3 flights / 5.5 hrs Tiger and Dog Mtn (8/18 & 8/19)

Video from Tiger and Dog. 

Youtube version:

https://youtu.be/knjts8sqHro

Vimeo version:

https://vimeo.com/179614339

Aug 18th,2016 Thursday

Tiger Mtn report:

Tiger was good on Thursday.  I flew for 2.5 hrs with two hangs (Alfredo, Travis) and about six paragliders. Michael was nice enough to let us follow his shuttle to launch (6.2 miles). We left the LZ at 12 and I drove down Alfredo's rig.  I'd hiked up and launch around 3pm. Unlike the forecast said, there wasn't a strong north, but thermic with really light north wind cycles. It was either very light north or almost zero wind at the LZ for most of the day. The top of the thermals was about 800 ft above launch. 

Aug 19th, 2016 Friday 

Dog Mtn report:  

A lot of decision making on where to go; Saddle, Black Mtn, Tiger Mtn or Dog?? We voted for Dog because is closer although the forecast called for East winds at Glenoma (wrong direction) with 90+ degree.  It turns out that Alfredo, Larry, Travis and I had great flights at Dog. The east wind was starting to lighten around 1:30pm. I took off from the north launch on the 1st flight (at 3pm) and west launch on the 2nd flight (at 5:30pm).  It was pretty much dead calm at launch and with really light thermal cycles at the LZ.  Both flights combined was almost 3 hrs of air times. The 2nd flight was much better, topped out 1200 ft above launch over the microwave towers.  Larry went further east and I think he got 2k above launch. Travis went to Elk with his Falcon and made it further west to the Cliff. Hopefully, he will share more about his adventure. Another fun day at Dog. 

Aug 20th Saturday

Supposedly,l was going to either Rampart or Black Mtn today. But something came up so l came home last night. 

Lakeview Day 3 ,4 & 5

Day 3 Thursday 6/30/16
Ray, Kory and Jeff are coming today so I left Chamber office at 11:30am heading up to Paisley, OR to met up with them at Hadley Butte. This site is approx 45 miles north of Lakeview near city of Paisley. The conditions wasn't favorable for flying due to the light and crossed winds. Also, it is a long glide to Summer Lake Hot Springs LZ if I don’t get up so we decided not to fly.

Day 4 Friday 7/1/16

Back to Hadley Butte

Another north winds day so we going back to Hadley Butte. Two paragliders and about 10 hangs came out today. Ray Berger and l were the first group that arrived launch (around 11:30am). There wasn't much wind, but just on & off weak launch cycles and a bit crossed at launch. Paraglider Robin Cushman launched first around 1:45pm, then followed by Ray and myself. I thought it would either be a short flight or sledder and I was planning to land at the bailout LZ on the south side of the Hwy 31 (see pictures below), but turns out Ray and I flew for over 2 hours and max altitude gained was about 85k (2K above launch). I had a few lows save over the bailout LZ,  was lucky to have found some lifts to scratch back up. We could have easily flown till sunset, however our driver John was waiting for us at Summer Lake Hot Springs LZ , so we decided to land after two hours.  Not an epic XC condition day, but once you're hooked up with thermals, it's an easy trip to Paisley. It was the kind of day that required a bit of patience to keep searching for the next thermal.  An unfortunate event for this day was with a pilot who blew his launch and ended up with a broken down tube; luckily he was okay. 

Day 5 Saturday 7/2/16
I have to be home at night so I left Lakeview in the morning and go skateboarding at Eugene skatepark on the way back.  

This is the video from Hadley Butte

https://youtu.be/u4oMausYz0M

1 hrs and 10 mins Chehalem (Newberg ,Oregon) 12/4/15

https://youtu.be/NYaQXkL95Rs 

Chehalem was on the strong side today so only 2 hangs flew (Mark R and myself). The average wind speed at launch was about 10-18mph from noon till 3:30pm. I waited almost 2 hrs till the clouds dissipate by 2pm. I launched at 2:15pm and immediately gained a few hundred ft above launch. I was able to climb 500 ft over in mostly smooth ridge lifts.  I flew for an hour and 15 mins and landed at the Johnson's Ranch (Big LZ). It was very calm when I landed at 3:25pm (2 mph South breeze). The wind at launch had backed down some, then drove Mark R up so he can take his first flight at Chehalem.  Mark launched at 3:45pm and he was able to soar a little bit before sunset and landed safely at the small PG LZ.  You can see Mark's launch at the end of my video here.