° at 11 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

1100 m


Woodside Report - as forecasted, the Upper Level Winds were perfect for Woodside at 8:00 am. I had a meeting until 1:30 pm, and the winds had picked up by then, but we headed up the mountain. About 1 km from launch the Van over-heated and we had to roll back down the mountain to get water. By the time we could start back up, the wind was "howling", so we started other projects. Maybe tomorrow.


December 29th Sunrise over Cheam - brought to you by Mother Nature

12/28/06
Head to Hemlock or Sumas due to Outflow Winds
Sunny. High plus 3.
090° at 13 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

1100 m


Elk Report - Colleen was talking to Ivan (IWT) on his hike up Elk with David S and others, no flight reports yet. Lots of outflow winds near Prest Road, and past Sumas. No one spotted at Sumas flying when we went by at noon.

La Salina Mexico Report - Hey Jim, We got into Las Salinas a couple of days ago. First day an awesome storm blew through, so yesterday was a good flying day. There are 4 hangies here with us, we were all up flying yesterday from about 11:30 on. The wind kept up until dark, and this morning there's not a breath of wind at all. It's a sunny clear day though, so we'll probably go do a sled ride and hike back up. We were inspired by your tales of hiking lately, so we have to keep up! - Derek and Martina

12/27/06
Head to Hemlock or maybe even chance Woodside due to Outflow Winds
Clearing this morning. High +2.
360° at 5 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

1100 m


Woodside Report - cloudy but not too windy, so we headed up around 3:00 pm. When we arrived it was wind still with wispy clouds going up the face of the South Knoll, so Colleen clipped in and waited. and waited. Eventually the wind started blowing over the back pretty strong so we packed up and drove down.

12/26/06
Head to Hemlock or Sumas
Cloudy with sunny periods. 30 percent chance of showers early this morning. High 7.
090° at 9 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

1100 m


Woodside Report - strong outflow winds most of the day, including at launch. Didn't head to Hemlock as we had a house full of family who didn't want to play in the snow. I am sure it is flyable up there, but not all the lifts are running.

Wouter's Report - we have been car towing on the dike roads with a 300 foot static line. Flights to 2 minutes. Some interesting tows if you pull too fast (call Gerry LaMarsh for guidance on this method, he pioneered it with Jeff and Jon during the 2005 summer!)

12/25/06
Head to Woodside early after opening your presents
Showers. High 7.
190° at 13 knots (NOAA Soundings - CYXX)
-1.4°
(stable)

1100 m


Woodside Christmas Report - after a great Christmas morning with family, I looked up the hill and it looked good to go, not too windy in fact it looked like a sledder, but my son-in-law Jamie took me almost to launch (last parking spot at the top of the road before dropping into the launch parking area).

Nice cycles but not too strong, so I launched the Boom Sport and gradually started gaining altitude and before I knew it I was kissing cloudbase up by the Towers. Nice thermals up the gulleys, and little penetration up there. Not even a bird joined me, but it was smooth and nice soaring on Christmas Day reflecting on how lucky we all are to live and fly free in BC. My hands got cold after 45 minutes so I headed to the Ranch, scaring off an immature Bald Eagle from its perch at the Ranch.

12/24/06
Go shopping or head to Woodside early
Cloudy. Rain beginning early this afternoon. Amount 10 mm. High 6.
160° at 24 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

1100 m


Woodside Report - it was flyable until noon, then strong outflow winds hit Eagle Ranch. Snow on Elk and Cultus Lake area after noon, and heavy rains elsewhere in the afternoon.


Mt Cheam Sunrise - Photo by JPR

12/23/06
Go shopping or head to Woodside around 2:00 pm
Rain ending near noon then cloudy. Wet snow over higher terrain. Windy. High 6.
220° at 14 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

700 m
Woodside Report - while I was out Christmas shopping, Jan K flew his 120th Month Anniversary Flight - his tradition of flying at least once every month of the year has been going for 10 years. For Andy and I that doesn't seem like such a hard goal to achieve. Conditions were perfect for launch and landing, light winds. About 4-5 inches of new snow on launch.

12/22/06
Go shopping or head south
Showers. Risk of a thundershower early this morning. Wind southwest 50 to 70 km/h diminishing to 30 near noon. High 8.
220° at 16 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

700 m


Woodside Report - it was flyable, if you weren't working until dark like most people!

12/21/06
Go shopping or head south
Showers. Risk of a thundershower early this morning. Wind southwest 50 to 70 km/h diminishing to 30 near noon. High 8.
220° at 16 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

700 m


Vancouver Report - rain, hail and snow in higher elevations.

12/20/06
Go shopping or head south
Rain. Amount 5 to 10 mm. High plus 5.
180° at 35 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

600 m


Vancouver Report - more rain and wind. I doubt anyone flew. I had to make a quick trip to Calgary and it was soarable/sunny there all day, but I didn't head to Cochrane as I had to be back for dinner in Vancouver.

12/19/06
Go shopping
Cloudy. A few rain showers and wet flurries beginning early this morning. High plus 4.
160° at 18 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

600 m


Vancouver Report - low cloudbase, good day for Christmas Shopping but not flying.

12/18/06
Woodside if you are desperate!
Cloudy. A few rain showers and wet flurries beginning early this morning. High plus 4.
160° at 18 knots
-1.4°
(stable)

1000 m


Woodside Report - light rain all day.

12/17/06
Woodside
Cloudy with sunny periods. 30 percent chance of flurries early this morning. High plus 3.
light and variable until 2:00 pm, then east
-1.4°
(stable)

1000 m
Woodside Report - a dedicated team of desperados stayed at Woodside after the Party, or showed up fairly early and headed up the Mountain around noon. CUs forming and nice westerly drift, so we hoped to fly!

I flew first and managed a bunch of passes just in front of launch maintaining by the ramp, but I got out of Murdoch's way so he could launch and I started sinking, but there were some little bubbles along the way out to the Ranch, very buoyant air but very cooolllldddd.


In air photo of launch - Photo by JPR

Eventually we all flew and Jack drove down (thanks!) with Jan.

Later, we headed back up and Nicole and Alex R were thermalling out near the big clearcut house thermal for many turns actually gaining. Then Annette launched and started climbing right off launch and was 100 over for quite some time before heading out.



Elk Report - David S called to gloat that he logged 1:30 soaring Elk with Alan D. Nice thermals off the West Point. Ivan was there too.

Elk Update - Kevin forwarded these pictures from last weeks report.


Elk Launch - Photo by Eddie's Son


Soaring Elk Launch - Photo by Eddie's Son



Jeffrey Mexico Report - Hi Jim, Just a short note to let you know that I’m heading up to Guadalajara on the 24th Dec. to meet over Christmas with my family and do a little flying. If anybody should be down there round that time here is my email; jmillergoldsmith@hotmail.com If I don’t see you have a great Christmas! Regards, Jeffrey

12/16/06
Woodside
Cloudy. Flurries beginning this morning. Amount 2 to 4 cm. High plus 1.
160° at 13 knots!!
-1.4°
(stable)

1000 m
Woodside Report - he who hesitates is lost!

We kept checking launch as we cleaned up for the party, and it looked launchable.

At 2:00 pm, we headed up with a load and made it to the turnoff into the launch road, but no further.

As we hiked to launch it was calm, but by the time Andy had laid out, it started blowing over the back, and it kept getting stronger. After 30 minutes we bailed and headed down.

Later it calmed down again, but it was nearly dark so no point in going up.

It was great to see all the old friends who haven't been out flying due to the crappy weather. And no one tried a night flight, even though we had lots of strobes!

12/15/06
Stay Home on the Coast for a few days
Rain at times heavy. Amount 30 to 40 mm. Wind becoming southwest 70 to 100 km/h this morning. High plus 5.
220° at 45 knots!!
-2.0°
(stable)

700 m
Vancouver Report - no power at home for Colleen (no coffee or hair-dryer), over 120,000 Hydro customers without power and trees down on houses and cars even in east Vancouver! Again, sunny and nice in Calgary but work didn't let me get away. Back tonight for Party Planning!!

12/14/06
Stay Home on the Coast for a few days
Rain at times heavy. Amount 30 to 40 mm. Wind becoming southwest 50 to 70 km/h this morning. High plus 5.
260° at 34 knots!!
-2.0°
(stable)

700 m
Calgary Report - sunny again but still working. At least I know no one in Vancouver is flying either.

12/13/06
Stay Home on the Coast for a few days
Rain at times heavy. Amount 30 to 40 mm. Wind becoming southwest 50 to 70 km/h this morning. High plus 5.
260° at 34 knots!!
-2.0°
(stable)

700 m
Cochrane Report - while Vancouver was getting rained on it was sunny and west winds for Cochrane fliers! I was working and missed any fun :-(

12/12/06
Stay Home on the Coast for a few days
Periods of rain. Amount 10 to 15 mm. Windy. High 8.
210° at 15 knots
-2.5°
(stable)

700 m
Cochrane Report - steady 20-25 km/hr winds all day, but a -5C windchill, and I was driving to Red Deer??? I am sure there was someone soaring Muller's Hill!



Baja Report #2 - Hi Jim, We finally got to fly at our local "dune". The wind was only blowing about 10-15k, but it was blowing up the least cactus-y side, so off we went! We each got 2-3 flights before the wind switched - very quickly - to over the back. I've only attached one photo (it takes forever!) but wait til you see the rest. Absolutely no one else in sight, an entire beach to ourselves for flying, swimming and general lolling around!

Flying areas are really hard to find here. They're developing every inch of beach front here now, from the tip of the Baja all the way up the East Cape. I doubt our little dune will even be here next year. We'll write soon - Adios!

ps: The photo was corrupted! - Jim
12/11/06
Stay Home on the Coast for a few days
Periods of rain. Amount 5 to 10 mm. Wind south 30 km/h increasing to 50 to 70 late in the evening. Low plus 3.
230° at 38 knots
-1.7°
(stable)

700 m
Baja Report - Hi Jim, Nothing to report on the flying front yet besides some attempts at kiting in the local cactus covered dunes. The winds blow from the north most days, yesterday we drove around for 4 hours along the beach looking for anything to soar that faced the wind, but no luck. We´re not done exploring yet, we´ll keep you posted with what we find.

Other than that, the margaritas are cold and the sun is hot. Life is pretty damn fine. - Martina and Derek

Santa Report - watch out for an old geezer in weird clothes scaring little girls and boys (sounds like me?).


Santa scares Chloe! - Photo by Megan



Woodside Report - sunny and windy!


Woodside between showers - Photo by WebCam

12/10/06
Woodside is a long shot today, rain forecast
Cloudy. A few showers beginning early this morning. High 7.
190° at 16 knots
-1.2°
(stable)

700 m
Woodside Report - a sunny day at times, but I was in town. I found some cool strobe lights at MEC for $3,50, designed for cycling but ultra-bright for night flights!

MEC Turtle Red LED Light
Product Number: 5006-706
Cost is $3.50 CDN includes batteries good for 100 hours.

Velcro 3 of these to your helmet for 360 degree lighting, also available in white.

12/9/06
Woodside is a long shot today
Cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers this morning. A few showers beginning this afternoon. High 7.
170° at 21 knots
-1.2°
(stable)

700 m
Elk Report - Elk continues to stun and amaze even the people of the Elk.

I took a chance today and hiked up Elk despite a winds aloft forecast which provided my first laxative of the day, ie; Strong up high!

Hiking condition were great - little snow til 1000 metres and then great snow until the stairway to Heaven Lookout. Then it was either dangerously icey or post holing soft - no inbetween on that short section. After the Lookout, it was fairly well packed to the top where I was delighted to find a southeast wind ranging from 15-20 km/hr.


Elk Launch - Photo by Eddie's Son

Launching was easy on the snow and I immediately gained about one hundred metres in BBS air (that's baby bum smooth). I radioed Eddy who was following me that things were great and then set off for my first jaunt over to Mt. Thurston's West Shoulder. A sinky east wind prevented going around the corner so I went back to Elk (in about two minutes - nice tail wind!), top landed and relaunched just as Eddy arrived.

The wind was actually lighter now instead of increasing as predicted - perfect launch conditions and still soarable. I hooned around waiting for him to set up and once he launched, I went back to Mt. Thurston for a final look before gliding out to Eddy's place to perfect landing conditions. Total flight time approximately 90 minutes.


Soaring Elk Launch - Photo by Eddie's Son

Once again, the Elk blesses the ones willing to grunt! - Kevin A.

Woodside Report - the forecast was wrong for Upper Winds here too! Occasional gusty north winds at Eagle Ranch and light to no wind at launch. Leeside sled rides forecast so I stayed on the ground and worked on cleaning the Barn for the party people next weekend, upstairs dance hall is clean and sealed up for Barn Dancing!

Norm showed up but no wing, so he wasn't forced to hike!

12/8/06
Woodside is a long shot today
A few showers ending this afternoon then cloudy. Windy. High 8.
180° at 24 knots
-1.9°
(stable)

700 m
Woodside Report - a clear evening, with a waning moon but very bright. North wind in the LZ but we watched a movie instead of trying to night fly!

12/7/06
Woodside or Lil Nic might be soarable
Cloudy with sunny periods. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 8.
180° at 21 knots
-1.9°
(stable)

800 m
Woodside Report - no pireps, but the Upper Level Winds didn't look that strong and there was east wind in Richmond all day.

12/6/06
Woodside might be soarable
Cloudy with sunny periods. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 8.
160° at 16 knots
-1.9°
(stable)

800 m
Marking the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre
December 05, 2006 - 5:02 am
By: Katharine Kitts News1130.com

For the last 17 years, we've stopped to remember the lives of 14 women cut short when Marc Lepine walked into L'Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and started shooting. Irene Elhaimer with Woman Against Violence Against Women says there are many things that need to happen before the problem improves. She says violence against women is a systemic issue. She says the root causes of violence are the power imbalances in society that women face.

She adds each year in B.C., 13 women are killed at the hands of a man. Allison Markin with BCIT says they have events organzed to help students remember. She says in moving forward and promoting a healthy campus, she says it is important for people to acknowledge that such a tragic crime happened.

12/5/06
Woodside might be soarable
Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers or drizzle. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High plus 5.
170° at 11 knots
-1.9°
(stable)

800 m
Woodside Report - the Woodside WebCam looked good, launch was clear, not too windy . . . but a hike would have been necessary to fly.

12/4/06
Stay Home 'til tomorrow
Periods of rain. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 7.
280° at 16 knots
-1.9°
(stable)

600 m
Woodside Report - it wasn't flyable today, but Al called to say he flew Sunday. He managed to get his Toyota FJ Cruiser up past Lower Launch with his locking diffs, hiked through my tracks up to launch in 45 minutes and had to wait for the down cycles to lull so he could get off. Light NE winds. He then had to hike back to get his FJ, but without a pack so he spent around 1:45 hiking for a 6 minute sledder! Another desparado, but he is heading to Yelapa soon so he will be soaring in the sun soon!

12/3/06
Woodside may be flyable in the morning
A mix of sun and cloud. High plus 5.
160° at 5 knots
-0.9°
(stable)

900 m
Woodside Report - clear and sunny at Woodside but we stayed in Vancouver with family for the day.

12/2/06
Woodside may be flyable in the lulls, Sumas is your best bet if you can find a way up
Snny. High +3.
080° at 5 knots
-2.1°
(stable)

900 m
Elk Report - Kevin and a group hiked Elk in deep snow, taking turns breaking trail. Sled rides but they all flew including Max who is back in the saddle.

Woodside Report - Drove out to your place yesterday with the kids and both dogs. No one around and very nice and sunny, but chilly. Very slight down cycles so it would be a hard run forward on launch. You could see your tracks from the day before through the telescope disappearing about half way down launch ( let CSI figure that one out !) - Thomm
12/1/06
Woodside may be flyable, Whidbey looks like a chance for early morning
Cloudy with sunny periods. 40 percent chance of rain or drizzle early this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High plus 4.
310° at 11 knots
-2.1°
(stable)

700 m
Woodside Report - I had a call in Surrey, and another in Chilliwack, so I was close to Woodside already. Why not try flying?

I called Alan and he couldn't see the mountains due to low cloud, but occasionally a blue hole would pop through the cloud on the way out. I headed straight to the Ranch and the roads were clear, but you needed 4x4 to get into the Ranch proper.


Lots of snow at Eagle Ranch - Photo by JPR

I called Alan to come and meet me at Joe's, but he would have had to dig his car out of the snowdrifts and he was worried about his drive on the backroads. So I headed over to the Woodside Road in the Van after digging a path out of the Barn (drifts to 1 meter deep). I only got as far up the mountain as the first turn and I was spinning out, ice below a foot of snow. Chains required, and I don't have a set that fits the new Van (yet).

I parked at the Kettle Parking Lot (in the fog) and started hiking up at 12:15 pm. I was walking in the tracks of someones vehicle who had chained up so it wasn't too bad. There are many trees down across the road, just enough room for a lower vehicle (Rob and Tom, get the chainsaws ready!). I took my first break at about 1 km and this is what it looked like, very pretty in the fog with a sunny layer above with inflow movement in the clouds.


Hiking in the snow - Photo by JPR

It was exactly one hour to the Lower Launch switchback and I kept up a steady but slow pace in the vehicle tracks as the snow got deeper. About halfway up the straight stretch after Lower Launch I dug a front bumper part out of the snow (it looked like a newer GM part off an Avalanche). I placed it off to the side in case I needed it to slide down if it wasn't launchable. About 100 meters further the vehicle had turned around. Now it got tough hiking in the virgin snow. I was up to my knees for the last kilometer or more and the only thing that kept me going was the clouds were still moving in-flow and I was above the fog now. It has to be launchable, and my legs are burning (first hike in two years!).

The road in to launch had completely drifted in to over a meter deep and I considered crawling on top but kept up the "post-holing" and eventually got to launch. Time now over 2 hours. The good news was that snow on launch had mostly blown off leaving a 8" crust which I stomped into a runway. Oh, and it was blowing down lightly, not a single puff up despite the clouds still moving from the west. But I wasn't hiking down!


Great Views in the snow - Photo by JPR

I laid out the Large Vulcan on the top of the snow leaving me lots of runway, and carefully sorted the lines. Into my harness but I was so wet, I didn't bother with a flight suit as I knew it would be a quick flight, no chance of soaring today. Alan had been chatting with me on the radio but now I couldn't get him (it is always good to let someone know where you are at all times when flying alone).

I took my time getting everything ready and hoped for a cycle but no luck, it kept blowing down and it was getting darker so I waited for a lull and pounded into the snow hard! That moment of anticipation came when you wait for the wing to inflate . . . crap, it almost overshot me as I hit the brakes and got lifted off! Nice and smooth in the air, so I took some shots. I was also able to reach Alan now so he knew I wasn't going to be hiking down.


Woodside Mountain buried in snow - Photo by JPR

I overflew Joe and Abe's field and it looked a lot more inviting than landing at Riverside (plus I don't have a 2007 pass yet), so I set up for an approach to the east and landed skidding to a stop in the melting snow and didn't even bother the cows.


Joe and Abe's LZ - Photo by JPR

First Flight of December 2006, in the logs!


Nepal Report - Howdy Jim! Thanks for the excellent instruction at Eagle Ranch and around the Interior this summer. It is keeping in good form here in Nepal.

It is definitely good flying here, no problem landing in the rice fields. Sometimes you have to buy a few grains of rice to make reparations with the farmers.

A German pilot decided to land in a bamboo field and had to buy the bamboo to cut it down to get his glider - 200 rupees, $3 CDN.

Russians, Hungarians, French, German, Bulgarian, Dutch and Nepalese pilots - but just one Canadian pilot - me!

Hello to all! - John Turner

ps: the Ozone is great!


Postcard from Nepal

11/30/06
Stay Home or head to Mexico
A few flurries and rain showers ending in the morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of rain showers. High 6.
300° at 15 knots
-2.1°
(stable)

700 m
Vancouver Report - light snow falling, but it is warming up and drying up too!

Wouter's Holland Report - About paragliding? Last week me and Johannes (the other dutchy who flew with Jim a few years ago) went to the man-made hills that keep the water from flooding half of our country. This 20 foot barrier surrounds the whole northern part of Holland.


Blue Sky Holland, just before getting dragged! - Photo by Johannes K.

Kiting went awesome but flights didn't last longer than about 10 seconds. Maybe there wasn't enough wind or the "ridge" wasn't steep enough. Anyway, later the wind picked up a bit but still the same short "bunny-hill sled rides". We tried another spot where the hill is a little bit higher and where the wind was stronger, about the same as the flying speed of my glider (without bar though, no time), but still not much succes. When I finally got picked up and flew about 20 feet in the air I immediatly flew past the lift area and found myself heading over seas. I turned back 90 degrees, landed crosswind and next thing I was on my back being dragged up and over the hill.

Bruised my little finger, sounds pretty stupid eh? I think I need steeper hills, where the winds makes a better lift area rather then just blowing over the hill, the dunes on the westcoast of holland are pretty nice but no suitable weather for those yet. Ah well, we've got some towing stuff so as soon the weather permits we'll be trying that - Wouter

FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports

November 2006 Site of the Day archives - the wettest November on record. We flew a few good flights but mostly we were rained out.

October 2006 Site of the Day archives - lots of good days with 3-4 hours airtime. The Women's Fly-In was on again in Chelan with about 18 Canucks, and a good day Saturday with 85 registered pilots.

September 2006 Site of the Day archives - still soarable in the Fraser Valley, little or no rain. Colleen is back flying! Some mayhem in the valley.

August 2006 Site of the Day archives - a great flying month everywhere, we had a super successful SIV clinic at Mara Lake with everyone SAT-ing and heli-ing.

July 2006 Site of the Day archives - road trip to Lumby, then on the 8th Colleen spun in below Gloria cancelling her summer plans (but she is recuperating well).

June 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Valley dried out, and we flew most days and every weekend.

May 2006 Site of the Day archives - more rain that ever imagined in the Fraser Valley. Very few soaring flights and even less XC.

April 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Easter Bunny was "run over" on Kilby Road, plus the train wreck on April 1.

March 2006 Site of the Day archives - a new pilot was born, Chloe. We also flew a few days between showers, some long flights up to 4 hours. A few Out & Return Flights to Deroche and Bear.

February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).

January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.

December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.

November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.

October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.

September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.

August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.

July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.

June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.

May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.

April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.

March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.

February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!

January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.

December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!

November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.

October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!

September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.

August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.

July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.

June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.

May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.

April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.

March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.

February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.



January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.



December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.



November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.



October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.



September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.



August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.



July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".



June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!



May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!



April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!



March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!



February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.



January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.



December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.



November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!



October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!



September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.



August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.



July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.



June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.



May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!



April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.



March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.



February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).



January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.



December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.



November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.



October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.



September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.



Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally



July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!



June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!



May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!



April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots



March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!



February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!



January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip



December 2000 Site of the Day archives



November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)



October 2000 Site of the Day archives



September 2000 Site of the Day archives



July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives



June 2000 Site of the Day archives



March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives



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