Dog Mtn (Glenoma, Wash) turned out very nice with temps in the 70’s but some crosswinds from the north today. Five hang gliders (Tim D, Chi, Bob, Stas) and two paragliders (Alan, Brent T) flew. We launched from the north side in the morning then it back to the west launch in the afternoon. Two hangs and myself got two flights and everyone flew for more than an hours. I got over two hrs in the second flight and topped our 1100ft above launch. South bowl was really rowdy that I only stayed there for short time. I made one trip to Elk and didn't find any lift there. Great day.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
4 flights 5.5 hrs from 9/24 - 27, 2016 (Dog Rampart, Tiger)
Hang glider above two fighter jets at rampart (Snoqualmie Pass, WA)
1st part of this video : Travis encounter with two fighter Jets at Rampart
2nd part of this video: Travis flying Tiger Mtn
3rd part of this video: Robin Briejer landing his T2C at Tiger LZ
https://youtu.be/SEjdUAOSnVQ
Hang gliding landing from 9/24 to 27 at Dog, Mtn, Rampart and Tiger Mtn
9/24/16 Saturday Dog Mt (Glenoma,Wa)
One hour of air time
500-800ft AGL
One hour of air time
500-800ft AGL
I decided to stop by Dog on the way up to Rampart today. I arrived Dog patch around 2:00pm and headed up to launch with Travis and Chi. Another group of hangs also loading up. The winds were good at the LZ but kind of light at launch. It turned out soarable at the lower ridge. Larry and l were up for over an hour just boating around back and forth between 600 to 800 ft AGL. Most of the pilots had an extended sledders. A group if paragliders decided not to fly.
9/25/16 Sunday Rampart.
40 minutes of air time
300-500ft above launch.
40 minutes of air time
300-500ft above launch.
Five
hangs (Aaron R, Cliff, Collin, Alfredo and myself) and two paragliders
(Chi and Edwin from Vancouver BC) flew Rampart today. It was a nice
sunny warm day with clear sky, however the wind was very light as the
forecast predicted certainly not one of those spectacular day. A
paraglider Chi got off first as the wind was cycling between 3 to 6mph .
He climbed up to 300-500ft above quickly so myself and other paraglider
Edwin launched right after him at around 1:45pm. The thermals were good
first but it got weaker later , l could stay in the air if l worked at
it. I managed about 300-500 ft over launch and sink out every time head
to the North side. I flew for 40 mins. All other hang gliders launched
later and everyone had a similar flight like me except for Aaron Rinn
who hooked up with some good thermals got up to 6K+. Alfredo got the
longest flight for today (maybe 1.5 hour). The landing condition was so
calm , it was almost zero winds and no bumps ..... just smooth clean air
at the Carrier Deck. Congrats to two paraglider friends Edwin and Chi
getting their first flight at Rampart.
9/26/16 Monday Rampart
Extended sledder.
Extended sledder.
I
got the texted from Robin ask me if I want to fly today so l decided to stay for one more day to fly Rampart with Travis and Robin. It was a 85 degree warm day with another really light wind day. The forecast was accurate, it said the winds is coming SSE and it will turn light west around 3 or 4pm. There were only three hangs (no paraglider) and we punched off from the paraglider launch in pretty much 0-2mph light cycles. Travis launched first and got a little bit above launch. l launched 2nd and there was no beep on my vario until headed to the south end of the ridge on the left side of the hang launch. I was going back and forth, scratching and got few small bubbles. I worked really hard to gain couple hundreds feet until it started dying off. Travis and l landed in south direction and Robin landed west in no wind.
9/27/16 Tuesday Tiger Mt
3 hrs of air times
3K (800ft above launch)
It was an awesome day at Tiger. The launch condition was a bit windy for paras but perfect for hangs. Robin, Travis and myself had the whole sky to ourselves for over 3 hrs from 12:45 to 4:30pm. We managed to cross over to the North ridge many times but the air was really sinky there. The LZ condition were quite thermic when we landed around 4pm. The trees were singing blowing strong 50 to 100 ft above ground but the flags and windsock at the lz were hanging limp with light switchy directions between North , NE and East sometime. Fortunately, we all had a good landing to end the fun day. Tiger Forecasts continue looks good for tomorrow and Thursday. I can't fly until maybe Friday.
3 hrs of air times
3K (800ft above launch)
It was an awesome day at Tiger. The launch condition was a bit windy for paras but perfect for hangs. Robin, Travis and myself had the whole sky to ourselves for over 3 hrs from 12:45 to 4:30pm. We managed to cross over to the North ridge many times but the air was really sinky there. The LZ condition were quite thermic when we landed around 4pm. The trees were singing blowing strong 50 to 100 ft above ground but the flags and windsock at the lz were hanging limp with light switchy directions between North , NE and East sometime. Fortunately, we all had a good landing to end the fun day. Tiger Forecasts continue looks good for tomorrow and Thursday. I can't fly until maybe Friday.
Friday, September 23, 2016
4 hrs Incredible hang gliding clouds surfing over Rampart 9/22/16
Eight lucky hang pilots showed up to fly Rampart yesterday. It was a one of those best cloud surfing Rampart day, even better than two weeks ago. The edge of the clouds produced extra lifts that allowed us to get higher and higher. We all stayed up easily to our heart's content. The launch condition was friendly with cycles that generally came straight up between 5 to 13mph. Manageable without wire assistance. The cloud in a ceiling was around 7K plus ft ASL (3K above launch level) with really smooth conditions all day. Temperature at the highest altitude was 39 Fahrenheit degree and we all came well prepared. Everyone climbed up easily to the cloudbase enjoying the beautiful Rampart scenery for hours. I flew from 1-5pm
(4hrs). Landing condition was a bit switchy between North and West. It was blowing from the west direction (we all perfer north or NNW) when I landed at 5:00pm and everyone landed fine. To end the epic day, five of us enjoyed a great dinner at North Bend Bar and Grill to celebrate. Here's the video and photos from yesterday.
Yesterday video
or vimeo version (same video)
Rampart clouds surfing Video from two weeks ago:
Sunday, September 18, 2016
2 hrs flight at Dog Mtn 9/18/16
Today was a quiet day at Dog, only five hang pilots showed up (Kenny, Tim, Scott, Dale (from AZ) and myself). I went up to launch early by myself at 12:15pm and saw this tree in the middle of the road.
Fortunately, I always carry a hand saw in my car.
James came later and put up his 40ft tall wind flag pole.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
2.5 hrs at Rampart 09-16-16
Nine hangs showed up at Rampart yesterday and everyone had enjoyable long hours of flights. The conditions was much calmer than Wednesday with high clouds covering almost the entire sky (got some sun break). The winds were really light (0-3mph) when we arrived launch at 12:15, we were a bit worried that it would turn out to be a sledder. Fortunately, it picked up around 1:45 with some nice cycles. l launched first at 2pm and climbed up to 800 ft quickly in gentle thermals. Once we flew to the cliff wall the thermals go up to 6,000ft. Everyone had flight duration of 2- 3 hours. The landing condition was moderate and variable with winds from North and NNE direction sometime. Everyone landed successfully. Thanks to Larry, Robin, Stas, Travis and Ron for driving us and retrieved vehicles.
Video Vimeo version :
Youtube version:
Rick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)