FlyBC's Paragliding Site of the Day March 2017 Archive Page - from the Universe's Largest Paragliding Centre :-)

Date	Site	Forecast	Winds @ 3000' in knots	Lapse Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters	Comments
3-31-17	Woodside looks good today, but I am off to Utah for 10 days so Colleen will be coaching on her own when she has time	Agassiz BC Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 13C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 14	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - Woodside was gonna be good as I was headed to Utah for an Instructors Course. Colleen got to fly and reported it was easy to get higher than everyone else on her Swift 4, but damned cold. Bev also soared around on her new Ozone Geo 5 and got high too! Nice colours for visibility! Point of the Mountain (POM) Report - I arrived in to Utah for an Instructors Course to find rainy conditions and no one flying. Apparently they have had a wet spring too. But my visit to Cloud9 was productive as I reviewed their inventory and looked over the books doing due diligence for our next phase of operations. Sorry to be so secretive about my reason for coming down here, but I did not want to get the rumour mills churning until I had visited Cloud9. After Vancouver's real estate boom, it was nice to see Utah house prices are so reasonable near POM. One can walk to the Launch Spots and fly home to these condos! Draper Real Estate . Of course all this hinges on Colleen's review of the job offer from Brigham Young University for the Women's Chair (which is also very secret). Oddly, it is also two days closer to drive to Mexico from here. This may all work out! Other good news is that I got to touch and feel a new Ozone Delta 3! The Delta 3 has very long rods that go to the trailing edge (ala Zeno & EnZo2) requiring the packing pillow to keep them from kinking in a tight backpack. The Delta 3 has conventional risers with the C riser steering handles like the Delta 2. Hopefully a flight report soon from POM.
3-30-17	Woodside looks good today, so we are starting training after 10 am	Agassiz BC Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 12C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 12	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we met for training at Woodside at 10 am today. Everyone could have slept in, as it did not clear up til 1 pm but we did ground school, glider inspections and general housekeeping duties related to flying. We also did a ground school session on meteorology discussing temperature & dewpoint and the effect on cloudbase. At 12:30 pm we saw launch for the first time and we headed up with Kim, Axel, Chance, Dawson in tow. The road is still in good shape despite heavy rains, and all the snow on the road is now melted. We had to wait for the clouds to thin out, but the cycles were perfect. One by one the students flew off and Kim was soon at cloudbase, in fact too close so I suggested she pull "big ears" to get lower and stay VFR. Tip of the Day: Do not pull your outer C lines to do "big ears" . . . you will stall your glider! After Kim had an unintentional SIV Course she continued thermalling with the other students. I was guiding from the top, and then headed down to receive Tom who had gone up with Dennie, who launched him and guided him through some thermals up top. The winds in the LZ were changeable, but not strong making for long approaches. We loaded up and went back up at 2:30 after everyone had packed up. Some of the earlier flights were over an hour in very smooth lift. Conditions were very smooth and the lift plentiful. Second flights were even better and I headed down once the students had established good climbs. The last flight of the day at 4:00 pm was just as lifty and Derek said he got to 1200 metres in the clouds to the north. We finished off the last landings by 6:00 pm, but Dennie took Linda up for a late flight after work and it was still launchable. Pemby Report - Alex R reported they had good flights after a 45 minute hike in. Climbs to 2200 metres where is was very cold! Mini-XCs to Goat and back. Brett had a good day in Pemby testing his new camera setup, while we were having fun hucking students at Woodside. ANTICIPATION \| SLR Magic 8mm f/4 \| BMMCC from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.
3-29-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are heading to Mission for some training after 9 am	Agassiz BC Cloudy with periods of rain. High around 10C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around 6mm.	200° @ 23	-3.0°C (unstable) 400 metres	Mission Report - in the morning hours we were doing ground school and exams in the Barn when it was raining heavily. We then headed to Mission at 4 pm after the rain stopped there. It was quite wet on the Heritage Park training hill, so we were kiting further back and Axel got a good kite in with the Rush 3 and flew down to the bottom. We went down to join him and he and Chance kited til dark down there. Dennie, Norm & Bev came to watch and help but Bev did not kite her new Ozone Geo 5 as it was too wet.
3-28-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are heading to Savona for some training	Agassiz BC Kamloops: Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 13C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 km/h	060° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 1700 metres	Savona Report - we headed to Savona this morning but we arrived to late as it blew hard after 9 am. I was at the Dump Ridge at 8 am and it was good, maybe even too calm but by the time the guys arrived it was OVER! I made good use of the day getting lost up a logging road on the way to Tranquille Valley to pick up my parts Bronco (Tip of the Day: Don't trust Google Maps on a late spring day in Kamloops . . . it will take you up a snowy logging road out of cell service! LOL!) Bronco made it home okay on a trailer, despite DriveBC not reporting a blizzard on Hwy5. Wednesday looks possible for training hill flights in Mission, as Savona/Merritt/Princeton are all getting blown out again as this front pushes through.
3-27-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are heading to Savona for some training	Agassiz BC Kamloops: Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 13C. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 km/h	060° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 1700 metres	Savona Gloat Report - we headed north to Savona this week as the coast was wet. I arrived to Savona at 11 am with Om, Marwan, Axel and Chance meeting me at the bottom of the Dump Ridge. We arrived to perfect kiting winds, almost too perfect at 20 kph straight in! As it was pretty strong I had to show the guys the A;s & C;s routine and they all got it right away and we had 4 wings kiting at once with ots off room for practice kiting both forward or reverse. Axel has his own Ozone Fazer 3 speed wing and has his P-2 so he was doing laps while the others kited. A beautiful day with puffy CU and the perfect wind strength and as each student got more confident with kiting we started flying them off. Om is now up to 16 flights here and at Woodside and was doing well with his approaches and landings. Om also got to do some soaring and his first top-landings today too with a total of 7 flights. Axel did 8 flights on his Fazer 3. Chance got 4 flights in today and hours of kiting practice, not too shabby for hs first day of training. Marwan was here for Day Two, and his previous experience was gusty kiting last Monday, so he was getting more confident too and was doing really well wih his ground handling but . . . he wanted to do one more hour of kiting before committing to his first flight. We went for lunch at 3:30 at the Savona diner and while we ate, I noticed the winds had switched from NE to SW. I rechecked the forecast and Environment Canada had changed the Kamloops forecast from NE 20 kph to SW 30-40 kph, while we were eating! When we drove back to the Dump Ridge, it was gusty enough to blow the Van around on the highway, not so good for paragliding. We went to Ashcroft in hopes of finding a calm place to do more kiting but the Thompson River Valley was just as gusty as it was on the ridge, so off tto the Pub do do some ground school and a weather briefing. As Hwy 1 is closed due to a rock slide at Yale, I decided to stay up here for Tuesday despite a windy forecast in Cache Creek, because it looks wet at Woodside. Wednesday & Thursday look good at Woodside to cap off the week though!
3-26-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are not likely flying and the week looks dismal too	Agassiz BC Showers this morning, becoming a steady rain during the afternoon hours. High 9C. Winds N at 10 to 15 km/h.	170° @ 12	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Valley Report - we were not flying with low clouds and NE winds and lots of precip.
3-25-17	Woodside looks wet in the AM, possibly drying later today	Agassiz BC Light rain until noon, then 30% chance of showers later. High 9 C.	240° @ 14	-3.0°C (unstable) 1200 metres	Woodside Report - we had some light rain until noon so we did ground school and watched some videos. As pilots started to arrive, John and I went out to the LZ to practice reverse launches . . . and he did very well for his first reverse practice. We had good cycles in the LZ right out of the east, very laminar. After an hour of practice John had good command of the wing, so we packed up and headed in to check the conditions and it started to sprinkle again. Two truckloads of pilots went up while we were kiting and we got to watch the first launchers on the WebCam. It looked strong as pilots were getting "hoovered" off launch. When we went up an hour later it had not calmed down and some very experienced pilots were still waiting on launch. We watched Claudia launch and go north where she was parked for sometime. Reports of pilots getting 7-10 kph on half bar, so it was clearly too strong for beginners. After freezing for 30 minutes we drove down for some more kiting practice, this time with Tom joining us to try out his new Ozone Buzz Z5. The LZ was starting to fill up with landing pilots as they were either frozen or tired after a few hours of flight time. Nice landing conditions with steady SE winds and no rotor. We went up around 4:30 pm, and Colleen launched first to check out the air for Tom & John. By now it was barely reversible as the winds were very light from the NW. Colleen soared around for awhile, then headed out followed by John and then Tom (who both did very nice light wind reverse launches). Again nice light landing conditions to end the day.
3-24-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are doing chores in Chilliwack til noon	Agassiz BC Light rain developing this afternoon. High 11C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.	240° @ 14	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we ran some errands in the rain, there were some flyable windows but we stayed on the ground as we had no students today.
3-23-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are doing chores in Vancouver til noon	Agassiz BC Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this morning. High 13.	200° @ 17	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we headed to Vancouver for errands til 1 pm, and as forecasted it did get be flyable later as it dried out. Kevin, Andrei and Al arrived at the Woodside Inn and I offered to drive for them as I had the grandkids in tow today. Nice cycles but it was leeside in the Valley judging from the smoke of many fires. Al took off first and got a climb at the South Knoll, followed by Kevin who took the same elevator up to meet Al. I waited for Andrei to launch before getting Remy out of a tall tree to drive down. The road is in really good shape as they are hauling logs from behind launch. Kevin and Al planned to fly to Dewdney and back . . . a tall order as it got really strong outflow when I got to the bottom. But as I watched Kevin's tracklog forming from his Spot Tracker it looked promising. Kevin made it to Dewdney Peak and on the way back he hit 26 kph headwinds, even a bit much for my Zeno that he was flying so he landed at a gas station east of Lil Nick. Al just went to Sasquatch and back to Woodside to land by his truck. Norm was enlisted to get Kevin as he had already headed that way.
3-22-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are dheading to Savona to try for some flights	Agassiz BC Cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High 13C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 30%.	040° @ 12	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we were heading inland today to Savona for lessons. But just as we were loading up to leave we rechecked the Savona forecast and it was already windy +22 kph from the SE. Then I checked the windsocks on launch here and they were coming in despite the NE wind forecast, so we headed up to launch. Dennie got ready first and launched to check the air for Kim and it looked very smooth. Kim got ready quickly and was off in a perfect forward launch torpedo position and flying out to the Ranch. The wind in the Eagle Ranch LZ was non-conventional . . . read NW which doesn't happen often but it is good to know how to land in every wind configuration. Kim had a nice landing and we debriefed her on the board as to why we offered up that suggestion for "figure-8"s over the Maple Tree. I rechecked the wind sock on top for flight #2 but it was now blowing down. We lucked out with a lucky bubble for the first flight and now it was drizzling lightly too. We only got one flight but it was better than a 2.5 hour drive to Savona to find out it was blown out!
3-21-17	Woodside looks wet today, so we are doing chores, Happy First Day of Spring 2017	Agassiz BC Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High near 10C. Winds N at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 80%.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we were closed today for lessons, too wet and windy from the NE.
3-20-17	Woodside looks windy today, so we are doing ground school sessions and maybe a run to Mission for new students	Agassiz BC A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 13C. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 km/h.	040° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1400 metres	Mission Report - it was so windy at the Ranch that the flagging tape closing the parking lot blew down last night. Marwan arrived at 10 am and we did some ground school hoping for some calming of the winds. By noon we decided to go to Mission Heritage Park to kite on the flats. It was good between the gusts but a combination of gusts/wet grass/bad shoes made it really tough for Marwan to get a solid wing overhead. We kited for an hour and after lunch headed to Agassiz Rec Centre where it was still pretyy gusty (we had loaned Marwan some hiking boots by now). Smart choice was to regroup on a better day, and now Thursday looks good at the Ranch!
3-19-17	Woodside looks good today	Agassiz BC Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High around 10C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1400 metres	Woodside WOW Report - we were meeting at Woodside at 10 am after being in Vancouver for a birthday party and we drove through rain, hail and snow until we go to the Ranch. We had many students today and they were not disappointed by their flights after waiting in the Barn doing some ground school until cloudbase rose enough to fly. Colleen came up to be our ground control instructor and she had a nice soaring flight, while long time student Nelson flew out below her. One by one the students flew off in nice NW cycles that were reversible for some. It was soarable for the first flights and average flight times were 20 minutes for the students. The last flight with Ralph having a small frontal way out front signalled a stop to student flights until after 4 pm. We took a lunch break and watched the experts take off and disappear east & west as the climbed out. I could hear reports of pilots over Agassiz Mountain, Green Hill, Bridal and Elk. Mike headed west towards Sasuatch and found that it was leeside and not productive there. Claudia connected with Bridal Falls and got some nice shots showing her view from above. She then found Kevin below her near Bridal Launch and got some nice shots before he headed towards Elk where he landed at Eddie's house to find Eddie not there so he was stuck for a ride. Derek reported in at Klaus & Monika's House near the Rosedale Bridge where they too were not home, and he was stuck there waiting for a ride. Fortunately Brad had made to his own house in Rosedale where Christine was home to shuttle the guys around and back to the Ranch to retrieve their cars. Meanwhile, I launched the second round of student flights and Tom (new student with some 8 flights for a few years ago) climbed out and was still in the air an hour climbing out over the Duncan's. These slight outflow conditions make some great thermals out over the flats, not strong just big and floaty. Colleen was back on ground control duties and had her hands full as we had six students all in the air over the Ranch at once, four on orange EONAs and two other colours so it was interesting hearing her keeping them separated and safe as they were landing every direction as the winds were light and switchy. I drove into the field to pick Colleen up and she & Mike had their heads craned towards the sky and I wondered what they were looking at and it was Mike's wife Kim way up high on her new Ozone Geo 5 still at launch height. Colleen had her finally do some "big-ears" to lose height. Notice the nice CU over Woodside at this point in the day, now 6:00 pm. And it was still soarable! Also notice the small speck just right of the big CU . . . yes that is Kim! Kim skilfully held her "big-ears" through many turns and finally came in to land to the west for a perfect touchdown. She amassed over two hours of flight time in two flights today, not bad for her first time out here with FlyBC.
3-18-17	Woodside looks awful today	Agassiz BC Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 8C. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 km/h. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near 12mm.	240° @ 25	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we had heavy rain til 4 pm, then high winds with whitecaps on Harrison Bay and all the way into Vancouver.
3-17-17	Mission & Woodside look possible	Agassiz BC Cloudy skies with periods of rain this afternoon. High 9C. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 90%.	050° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we were at Eagle Ranch monitoring the weather, but headed to Mission first thing to train new students as it was NE wind. John & Ralph are here for paramotor lessons but are going through the P-2 course first to familiarize themslves with proper wing control and flight. They did very well at Cherry Park Training Hill in Mission despite the cross winds. We then headed to Neilson Park facing Hatzic Lake where the wind was "straight in" and a bit strong, but they had quite a few good flights there before we headed back to Eagle Ranch for lunch and ground school. After ground school and a paramotor video, we headed out to the LZ to show them the approach and some waypoints. The wind was outflow in the LZ, something that doesn't happen often so it was good to show them an alternate approach path. When we went back in the Barn, the webcam on top was showing inflow winds so we packed up and headed up the mountain. You can drive right in to Launch now as the road is plowed for the logging trucks. We arrived to find 15-20 kph inflow winds on launch, probably due to the snow squall on Sasquatch Mtn. Ralph got ready first and was able to stand and kite his wing for 30 seconds before launching off. He was above launch for some time as I guided him, but by the time I fished out my camera he was heading out to the Ranch where Colleen was waiting to guide him in. Ralph landed in the middle of the circle as we got John ready. John had a very solid launch and was soon above launch too. As they packed up the snow squall turned into rain and we had light sprinkle in the LZ, so the day was done. Super productive day with great ground school, some nice training hill flights and a high flight to end the day by 4:30 pm.
3-16-17	Cache Creek & Savona are looking promising	Agassiz BC Kamloops: Sunny. High near 10C. Winds light and variable.	210° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1700 metres	Savona Report - we stayed in Cache Creek and the winds were good for Savona again today. It was only Om and Nelson as the others headed home last night and they had 2 flights before it got very strong from the NE (despite the forecast to be strong SW?). While we were kiting CUs were popping overhead, signalling good lift if one could time a good launch cycle. Om was able to kite continuously for 10 minutes in gusty conditions, not bad for Day Two of his paramotoring course. When it got too strong we did a drive up to Lower Launch and it was clear of snow. We tried to go to Upper Launch but the spur road off to launch was snowed in. It will be a few more weeks but it should be good for the Easter Meet. When we got back down to the flats, the wind had switched to SW and it was gustng to 35 kph, so we headed west to Ashcroft at 4 pm but it was too strong there too. Another very productive day for the boys and it felt good to be in the sun again!
3-15-17	Cache Creek & Savona are looking promising	Agassiz BC Kamloops: Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. High near 10C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.	210° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1700 metres	Savona Report - we headed to Cache Creek today to escape the rains, but the winds were better at Savona so we introduced new student Om to Paragliding today. Old student Nelson also joined us for some refresher training and they both did amazing today! Om was kiting like a pro in light winds and when it got stronger he was reverse launching using the patented "FlyBC Secret Technique" and was able to launch and kite on his first day. Dennie also came up with us and enjoyed the lack of rain and all three pilots were able to get 7 flights at the Dump Ridge and it was almost soarable each flight. At the end of the day it got quiet strong and I ballasted Dennie off and he go a nice soaring flight before we headed home. Alex arrived late but managed to get a few flights on his Swoop2 speedwing and on his AirDesign big wing too.
3-14-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain again today and it is raining hard right now	Agassiz BC Rain likely. High around 10C. NE winds shifting to SW at 15 to 25 km/h. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around 12mm.	210° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Monsoon Continues - another very wet day, so I did some indoor sorting of gear and tools. Ozone News Release - Ozone Delta 3 info here. DELTA 3 final prototype of ML size is now available to order, we have a few demos on the way. It has been a hard job to improve upon the Delta 2, but we are now very happy to launch a wing we think will keep all Delta 2 pilots very happy.
3-13-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain again today and it is raining hard right now	Agassiz BC A steady rain this morning. Showers continuing this afternoon. High near 10C. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 80%.	210° @ 17	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Monsoon Report - more rain and cloudbase down to Hwy 7 as I headed to Chilliwack. Norm & Bev got smart and headed towards Marshall CA. Colima Report - meanwhile back in Colima, our amigo Griss just flew from Colima to Sayula on his Advance EN-B glider. Almost as fast as it takes to drive on a toll highway too! Leonardo Track Here . Nice flight! FlyingOrange Brazil Report - meanwhile in Brazil, our amigo Mark C just flew from GV to 69 kms south on his new Gin Explorer! Leonardo Track Here . Another nice flight while we are drenched in rain in BC!
3-12-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain and/or snow again today	Agassiz BC Cloudy with occasional showers. High 9C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.	200° @ 20	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - spent the day doing outside chores and it actually looked flyable until noon when the rain hit yet again. Six and a half months with almost no flying, when will it end? At least they are flying in NZ this time of year, although there were some rained out days at this Comp. Pg open 2017 Rotorua from Jean Brossard on Vimeo.
3-11-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain and/or snow again today	Agassiz BC Periods of rain. High 7C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near 6mm.	180° @ 22	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - I was here at Eagle Ranch monitoring the weather, but it was an outside chore day installing windows in the rain with Paul. If anyone needs a reno project done or even larger full house projects call Paul at 604-703-8010 Kloepen Construction. I was able to make a lean-to tent for one window but the rest of the time we were hiding under the eaves to stay dry. The grass is very saturated and turns into mud soup when you walk on it. This is why I had to close the flooded Eagle Ranch Parking Area, too much water and no where to drain. SupAir News Release - the new SupAir EN-C Taska is ready! So many choices for upgrades this season.
3-8-17 to 3-10-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain and/or snow again today	Agassiz BC Cloudy with rain and snow showers early changing to mainly rain showers in the afternoon. High around 5C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 50%.	270° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 400 metres	Woodside Report - indoor chore days with this rain & snow pattern. Bronco is now licensed and on the road after brake work and final inspection. Yay! Ozone News Release - ZERO 2 The ZERO has gained a reputation for agile handling in a highly efficient platform, and the new ZERO 2 improves upon every aspect of the wing. With the ground-breaking Ozone SharkNose leading edge, a new arc inspired by the Ozone performance-project, and significantly improved launch, handling, and overall performance, the ZERO 2 offers more without compromising stability and comfort. Also, we have created an exciting new 13m size. FlyBC is taking orders now!
3-7-17	Woodside is forecast to have snow all day	Agassiz BC Snow starting early. High 1C. Winds light and variable.	270° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 500 metres	Woodside Report - at Eagle Ranch monitoring the weather, but the forecast was right with snowfall warnings. Bronco Update - installed a new dash pad and speedometer lens and got the winshield washers to work, after getting some parts at Pick-a-Part almost ready to get the inspection finished this week so we are ready to roll up Woodside in old school style. Thankfully we have a dry workshop in the barn as it snowed heavily all day. Ozone News Release - lots of new stuff coming out very soon, and the Ultralite 4 is now shipping and we have a 19, 21 and a 23 coming for demos. The world's lightest double surface paraglider! Ozone Ultralite 4 info here.
3-6-17	Woodside is forecast to have soarable winds around noon	Agassiz BC Sun and clouds mixed. High 4C. Winds light and variable.	270° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 500 metres	Woodside Report - I was at Eagle Ranch monitoring the weather, hoping to fly around noon and we had decent cloudbase but it was kinda gusty in the LZ. By the time Bev & Norm arrived it was starting to snow lightly so we didn't go up. But it was flyable before noon, last likely day for a week. Ozone Rapido - lots of new speed wings headed for the BC Interior soon. The Ozone Rapido from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo. This video features some footage from Mt. Cheam during Rapido testing runs.
3-5-17	Woodside is forecast to have snow all day	Agassiz BC Periods of snow changing to a few rain showers and wet flurries near noon. Snowfall amount 2 cm. High plus 3.	270° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 500 metres	Woodside Report - we were at Eagle Ranch monitoring the snow most of the day.
3-4-17	Woodside is forecast to clear up by 2 pm	Agassiz BC Rain ending by noon. High +1 C.	270° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - Denis, Norm, Bev & Gary P headed up around 2 pm. The road is drivable to 3 kms then very deep snow made it wise to hike in. I saw Denis and Gary getting to cloudbase at around 1000 metres. I decided it was warmer in the barn, so I installed a new console/jump seat in the Bronco, while the folks flew. I think Gary top-landed but I never saw Bev or Norm in the air. It is forecast to rain or snow the next week too?
3-3-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain all day	Agassiz BC Rain. High 8C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near 6mm.	270° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 500 metres	Woodside Report - at Eagle Ranch monitoring the weather, but I have no doubt it will rain most of the day. Off to Pick-a-Part for some stuff.
3-2-17	Woodside is forecast to have rain all day	Agassiz BC Rain. High 8C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near 6mm.	270° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 500 metres	Woodside Report - at Eagle Ranch monitoring the weather, but I had no doubt it will rain most of the day.
3-1-17	Woodside is forecast to have high winds and rain all day	Agassiz BC Periods of rain. Amount 5 to 10 mm. Wind west 50 km/h gusting to 70 becoming southwest 20 this morning. Temperature steady near 6.	270° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Hwy 5 Report - I checked DriveBC at 6:30 am before I headed North to Kamloops to check out a vehicle but by the time I was halfway to the Snowshed, traffic was stopped in a full-on blizzard. I sat there for 45 minutes as not much was happening and then there were 2 snowplows coming from the North that did a U-turn and started plowing in my direction. Then we started moving slowly up the hill. Some semis were stuck against the guardrails as they slid backwards, attached now to big tow trucks. I made it to Kamloops in one piece where there is little snow and it was quite warm and flyable. Pilots "jonesing" for a flight might want to do a roadtrip to Savona or Cache Creek. Ozone News Release - lots of new stuff coming out very soon! ULTRALITE 4 is now available to order in all sizes. 150g lighter than the Ultralite 3 with better performance, such as more speed, we think this is a worthy successor. DELTA 3 final prototype of ML size should be going to certification by next week assuming weather is good. Load test already completed. EN C certification expected. It has been a hard job to improve upon the Delta 2, but we are now very happy to launch a wing we think will keep all Delta 2 pilots very happy. Hopefully on the order form within 2 weeks. OZIUM 2 - making final preparations to launch. We think this is a great improvement and pilots can also save some weight over the Ozium 1! 2016 in Review - we had our busiest season every in 20 years! Thanks to all of you that supported us in 2016! We started out in January with our biggest Mexican Tour with many guests improving their skills at El Toro, Pelican Bay Soaring Site, Colima and Tapalpa. February brought us more Tour guests with me returning to Canada on March 1 to start lessons. March brought on some great spring conditions with some excellent XC flights in the Faser Valley. April brought out many new student pilots and we had up to 7 per day requiring some additional manpower to help out with Degas in Mission with newbies while I was sending students off Woodside. April enjoyed the first tree-landing of the season as an un-named P-2 pilot 360ed himself into a 200' tree just before dark. May brought out many pilots doing XC flights from Benny to Woodside. This site was improved in 2016 with WCSC & BCHPA funds so we are going to take advancing students there in 2017. We also ran our Annual FlyBC Instructor Course and had many new candidates working with our students. We had to go to Coyote & Mara many times to avoid the weather. June was an awesome month and we had many signed off P-2 students by now. Thanks to all who helped us get them through their courses! July was a productive month but also brought some sad news as a local Bellingham Pilot who had flown Blanchard hundreds of times had a fatal crash while paragliding on a mellow day. TJ had been flying since 2000 and had created a Weather Page that was very useful in predicting the conditions. August took us to Mara Lake for our Annual SIV Course and we had 25 participants over 10 days with only a few wet wings. Either we are getting better at guiding, or the gliders are getting safer, or the pilots are doing more studying prior to the Course . . . or all three but it is a pleasure to put pilots through the maneuvers and see them cain confidence in their gear. September was flyable most days but we did do the odd road trip to Merritt and Coyote. I think we are up to 200 flyable days now. We also had one weekend closed to students and pilots at Eagle Ranch while we married off Aaron & Christy! October turned out to be a complete bust as it rained everyday, as did November. Odd as this is usually our busiest training time. It was okay because we had planned a trip to Australia anyway, but I felt bad for the students that did not get finished in 2016. December was also bad weather-wise with record snow falls, so I went to Mexico to get our winter condo ready for the winter season, and Derek & Norm & I had some nice flights. Thanks again to the 40+ students we signed off in 2016. Thanks also to the pilots that bought a record number of gliders from Gin, Ozone & SupAir from us in 2016. Stay safe in 2017, and we will be here to support you in your flying endeavours.