My first tandem flight in 1988 was on a mountain in Southern Calif called Kagel. I started flying hang glider solo in 1990. Since then hang gliding has been my primary interest.
Staz, Gabe, Rob A and l flew twice. My first flight was about an hour. Second flight was up for almost 3 hours. Maximum altitude was 2100ft. I think Ray and Staz got up to 2500ft or more. 6 hangs and approx 20 bags came out to play. Everyone had a great long flights.
Report from Paraglider Peter Reagan
Many pilots and at least 3 different kinds of footlaunched vehicles flew today… Soarable all afternoon, max altitudes maybe 2500 ft. Fairly strong base wind, but occasional nice thermals to the inversion line. It was possible to work east to near the old aluminum plant entrance but at a fairly low altitude, in a fairly strong headwind -Pete
I've squeezed down 3 days (3 flights and almost 6 hours) flying video into few minutes of footage. I hope you enjoy. Day 1 & 2 Fri and Sat at Black Mt.
Day 3 Sun at Rampart
Can-Am Fly In 2017 1st day.
Day 1 Friday at Black Mountain
(Maple Falls, Washington)
Was soarable today at Black Mtn; Jeff Beck and few hangs launched around 1pm got enough altitude to go XC. Tim Cayward and I arrived there late (after 2PM) and ended up launching around 4PM. We shared the sky with 8-10 PGs for over an hour and my maximum altitude was between 300 to 400ft above launch (5,000ft MSL) over the north ridge further up on the right side. I thinks people are planning to head up early tomorrow, do come early if you can.
2nd Day Black Mountain (Maple Falls, Washington) Fly In. Great turnout with perfect light thermic condition at Black Mt today. I flew for two hrs and topped 900ft above launch (5500ft MSL).
Epic flight at Rampart Ridge (Snoqualmie Pass, WA)
Four hang glider pilots (Ron, Jonas, Luis and myself) were out for the EPIC Rampart day:
Since I had two good days (Friday & Saturday) of flying at the Can-Am Black Mountain Fly-In, I've decided to leave Maple Falls, WA on Sat night to either Dog Mt or Rampart. This way I won't have to drive six hrs back home on Sunday night. Thanks to Ron who posted on the CBCC group about flying Rampart. It delivered even better than the forecast promised.
We left the LZ at 12:35PM and l launched first at 2PM. The winds were blowing 5-8mph straight up at launch. Thermals were abundant from launch to the Alta Mt ( further north pass the 2nd wall). My flight time was almost 3 hrs and it felt cold above 6,000 ft. Ron, Luis and Jonas also flew for over 2 hrs. Altitude gains to 2,800 ft above launch (7500 MSL) after 4PM. Jonas made it to Alta Mt with his Falcon 3 and crossed the valley. Thermals were smooth and I was able to use my phone and get on Facebook live video a few times. Still don't have phone mount and hard to see the screen in the air so probably not fun to watch. Another no whack landing day for all.
Peterson was blowing 7-13mph south between 10:30 to 1PM. Two hangs (Rob and myself) launched around 1:30pm. The winds was completely shut down to zero when we ready to launch. Dead calm wind at the LZ too.
It was fun at Dog Mountain (Glenoma, WA) today while flying for over two hrs with 3 hang gliders (Tim C, Staz, Kenny). We launched around 3pm and our maximum altitude was around 900ft (3000ft MSL) above launch. Staz reported back on the radio from Elk Mt (across the lake) saying not much lifts was founded there. Most of the good thermals were on the south bowl and it was easy to maintain altitude between 300-600 ft above launch. Hang glider Steve D and a few paragliders (Kim, Alan ...) had good soaring flights too. They came later when the wind switched light north with some east.
Sept 9th, 2017 (Sat) The rain never made it to Dog this afternoon. It started to rain around 5:45pm when I came to Morton. Just Larry and I flew, and thanks to Tina who drove for us. We launched around 3pm in gusty conditions with wind direction out of NW approx 15+mph. We reached 1,000ft above launch. Would've been nice if more pilots had joined us. I've enclosed a few pics and my landing footage to view. Will be heading to Rampart tonight, see you guys tomorrow! Sept 10th, 2017 (Sun)
Light winds at Rampart (Snoqualmie Pass, WA) today. Only seven hang gliders and l was surprised not to see any paragliders out. Launched after 3PM. Toped out around 800-1000ft above launch. North side was very sinky so nobody make it to the wall. Everyone had a great landing. Few hangs are planning to fly Rampart again tomorrow (Monday). ETA LZ between 11-12:30PM.
Sept 11th, 2017 (Mon)
Rampart was forecast to be better than yesterday, but as it turned out, launch was barely visible due to thick haze and smoke from the forest fires. The wind was coming from south 0-2mph at the LZ. We see a few paragliders getting sledders from the LZ around 1PM, and decided to call it off around 2PM. I got in touch with Travis and Jonas later to fly Tiger Mountain, even with zero wind at launch and LZ, we expected on getting sledders. All of us launched around 5PM and surprisingly, it turned out soarable. A great decision we made in heading to Tiger Mt. with plenty of smooth thermals popping up consistently along the ridge. Congrats to Jonas getting his first flight at Tiger Mt. We all soared and l flew for almost an hour with a maximum alitude gain of about 500- 600ft over launch. There was about 15 paragliders sharing the air with us at the same time. I landed early as I wanted to take the 6:30PM shuttle to fetch my van. I'll post video and more photos later. Overall, a great 3 day road trip!
Labor Day Weekend Hang gliding at Dog and Tiger Mt Spet 3 & 4
Sept 3rd,17 Sunday
Dog Mt (Glenoma, Washington) was very quiet today. I think less than 5 people flew. I launched on the north side at around 5:30PM after Luis and Todd. There wasn't much wind at launch, but once airborne it felt quite rowdy with plenty of thermals and strong sinky air mixed. Punchy thermals were coming up from North and west side at the same time. Maximum alitude gain was 800ft above launch over the north ridge. Not really what l'd expected.
Sept 4th,17 Monday
Tiger Mt (Issaquah, Washington)
Since no shuttle bus were available for paragliders today, six of us hangs (Aaron Swepston, Kerie Swepston, Steve A, Paul A, Travis and myself) dominated Tiger Mt on this Labor Day holiday. The condition was suppressed by high pressure with increasing cloudiness / smoke and light NNE winds at launch and LZ. (0-4mph breeze). Much lighter than most forecast predicted.
I was last to launch at 3:15PM and luckily was able to stay up for 2.5 hrs at a couple hundred feet above launch most of the time. The best altitude gain was around 500-600ft over launch. I had the whole sky to myself until around 5 pm when joined by 3 paragliders who hiked up.
I also experimented using Facebook live (link below) during the last 15 minutes of my flight for the first time. I can't see the phone screen that well and hard to control the glider with one hand, so I have no idea what I was recording. Head over to my FB to watch those footages if interested, although you might get motion sickness.
Thanks again to Paul Dee and Rob who came out to drive for us today.
Very light wind today. We thought is going to be a sledder but it turned out abundant lifts on the north ridge. I had 2.5 hours flight from 5:00PM to 7:30PM with Tina , Larry and Andrey. Max altitude gain 1,200 ft above launch (approx 3,400ft MSL). Video coming soon.
