2 flights 4 hours air time at Rampart and Black Mountain (near Maple Falls,Wash)

 https://youtu.be/9Cb6cHDFYoI

Aug 26th 2015
Rampart (Snoqualmie Pass. Wash)
6000ft MSL
3 hrs flight

Rampart worked well yesterday. There were one para and four hangs flew (Travis, Ron B, Alfredo and myself). The paraglider went up early (launched at 12:30pm) , took an extended sledder. Hangs group arrived launch at 1:30pm,  I was first off the air at 2:30pm and had a 3 hours of really fun air time , others hangs also flew for 2+ hours. Top of lift was over the Cliff wall at 6,000'. 

I thinks most likely we are going to fly Black today.  I'm meeting up with two hang pilots at the Maple Falls Shell Gas Station around 11:00am. We will stop by the LZ before headed up to launch. 

Aug 27th 2015
Black Mountain (Maple Falls,Wash)
1 hour
1500ft over launch (5000ft AGL/ 750ft MSL at LZ )  

There was a few hours window today at Black Mountain when it was soarable before it shut down.   We arrived top launch at 2:00pm and found almost zero wind. We all launched around the same time in really light cycles. Konrad , Shawn and Travis launched before me and they climbed quickly above launch.  It was a bit rowdy and not much good lifts once you away from the ridge. I feel very lucky to have managed a flight for more than one hour and got at least 1500 feet over launch few times (I think is about 5000 AGL). Travis, Konrad and myself landed at the campsite main LZ and Shawn landed at the big field by the road.  When I landed around 4:30pm the wind socks in both LZ were hanging straight down.  Almost no wind. 

11 hrs of air time at Dog and Rampart (4 flights)

https://youtu.be/OBfmIHzCFYY 

Friday 8-21-2015

Dog (Glenoma,WA)

5 hours / Topped 4500ft MSL

Saturday  8-22-2015

Dog (Glenoma,WA)

1st flight sledder 

2nd flight  2.5 hrs / 50ft above launch

Yeah it was really smoky at Dog all day (Saturday) ,poor air quality and visibility. Not much wind at launch and no big thermals unlike Friday conditions but enough lifts for few of us squeeze out few hours or so of soaring flights. 

Sunday 8-23-2015

Rampart (Snoqualmie Pass, WA)

3 hrs / Topped 7500ft MSL

Two bags and three hangs flew Rampart today. It started out really cross from the East and was light.The hang launched streamers that showed wind blowing the opposite direction so we went up to the Paraglider's launch. Paragliders took off first around 2:30pm and got 500ft over quickly so we decided to setup. When I was ready to launch around 3:15 pm, both Paragliders had already landed, so I thought it would be a sledder. I launched first at 3:20pm and the air was pretty rowdy. Finding stable lifts was difficult during the first 1.5hrs of my flight. Until Alfredo launch around 4:45pm is when things started to smooth out. We were able to connect with some big smooth thermals that took us to 7500 ft; we flew to Rampart's big cliff wall, Alta mountain and across the valley....etc. Got cold and tired after 3 hrs later so we landed around 6:30 pm in a pretty smooth NW wind at the LZ.  I didn't feel any rotors. 

Friday at Dog over Elk Mt

 Sunday at Rampart

 Alfredo launching

 Rampart skies still hazy on Sunday afternoon

3 flights 10 hrs in 3 day at Rampart and Dog (Aug 7th to 9th, 2015)

It was another great weekend at Rampart and Dog Mt again, with a total of 10 hrs combined within those 3 days of flying.

Aug 7 & 8th at Rampart (Snoqualmie Pass, Wash)
Aug 9th at Dog Mt (Glenoma,Wash)

Day 1. Friday (1 flight)
There was six hangs (Ron B, Chris C, Jonas, Stas, Travis and myself) who flew Rampart on Friday. Not too windy at launch & pretty smooth at the landing "Carrier Deck"  too.  We were all able to get off launch without wire assistance. Thermals were everywhere and reached up to 7000ft.  I flew for 3.5 hrs while others at least got 2+ hours.

Day 2.  Saturday (1 flight)
Also six hangs (Alfredo, Shah, Dave L, Aaron R, Kurt, Cliff S and myself) who flew Rampart. The conditions was similar to the day before exception to more friendly clouds and better thermals.The cycles was a bit stronger and gusty at launch compared to yesterday. I flew from 1:55 to 5:10pm (over 3 hrs) and I think others flew for 2 hrs too. It was an easy trip
to the cliff wall and Alta Mt (The next Mt north of 2nd big
Rampart cliff wall). I cored up to 7800' at Alta Mt.


Day 3. Sunday (1 flight)
I launched around 1:30pm (landed around 5:00pm) after Scott C, Justin H, Larry (Tandem with Hazel) and Tina. It was almost no wind at launch, so I expected a sledder.  Flew down to the lower point and found a lot of small bubbles that consistently kept me at a couple hundred ft above the tree top for over an hr until the good soaring conditions arrived.  JJ and Stas joined me at first, then followed 10 hangs and 2 bags launching after seeing JJ , Stas and myself getting above launch. I went to the back bowl to avoid air traffic with Ron B, Stas, and JJ....  for a while and topped out 2000ft AGL over the back bowl. I made one trip to Elk but found nothing there.

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) 

4 flights 10 hrs in 3 days trip at Dog, Rampart and Blanchard.

Day 1 (07-23-15 Thursday)) at Dog Mt 

2 flights / 2 hrs per flight

  

It was another epic glass off evening condition flying over Elk Mt again. I landed around 9:00pm on the 2nd flight then had dinner around 10pm at Bucksnort with: Ray, Kory, Scott, Lisa, Dave, Dianna...... Left Morton really late and headed to Rampart around 11pm meet up with Alfredo, Colin and Shah next morning.

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Day 2 (7-24-15 Friday) 

Rampart; air time 2 hrs 

4 hangs flew Rampart on July 24th(Friday).  I launched first at 2:30 pm and I thought it was going to be a sledder since it was overcast, plus the condition was really light (2-3 mph straight up wind) at launch. But once I airborne, it was pretty easy to find plenty of smooth thermals in front of launch and was able to reach 1000 ft above launch. Trips to Rampart cliff wall was easy too, we got higher over the first cliff wall. Alfredo and I got 2000 ft above launch (Approx 4000 ft above landing field). I made it to the second cliff wall and landed after 2 hrs later. LZ was rowdy due to the the strong NW wind, but we all had a nice easy touch down landing on the "carrier deck". Colin and I spent the night there and hoped for the conditions to cooperate for the following day. The rain didn't make it to Rampart, but there was overcast skies with 80% cloud covering all afternoon and cloud base was about 3000 ft above launch. 

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Day 3 (7-25-15 Saturday) 

Blanchard ; air time 4 hrs 15 mins

I decided drive up to Blanchard (2 hrs from Rampart) after checked the morning forecast and it turned out I had a great time sharing the air with paras and hangs on my first flight at Blanchard. Thanks to Shawn for the site intro and also the property owner who allowed us to land there.  I love the spacious grassy landing field.  I launched at 1:15 pm (first hang to launch) in about 2-3 mph light cycles on the south launch. Got above launch after few pass and then just began to enjoyed the 4+ hours long flight in this beautiful site.  Never got tired of the gorgeous ocean scenery.  Most of the time my altitude was between 1500- 1800ft AGL/MSL until around 4 pm then Alfredo and I found more smooth thermals that took us to 2000 ft.  Here is the video of my first flight at Blanchard stating at 2 mins . 

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Photos of Rampart granite cliff wall

Dog Mt evening flight over Riffe Lake 

Snack time

Rampart landing (Carrier Deck)

Blanchard south launch

Blanchard landing field