5 hrs/2 flights Sept 25-27, 2015 Rampart

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ITWkOwYBU

Day 1 (Friday) Sept 25th
I arrived Baldy LZ around 1:40pm and found the skies overcast with few light sprinkles on and off. The wind was really light (0-2mph ) at the LZ coming from NW. The paragliders headed up to launch around 4pm when the sun came out with light wind blowing at 10-15 mph at launch (5 mph at the LZ) , so they got about 1.5 hours of ridge soarable window. One of the Baldy rule is that no 2WD vehicles are allow on the road;
Unfortunately, no sightings of 4WD rigs with hang rack was available to take my glider to launch, so I missed flying for the day. Spent my evening hiking up to launch.

Day 2 (Saturday) Sept 26th
Rampart 3 hrs flight
3 hrs flight/ 4,500 AGL/ 7,000 MSL
Already blowing 10-15mph at Baldy LZ in the morning at 8:00am Probably 25+ mph at launch. So went to Rampart to meet up with other hang pilots and turn out it was an amazing day at Rampart for sure. Five lucky hangs (Tim C, Stas, Bryan, Chris (from Taxas) and myself) got hours of a magic air time. I launched first at 1:15pm and flew for 3 hours. It was quite easy to climbed over 2,000 ft above launch and also easy trip to the big Rampart wall and across the valley. Thermals were really smooth and climbed up to cloud ceiling fast. I didn't feel any rotors during the landing approach and everyone had a soft landing on the carrier deck.

Day 3 (Sunday) Sept 27th
Rampart 2 hrs flight
It was light with clear skies. 8 hangs (Kurt, Gary, Aaron, Stas, Travis, Eric O, Alfredo and myself) and few bags flew. I flew for two hours.

Day 4 (Monday) Sept 28th
3 flights at Cliffside
I had 3 flights at Cliffside yesterday with Ray B, Enrique, John C, Mark R, Steve F and a few paragliders. All 3 flights launched off from the PG upper launch and it was soarable as well . The conditions were fairly strong when we arrived around 11:30am, so we thought it was going to be an easy soaring day.

Unfortunately, when we were set to launch an hour later, the winds lightened up, although still soarable along the ridge above Highway 14 with narrow lift band; we just couldn't get too high for the first flight. The highest I got was on the 3rd flight which was about 300ft above (almost 900ft AGL) around 5:30pm. On my second flight, I tried to top land at a cross wind on the uphill slope, however my approach was terrible, which ended with me slamming into the ground instead of landing (or you can say crash landing or BIG WHACK).I unhooked and checked to see if everything was okay after the crash, as well as checking to see if I broke any bones. Fortunately, everything turned out okay so I re-launched again shorty. At this time, the lift band had expanded and thermals were starting to get better which made the soaring much easier than earlier. I got higher and higher, but also felt the throbbing of my left shin from the BIG whack earlier. So even though conditions had improved, I've decided to best head out and land. I made it to the LZ by the river with plenty of attitude and had a soft landing on an uninjured right foot. My Gopro was off on my second flight so I didn't captured the crash landing, but Ray saw it so maybe he can fill in with more details. By the time we finished packing, it was getting close to sunset and Ray still skyed out with a couple of paragliders. He landed right before sunset. We had dinner at Hood River "Crazy Pepper" with Mark , Enrique and our driver Justin.

9-26-15 (Sat) 

  9-26-15 (Sat) Tim Cayward flying behind me

Video Coming soon

  9-26-15 (Sat) Cloud surfing 

 9-26-15 (Sat) Cloud surfing 

 9-27-15 

9-27-15 Flying with Paragliders over Rampart wall

3 flights 11 hrs / 3 days awesome flights at Rampart (7-29 to 31, 2015)

https://youtu.be/z_ZFVITCE38

Video and Photos are coming soon.....

Day 1 (July 29th,15 Wednesday)

Today flight definitely made my 3+ hrs drive up to Rampart worth it. I had another great flight at Rampart today with Jeff Beck, Colin R, Robin and Dave L. We all launched around 1:30pm in a   fairly light breeze. Lifts were everywhere and thermals got really soft in the late afternoon even at the LZ. It was easy to get 2000 ft over launch and soared the whole RP cliff wall. I hit 7k MSL couple times. I think Jeff and Dave got 9k. I landed at 5:45pm in a super smooth condition.  Got total of 4 hrs and 15 mins air time. What a beautiful day. 

Day 2 (July 30th,15 Thursday)

Another awesome thermic day at Rampart with Jeff Beck, Rich, Darren, Alfredo, Travis and myself (6 hangs) getting two to three hrs long flights. I flew from 3 to 6pm (3hrs) , last one to launched and last one to landed.  Each day the conditions was better than the previous. 

The highlight of my flight was seeing those three fighter jets passed through right below me in front of the hang launch (approx 300 to 500ft from me).  After that I decided it is time for me to landed. Another group of pilots and myself will be here tomorrow and Area 151 on the weekend. 

Day 3  (July 31st,15 Friday)

The day started out with stronger wind at launch (10-15 mph gusts) but later it mellowed out. No fighter jets at all only 9 hangs (Colin, Bryan, Jonas, Robin, Alfredo, Jimmy, Stas, Mark R, Enrique and myself) soared the friendly sky. I flew for almost 4hrs (3-6:50pm). The thermals are not as good as the last couple of days but was still pretty good. Still able to reach 2500ft over launch and easy trip to RP Cliff wall if you put some effort working it.  I'm on my way down to Area 151 right now (10:30pm) 

3 flights 9 hrs On July 17th & 18th, 2015

July 17th ,2015 (Friday)

4 hrs

Max altitude: 6,400 FT AGL (above ground level) 7,250 FT MSL

I arrived launch around 4:15pm (thanks Kim for the ride) saw Peter and Naomi were setting up. Looked up and found Eric O skyout. The conditions just about to turn epic. By the time we ready to launch the wind became stronger and more crossed from the east. There were couple harmless baby dust devils appeared at launch. I took off first at 4:50pm and went straight up to 1000ft above immediately and it was still going up. Then Naomi , Peter and Timmy punched off shortly. It was too gusty and cross for the PGs so they decided not to fly. It was an excellent height gain , especially over Elk and radio tower. I reached 6,400ft AGL (about 7,250ft MSL) over the west end of Elk Mt. I can see the Riffe lake dam. It was one of the best thermals day at Dog. Unfortunately, the epic conditions didn't last all the way till sunset. It was kind of shut down around 7:30pm. The last group who launch around 7:30pm were struggling stay up. I had few low save and managed to climbed back to 50ft above launch. The winds switched more east when I ready to landed which around 9pm. Over 4 hours of air time for one flight. What an incredible north wind day at Dog!

July 18th 2015 Saturday Report: 

1st flight: 2hrs and 15 mins (12:45 to 3:00pm)

Max altitude: 2,000 ft AGL over south bowl

2nd flight: 2.5 hrs (6:00 to 8:45pm)

Max altitude: 5,000ft AGL 

The flying was spectacular again at Dog on Saturday. I didn't expect the conditions to turn out so good since it was pretty dead calm when arriving launch around 12 pm. I'd planned on taking a sled ride down and return later for evening glass off;  however, amazingly, as I got ready to launch during a light cycle it

started coming up stronger and turned soarable for the rest of the day. I ended up getting 2+hours airtime and topped out 2,00ft AGL over South bowl on the first flight.  

I walked up to launch after lunch and looked forward to another enjoyable evening flight. When arriving launch around 5 pm, the wind direction had switched north east. It was similar to yesterday's conditions (gusty & cross from East).  The launch conditions were challenging sometimes due to the gusty cycles and cross winds.  But once I punched off, the strong lifts just kept elevating. It was quite turbulent and sometimes my hang strap goes slack. Naomi launched after me and I think she flew for 1.5 hrs. The air and thermal at 1000 ft above launch was relatively smooth.  Since I had 3 incredible flights at Dog (2 days in a roll), I decided to skip flying on Sunday. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI0ZZXs6v4k

 Got high over Elk Mt.

2 flights 5 hours air time at Dog (July 15)

2 flights that = 5 hours of air time at Dog on July 15, 2015

I flew for 3 hrs on the 1st flight with 6 hangs and than another 2 hrs in the evening with Peter. It was honking 25+mph gusty wind at launch all evening till sunset, I landed at 9:15pm on the 2nd flight.

4 flights 9+ hours air time over the weekend at Dog (July 11-12)

Not much to report for the pass weekend (July 11-12 , 2015).  Nothing epic,  just another good weekend flying at Dog Mt with friends.  Those consistent thermals and ridge lifts allow all of us effortlessly soar for hours till sunset.  I had two flight per day and approx 2+ hours on each flight.

2 flights 5 hrs air time at July 9th 2015 /Dog Mt flights log

As usual, I had two flights and hiked up two times at Dog Mt yesterday. The wind at launch were quite strong (15 to 20 mph) in some periods of the time however it was smooth in the air. Had total of 5 hours air times. Nice day and nice flights.

2 flights 4.5 hrs air time / July 5th 2015 Dog Mt. flights

1st flight 3.5 hrs

2nd flight 1 hours

Topped 2000 ft AGL over the South Bowl

Glass off wasn't good last night. The winds were kind of shut down so everyone else decided to go home early. I was the only one scratching for light lifts at couple hundred feet above launch from 7:30 to 8:30pm. It was kind of "boring lonely soaring" all by-myself. Thanks for JJ, Scott and Mikey kept me company at the LZ. The afternoon flight was much more fun. I flew for 3.5 hours from 12:30 to 4:00pm with about 6-8 more hangs and 1 bag.

5 flights 11 hrs / Flights Log from Jun 4th to Jun 7th 2015

Jun 4th 2015 (Thursday)

Dog Mtn.

Paige, Stas, Chris Tarnawski and myself flew Dog on Thursday (Jun 4th). I launched at 3:00pm with light SW wind. The first hour was just a typical soarable Dog Mtn conditions. Then it turned into a XC condition when the wind direction changed more to north. I found plenty of extremely good thermals between north field and school LZ that took me to 6,500. ft MSL and just a slowly drifted to the microwave towers. I can easily cross Hwy 12 and flew to the mountain behind Larry property. I made few trip to Elk and also found a lot of good thermals there. I was so happy with my flight and decided to landed at the school LZ after 2 1/2 hours of air time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0ebGTRRoE

Jun 5th 2015 (Friday)
Tiger Mtn

Tim Cayward and I were the only hang pilots flew Tiger today. We took the 12:30pm shuttle to launch with a group of paragliders. The winds were too strong for paragliders (15 to 20mph) so we were the only hangs flew today. We had the whole sky to ourself and both of us flew for 3 plus hours. Topped 3300 to 3500ft AGL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1rO0uQXCEQ

Jun 6th (Saturday)
Dog Mtn:
First flight 1 hour and 15 mins (1:00-2:15pm)

I went up with Alfredo in the morning and flew for 1 hour and 15 mins, Gabe showed up later to join us. He was preparing to land at the Dog Patch to get wet. After about an hour of playing around over the ridge I headed to the school LZ. I topped out about 300ft above launch. Alfredo landed at the north field.

Second flight.
2.5 hours 6:00-8:30pm

Alfredo , Stas , Larry, Chris, Travis ,Tina and myself had a great late evening flight at Dog. Most of us reached 1300ft above launch. We went up to launch around 5:00pm and found wind were quite strong from the north side. I launched first and the vario just keep beeping and going up up up..... We played the north ridge for hours in the buoyant air until sunset. It was like magic. I landed at the north LZ first time this year.

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Jun 7th (Sunday)
1.5 hours 12:30pm to 2:00pm

Maybe the temperature reached 90 degree so it was kind of quiet at Dog today. It turned out only 8 hangs flew (Kory, Gabe, Stas, Jonathan, Travis , JJ, Tim and myself). We launch around 12:30pm and I flew for about 1.5 hrs. Since my van left it at Dog Patch parking lot so I decided to land at the berm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUXCDF7nciI

Gabe landing at Dog Patch