April 18 (Sat)
1st flight Bremer (morning sledder)
2nd flight Dog (2 hrs) 500-600 above launch.
April 19 (Sun)
1st flight Bermer (morning sledder)
2nd flight Bermer (2 hrs) landed at Morton airport
04-19-15 Sunday flight from Bremer to Morton.
I had a 2+ hours unexpected cross country flight from Bremer to Morton's airport on my 2nd flight on Sunday. After lunch, I went up with Eric O, Marty V, Chris T, Travis, Cliff and Brian S again. I think we arrived launch around 1:00pm and I was doubtful that we would have a good flight because the thermal action was weak. We saw a couple hangs and bags who launched early encountered some light lift and sank out so we decided to wait. After about 40 mins later, the condition seem to have improved a little bit and Marty launch before me and was climbing up fast so I decided it was time to launch. I turned to the right towards the PG launch right after airborne and soon cored a thermal from back side of the ridge (North side). Eric launched behind me and we both were in the same thermal and cored up to 1000ft over. I just boated around between Hang and PG launch for a while and a few were struggling down low. Once I've reached above PG launch, I can feel the immediate thermals from the back side of the Bremer ridge improve. My altimeter ran out of battery when I reached 5000ft above launch, so I'm not sure what was my highest altitude for the rest of the flight. My vario just kept screaming so I thought I got over 10,000ft AGL or more. I can almost see the whole Riffe lake so I decided to head east to Morton or Dog. I was following Marty and Eric or maybe Steve or Kurt,...... but I didn't see them anymore once I've reached Hopkins Mtn.
When I arrived Morton airport, I probably still got about 1500ft AGL and found another thermal that took me up to another 1000ft. I can see Dog patch but wasn't sure if anyone would be at Dog to give me a ride back to Area 151 so I turned back to the airport after half way down to Dog. Mikey at the airport and couple hang glider rigs were there so I know for sure I will have a ride if I landed at the airport. Thanks to Mikey for waiting at the airport for me to retrieve.
It was great that all pilots (hangs & paras) were able to get some good flying in this weekend. The potential of Bremer is infinite and I hope to fly Bremer more in the future. Everything turned out more perfect than expected, Frostbite rocked again this year! Thanks again to everyone!
I’d also add that for us this Frostbite was not at two different locations. As tempting as it was to go fly Dog, well, I guess I wasn’t all that tempted to go fly Dog after all. I got in two flights at Bremer, and one at the Area 151 launch. Three fun flights in two days wasn’t too bad an experience. We had never flown either of those two sites, so we were treated to two new flying sites sharing the same beautiful LZ filled with fun, friendly, and wonderful people.
The venue, Area 151, Dave and Diana’s own personal property, was perfect for such a big fly-in and party. What a fantastic setting.
Saturday, our particular group of pilots who went up Bremer, were treated to winds over the back, with occasional cycles up the launch face to allow for really decent H2 launches. Tom Johns was the first in our group to go off, and he suffered fairly strong and consistent sink for long enough that he chose to land in a bailout LZ. Weighing the amount of sink Tom had been in, and the likelihood that the sink should not continue all he way across the valley to the other side, a couple of us decided that we would give it a go anyway, even if we had to land in alternate fields. The flying didn’t appear to be too rough, just sinky. We did some quick calculations, not having information about our altitude, the LZ altitude nor the distance. The best I could come up with was a 10° glide slope by using the level app in my phone! How does that calculate out to slope ratios? None of us knew how to figure trigonometry on our fingers or a simple calculator, so we just figured what the heck, we fly or don’t fly!.
Those of us who did fly Bremer that evening were treated with various levels of success. I went after Tom, and managed to make it across the broad area of sink and into some boaty areas, and then further on into some areas of lift once approaching the LZ. It improved steadily as I got to the ridge above the LZ, where it was very soarable. I figured I could stay up as long as I wanted, as long as I worked for it. Steve Alford was off next after me, and he too made it over to soar Area 151 for a while. We watched Trevor in his PG, as well as Bryan Hughes in his Falcon, flying and heading for alternate LZs.
Later, Vince figured out that my phone’s indicated 10° glide slope worked out to be about 5.7:1 glide, a glide any modern HG could easily make in still air. It was the sink that got the Falcons, while the T2’s could manage much higher glide angles, enough to survive the sink effects. Using Google Earth, the glide form Bremer Launch to Area 151 LZ comes out to 5.78:1 glide, which is SO close to what we figured out with an iPhone level and a calculator app!
The following day turned out to be spectacular at Bremer. Another H2 launch condition, with thermals instead of over the back wind. Some people got really high, and some struggled for a bit before heading to the LZ. Either way, working the thermals was a wonderful treat. My favorite part was joining Kerie in a particularly nice, well formed thermal well down to the east end of the ridge where we circled wingtip to wingtip for who knows how many revolutions, gradually climbing to who knows how high we got. It was sweet! Very satisfying. Really nice thermals with really nice climbs, and we were treated to views of the entire mountain ranges, the valleys, the various lakes, we could see all three major mountains all in one peek, Rainier, Adams and St Helens, right there!
Steve, Rob, Bryan, Travis, Eric, Rick, Mike, Marty, Kurt, Chris, Cliff, Rinn, etc., etc.. Very nice day flying Bremer.
Really, thank you again for such a wonderful event and weekend of flying and friends!
Aaron
1st flight Bremer (morning sledder)
2nd flight Dog (2 hrs) 500-600 above launch.
April 19 (Sun)
1st flight Bermer (morning sledder)
2nd flight Bermer (2 hrs) landed at Morton airport
04-19-15 Sunday flight from Bremer to Morton.
I had a 2+ hours unexpected cross country flight from Bremer to Morton's airport on my 2nd flight on Sunday. After lunch, I went up with Eric O, Marty V, Chris T, Travis, Cliff and Brian S again. I think we arrived launch around 1:00pm and I was doubtful that we would have a good flight because the thermal action was weak. We saw a couple hangs and bags who launched early encountered some light lift and sank out so we decided to wait. After about 40 mins later, the condition seem to have improved a little bit and Marty launch before me and was climbing up fast so I decided it was time to launch. I turned to the right towards the PG launch right after airborne and soon cored a thermal from back side of the ridge (North side). Eric launched behind me and we both were in the same thermal and cored up to 1000ft over. I just boated around between Hang and PG launch for a while and a few were struggling down low. Once I've reached above PG launch, I can feel the immediate thermals from the back side of the Bremer ridge improve. My altimeter ran out of battery when I reached 5000ft above launch, so I'm not sure what was my highest altitude for the rest of the flight. My vario just kept screaming so I thought I got over 10,000ft AGL or more. I can almost see the whole Riffe lake so I decided to head east to Morton or Dog. I was following Marty and Eric or maybe Steve or Kurt,...... but I didn't see them anymore once I've reached Hopkins Mtn.
When I arrived Morton airport, I probably still got about 1500ft AGL and found another thermal that took me up to another 1000ft. I can see Dog patch but wasn't sure if anyone would be at Dog to give me a ride back to Area 151 so I turned back to the airport after half way down to Dog. Mikey at the airport and couple hang glider rigs were there so I know for sure I will have a ride if I landed at the airport. Thanks to Mikey for waiting at the airport for me to retrieve.
It was great that all pilots (hangs & paras) were able to get some good flying in this weekend. The potential of Bremer is infinite and I hope to fly Bremer more in the future. Everything turned out more perfect than expected, Frostbite rocked again this year! Thanks again to everyone!
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This is the video for the rest of the flights during Frostbite 2015
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Report from Aaron Swepston:
I’d like to second that incredible THANK YOU!!!I’d also add that for us this Frostbite was not at two different locations. As tempting as it was to go fly Dog, well, I guess I wasn’t all that tempted to go fly Dog after all. I got in two flights at Bremer, and one at the Area 151 launch. Three fun flights in two days wasn’t too bad an experience. We had never flown either of those two sites, so we were treated to two new flying sites sharing the same beautiful LZ filled with fun, friendly, and wonderful people.
The venue, Area 151, Dave and Diana’s own personal property, was perfect for such a big fly-in and party. What a fantastic setting.
Saturday, our particular group of pilots who went up Bremer, were treated to winds over the back, with occasional cycles up the launch face to allow for really decent H2 launches. Tom Johns was the first in our group to go off, and he suffered fairly strong and consistent sink for long enough that he chose to land in a bailout LZ. Weighing the amount of sink Tom had been in, and the likelihood that the sink should not continue all he way across the valley to the other side, a couple of us decided that we would give it a go anyway, even if we had to land in alternate fields. The flying didn’t appear to be too rough, just sinky. We did some quick calculations, not having information about our altitude, the LZ altitude nor the distance. The best I could come up with was a 10° glide slope by using the level app in my phone! How does that calculate out to slope ratios? None of us knew how to figure trigonometry on our fingers or a simple calculator, so we just figured what the heck, we fly or don’t fly!.
Those of us who did fly Bremer that evening were treated with various levels of success. I went after Tom, and managed to make it across the broad area of sink and into some boaty areas, and then further on into some areas of lift once approaching the LZ. It improved steadily as I got to the ridge above the LZ, where it was very soarable. I figured I could stay up as long as I wanted, as long as I worked for it. Steve Alford was off next after me, and he too made it over to soar Area 151 for a while. We watched Trevor in his PG, as well as Bryan Hughes in his Falcon, flying and heading for alternate LZs.
Later, Vince figured out that my phone’s indicated 10° glide slope worked out to be about 5.7:1 glide, a glide any modern HG could easily make in still air. It was the sink that got the Falcons, while the T2’s could manage much higher glide angles, enough to survive the sink effects. Using Google Earth, the glide form Bremer Launch to Area 151 LZ comes out to 5.78:1 glide, which is SO close to what we figured out with an iPhone level and a calculator app!
The following day turned out to be spectacular at Bremer. Another H2 launch condition, with thermals instead of over the back wind. Some people got really high, and some struggled for a bit before heading to the LZ. Either way, working the thermals was a wonderful treat. My favorite part was joining Kerie in a particularly nice, well formed thermal well down to the east end of the ridge where we circled wingtip to wingtip for who knows how many revolutions, gradually climbing to who knows how high we got. It was sweet! Very satisfying. Really nice thermals with really nice climbs, and we were treated to views of the entire mountain ranges, the valleys, the various lakes, we could see all three major mountains all in one peek, Rainier, Adams and St Helens, right there!
Steve, Rob, Bryan, Travis, Eric, Rick, Mike, Marty, Kurt, Chris, Cliff, Rinn, etc., etc.. Very nice day flying Bremer.
Really, thank you again for such a wonderful event and weekend of flying and friends!
Aaron
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Rich Harman shared this on CBCC list. Here's the link of his photos album
