Catching up

Julie's Birthday at Maza

This summer there's been so much blogging about flying adventures, I've neglected a few important moments. Julie, my wife, celebrated her 39th birthday September 4th. I took her to Maza, one of her favorite middle eastern restaurants where we enjoyed the evening with friends.


A pic of the studio

One of my long time music friends came out last month for a week. We spent most of the week writing songs and just having some good times.




Finally the 110 ft driveway is complete, as well as most of the rough landscaping at the house. (Proof that I do work)

Inspiration Point 9.8.07

Jeff and Greg at launch

Saturday started with welding my broken truck rack. I used the truck for staging a zip line that served to load 45 lb. retaining wall blocks down into the side yard of our house. After 275 blocks, a weld on the rear rack failed.

Later in the morning Greg and I conversed over the phone about flying, and by early afternoon Jeff, Greg and I were setting up at Inspo. I was surrprised at strengh and consistency of the lift. With smoke in the valley as a result of few Idaho fires and light winds, it just didn't seem like it was going to be a great day. We watched a few bags launch, and as they climbed out effortlessly, our motivation to get into the air shifted to second gear. In near-record time we were all three launched and climbing out. The thermals were small and punchy, but they seemed to converge at a few thousand feet over launch, making them biggger, stronger and more pleasant to core.



A shot of me above Cascade


Viewing the top of Cascade with Timp in the background

Jeff was seen from time to time when he slowed below warp speed, but just as he appeared, he would vainish without a trace. Greg and I followed Jeff south to Rock Canyon, and before Jeff could finish radioing, "lets head for the Y" (a land mark south of Rock Canyon), it was as though a giant sling shot catapulted him forward. Greg and I opted to follow a scraggly thermal that landed us over Cascade. At one point in a thermal over Cascade, we were joined by a golden eagle. Priceless! Later we crossed Provo Canyon and onto the flanks of Timpanogas. All three of us spent a good 45 minutes or more on Timp climbing out in smooth late afternoon thermals, enoying the great lift and incredible views.


Timpanogas


Jeff's duct tape wonder


Greg landing


Jeff in the big green LZ - photo Greg Billow

More From Saturday

Greg's wife Jennifer took some pic's on Saturday and I just figured out how to open the files.


Greg and Cody with Cody's neighbor in the background



Me landing at Cody's house



Greg's kids, Emily, Page and Jeremy



One of Cody's dogs

The Wellvilles

Launch

The Wellvilles are a range of mountains slightly north of Brigham City, Utah. It is a perfect formation of crags and peaks that looks as though God designed it specifically for soaring. I have eyed them for years. Everytime I drive up to the Short Divide, I pass the Wellvilles to the west and wonder about the possibilities of flying the perfect range. Cody and Greg flew the Wellvilles in June after being introduced to the site by a local pilot, and since then I have pestered them about flying there. This past Saturday the weather conditions looked poor around Salt Lake for flying and there wasn't enough wind for the Short Divide, so we came up with a plan to fly the Wellvilles with Cody's house (and a barbecue) as our goal - which works because Cody's house is only 8-10 miles to the east, over the back.


Bruce launching


Greg


Greg

Finding a driver is always an issue, especially with sites like the Wellvilles. Because the launch area is an hour's drive from the LZ and because the road is very primitive, you don't want to drive back up to retrieve your vehicle. We were in luck! One of my friends from Texas was out for the week and we managed to hornshwaggel (in Texas a word meaning to coerce or finagle) Darryl into driving. Darryl and I met Cody and Greg in Brigham City around 12:30 pm, and before long we were on the road to the Towers launch. The road to the top is in my book a catagory 4-5, with 5 being the nastiest, scariest road I've been on. Along the way to the top Darryl could be heard muttering short sentences under his breath like, you crazy fools do this for fun?, as well as making reference to situations where one might have brought along a case of pampers. At one point for meanness Cody locked the doors and sped up the truck just to dispell any ideas anyone might have about abandoning the truck.


Greg


Bruce


Bruce


Cody


So we made it to the top without incident, and we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful launches I've been on. We quickly set up in the afternoon breeze, and before long I was launched and circling in a little disorganized core above a craggy spine just north of launch. The thermal amazingly came together, and I was soon a few hundred feet over launch. The boys were quickly suiting up and making their way to launch as I was coring my way to a thousand feet over. Greg and Cody took off close together and were soon making the best of the late afternoon lift. At one point, in the words of Darryl, Cody was well below the prominent point in front of launch and out of site when he meandered into a decent core that saved him from a premature landing. The boys stuck it out in the light lift for another 45 minutes and managed to climb out to a thousand and some change over. Greg was the next to go over the back and with his altitude managed to fly to Pisgha Peak, which is the mountain directly over the back. Greg was amazed to see Cody venture over the back, being only a few hundred feet above launch, the Code Man got drilled and ended up landing in Sardine Canyon. Greg soon found himself out of lift and low and opted to land in the same wash Cody had landed in earlier.

I was able to manage a bit more altitude and squeaked over the back. I landed at the Dobson's residence after conversing with Cody several times on the radio regarding the location of his house. We all ended up at Cody's house where we had a great barbecue and enjoyed the Dobson's awesome digs.




Cody's backyard

Flying 8.26.07

XC season is quickly winding down with fewer and fewer of those stellar days left, as the gang experienced yesterday. The call was for Inspo, with a few other pilots making Crawford's their destination for the day. Jeff was the first to launch with me trundling off close behind. Within minutes of launch, we both ended up thermaling together just a few hundred yards north of the overlook. It was cool thermaling with a world class pilot (hehe). We were at times quite close, but I felt very comfortable taking some turns with Jeff. At one point we were in the same thermal, but turning in opposite directions at the same altitude.... still felt like it was a no brainer. At some point we split up, and I ended up low over the sub-station near the bail out LZ. I was able to work some light lift that drifted toward the primary landing area, and after a few minutes I was on glide to the big green cushy field. I was soon joined by Jeff. Above a pic of Greg on approach.

Meanwhile, Cody was in the air making a valiant effort to stay aloft in the light conditions. Cody's flight lasted 15 minutes, and he probably felt like he earned every second of air time. Greg was last to launch, and after watching Cody land in the bail out LZ after a short desperate flight, Greg was motivated to wrangle out some much needed airtime. Greg was soon on the fast track to joining Cody, but he hooked a solid core and after a great recovery, bought himself a one-way ticket to the big green field.

There were hundreds!

Yesterday Greg and I ran down to the North Side. The weather information we got on the internet looked like conditions could be strong later in the day - a good thing. It had been over a month since Greg had flown so he was excited about the possibility of getting some airtime. As we approached Draper around 3:30 pm, the wind was barely moving the flags along the freeway - a bad thing. Dude was the only other pilot at the Point when we arrived, and he was set up and ready to go. Dude's readiness and enthusiasm motivated us to start throwing things together in the light winds. As we were setting up, Dude began making his way to launch as a few paras threatened to take to the air. Minutes later he took off in a good cycle and without too much effort was benched up. (For those unfamiliar with hang gliding lingo, the Northside launch at the Point is only 200+ ft above the ground with a 1000 ft ridge directly in back. Typically the goal is to get to the higher ridge - benched up).

Soon after Dude launched, a visiting pilot took off only to find himself in the bailout LZ below launch a few minutes later. I launched into a decent cycle, and benched up rather low on the west end of the main ridge. As I watched and waited for Greg to join me, the air at launch was quickly transformed into a sea of bobbling panties - (para gliders). This situation is the bane of all hang glider pilots, especially for Greg at this moment. As fate would have it, the horde only thickened, further frustrating Greg's launch efforts. Finally Greg had a decent launch window and folded into the currents of airborne jellyfish above. Later we all landed safely with a little more airtime to log.

Horns Of Satan

Clay Watson called on Thursday looking for a climbing partner for Friday. Clay seems to always have something in mind that exceeds the norms of climbing. In our phone conversation, he briefly mentioned a route in Albion basin on Devil's Castle, an eight pitch line named The Horns of Satan. I was in! The next morning we met at Clay's house which is at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Along with Erik, another one of Clay's climbing partners, we were on our way.



The route just left of the black streak


After driving up Little Cottonwood Canyon, we arrived at the campground in Albion Basin in the Alta ski area. We sorted our gear and headed up the valley toward the prominent wall in the circ-like formation. Forty minutes later we arrived at the base of the wall, racked up, and with Erik linking up the first two pitches, we started climbing. The first two pitches proved to be as expected, loose and dirty, as a constant rain of gravel sized rock pelted Clay and me.

We used a method for accomodating three people on a climb that worked quite well. The leader ascends the climb with two ropes, sets up his belay, and brings up the remaining two climbers simultaneously, each on their own rope. With the second and third climbers staggered 10 - 15 ft apart, it surprisingly goes quite smoothly. The problem is, if you have never used this system the belay area can quickly become a rats' nest of tangled rope. Clay took the third 5.10 pitch, and it turned out to be one of the better sections of rock.



Clay, looking for pro


I linked up the forth and fifth pitches and ended up meandering around on a 45 degree loose section of rock with no gear, searching for the route. 150 ft above the belay ledge and unable to find the anchors for the next pitch, I set up a belay in some crappy rock and brought Clay and Eric up. Erik took off on pitch six and seven. After rambling around unprotected for fifteen minutes, he finally found the anchors that I had missed. Clay and I were quite relieved to have Eric clip in to some solid pro.



Clay topping out on pitch six



Erik and me



Erik finished off a great lead on the 5.9 section of the climb and began belaying Clay and me. Halfway up the 5.9, I gingerly passed a huge flake that looked suspect. As I was moaning and cursing the loose rock under my breath, I barely weighted the tip of the flake with my right foot. Instinctively, Clay quickly moved out from beneath me as the slab of rock tore loose and pummeled the earth below. We finished the pitch, which turned out to be quite fun, and organized our ropes and gear on the roomy ledge.

Clay took the lead on the stellar 5.10c crux pitch, and was soon bringing Erik and me up. Erik led the final 5.6 pitch to the top of the ridge line. The hike off is essentially following the ridge toward Sugarloaf, then a quick descent to the car via a well beaten trail.



On the ridge line

Three Days of Understanding

After being blown out at Heber Friday and Saturday, returning with the same wind forecast seemed masochistic. Sunday morning Cody, Jeff, Steve, Lisa and myself were setting up on launch at Heber as the wind slowly strengthened. 20 to 25 mph with gusts to 35! Jeff was first off then Lisa. Cody, Steve and I soon followed. Cody and Lisa had clean launches, but immediately after, they were rocked like rag dolls for a few seconds. Surprisingly, the air was somewhat smooth once you were a few hundred feet over. It took over an hour before anyone was high enough to attempt flying over the back.



Steve's carbon fiber base tube on his Atos broke in mid-air, forcing him to abort his flight at around 100 miles out.



My Talon at launch


Jeff Obrien on launch after helping Cody and I stuff battens!


Lisa V


Cody Dobson

The clouds looked great for XC. Streets were beginning to form on route and the cloud tops remained relatively low. Cody was first to go over the back at only 10,000 asl. Soon the whole gang was en route with Cody out front. Lisa V landed in the Bail out LZ after determining the conditions were over the line for her. After leaving Heber at 10,000 asl, I was low over the back near the I80 - 40 junction. At 8200 asl I found a solid thermal over the cement plant, the lift topping out at cloud base - 15,000 asl. At Chalk Creek I was low again but managed to thermal out and continue on course. From Chalk Creek I stayed high all the way to Evanston and remained above 12,000 asl until reaching Little America. My flight ended 81.5 miles from launch at Lyman, Wyoming. Cody was 85 miles out when he landed near Highway 189 in Wyoming. Steve's carbon fiber base tube on his Atos broke in mid-air, forcing him to abort his flight at around 100 miles out. Because the Atos doesn't rely on the control frame for structural integrity, Steve managed to bring the glider in from 14,000 asl for an eventless belly landing in a big grassy field. The big news is Jeff broke the state record with a killer 220 miles!!

I'm sure he'll post the flight later on his website - http://hang6.blogspot.com/

Finally the weather cooperates. Sunday I spent the afternoon at the South Side waiting on the wind to calm down, only to watch the wind drop from 35-40 mph to zero in less than five minutes - no flying. Monday however was a bit different. The air dried out and it looked as though it may have been a big XC day from Heber. I had seven yards of concrete to pour.

Tuesday Jeff and I met at the Inspo LZ and decided on an early launch, with the prospects of getting high and linking up Inspo and Heber. It turned out to be a bit to early. Jeff and I ended up scratching around close to launch, and after wrangling with little unorganised bullet thermals for an hour, decided to use the little altitude we had to make the big LZ . I was hopeful when at one point in my flight I found a resonably tight thermal low above the bailout LZ. The lift was drifting directly toward Timp, but after a thousand feet + of gain the thermal flatened out and would have left me low and deep in Provo Canyon. We both ended up landing in the main LZ. The remainder of the week looks great - more later!

Monsoon shmonsoon

Typical nasty weather


It's been dismal for flying around here lately! The Monsoon flow has been great for our drought conditions, but also extracted a low yield for XC miles. Practically everyday we have seen big over-development in the mountains and some rain in the valleys. This past weekend was a bust. Greg was out of town, Cody could not be found, and other pilots who have been flying here in Utah forever were in a quandary as to where to fly. Guess we'll just half to wait and be patient while mother nature does her thing.



Early afternoon cell



All photos courtesy of KSL News

Saturday the crew headed up for some fun at the short divide. Cody's back went out, so he volunteered to drive for the day. The conditions there were the strongest I've personally launched in. Still, the site worked great for us. Matt, Greg and I were in the air and benched up by 1:45pm, but none of us were getting much higher than 8500 ft. Greg was the first to break through 9000 ft, as his drift took him due north over the back of Gunsight Peak. Matt climbed through 9000 ft and turned north along the ridge line that runs parallel to I-15. He disappeared low into the the mountains behind launch. Greg and I were not anxious to make the same choice.

Over the next half hour, Matt reported rough conditions and minimal gains. However, the last transmission I heard from Matt, he was at 10,000 ft and crossing Weston Canyon. My plan was to wait for a better climb and take the same north east track as on previous flights from the Short Divide. An hour and some change after launching, the thermals began breaking through and we were getting better climbs. At 10,500 ft, I radioed to Cody that I was heading over the back. With a reasonably flat glide, I cruised the following 5 miles losing minimal altitude. I arrived over a series of small hills that yielded a 500 ft per min. climb back up to 10,500 ft. I topped out in the lift and headed downwind. The next few miles was very similar to my last flight in the area. Moderate ground speed and slow climbs. I ended up landing 25 miles from launch. Greg had a hard time getting high enough to go over the back and settled for staying local. Cody found Matt at the mouth of Weston canyon and was soon on course for my pick-up along highway 91 outside of Preston Idaho.



Flying. On course.



Not flying. A picture of the side of our house. The concrete retaining wall was poured last year. A few weeks ago construction began to complete this ambitious landscaping project.

Short Divide 7/15/07

The crew converged around noon at the gas station below Gunsight Peak. After grabbing lunch, we headed up to launch and set up our gliders - and waited. Out in front of launch it was blue with some high cirrus clouds. The problem was the over-development behind us. Around two o'clock, Jeff decided the growing clouds behind us were not a threat and he proceded to ready himself to launch.

Jeff gave it a valiant effort and lasted thirty plus minutes in the raspy, unorganised thermals. The launch at the Short Divide is only a few hundred feet above the primary LZ, making it difficult sometimes to gain the higher peaks in back of launch. However, once you are a few hundred feet above launch, you enter the lift band on the main ridge, and you're "in like flint"! Soon after, Cody launched with a repeat performance. Practically a carbon copy of Jeff's flight.


Jeff helps with Cody's launch




The conditions began to change. The southerly flow became more consistent, and nice looking cumulus clouds began forming out front. I launched, and not too long afterward Greg followed. I was able to climb out to ten grand under the growing cu's and fly upwind eight miles, following a distinct convergence line marked by the nicely formed cu's. Greg played in the smooth evening ridge lift for a while and topped his flight off with a good landing.


The field I landed in, with Gunsight Peak in the background


Greg gets his gas money

Colliding forces

Julie and I arrived at our home in Park City Sunday morning. The trip went fine and our flight back to Salt Lake was routine. Yesterday Greg and I decided to fly the point. Being rather late in the day when we left and given the conditions, we both had reservations about our soaring prospects. As we began setting up, brothers John and Guy Lindbergh along with Dude, showed up and began unloading gliders. As we were closely monitoring a growing cell over the Oquirs, Greg noticed a quickly advancing gust front moving into the valley from the Lone Peak area. We hastily broke down our gliders and loaded up. As we watched, another micro burst from the south was heading up the valley toward the lone pine gust front. As were leaving the point we watched as the two, mainly dry, gust fronts collided. Kinda cool - wish i'd had my camera!

Time to Kill

Tuesday, Julie and I traveled to Oklahoma to visit my parents for a few days. On Thursday morning we borrowed one of Julie's parents' vehicles and headed south to Abilene, Texas. On the way down to Abilene, I couldn't help but notice the great cumulus formations that made up endless cloud streets. I've always been fascinated with weather, especially with cloud formations. Before learning to fly hang gliders, I realized and appreciated the awesome power of thermal convection, personally experiencing several tornados and viewing a few from afar as well. To harness that power (in a very limited way) and use convection for non-powered sustained flight, is a dream come true. Literally!

From time to time as we traveled the two lane highways connecting the small Texas towns, we encountered overdeveloped cu's with small diameter bases but towering 25,000 to 30,000 ft. tops. Hope someone's out here taking advantage of these great soaring conditions!

We're heading back to Utah on Sunday morning. The soaring conditions here in Texas make me look forward to the remainder of the XC season in Utah. Still plenty of time left for fulfilling personal goals and record breaking flights.

Today started with high hopes for high mileage. Most of those plans quickly dwindled, as a driver could not be found for our retrieval purposes. Both Greg and Jeff bailed for good reasons, and Cody and Dorothy are in Florida. So I set out for Inspo on my own. Once on top the conditions looked rather poor. It was hot with very little wind. I felt a repeat of yesterday's sledder comin' on. A few para gliders set up and thrashed around on launch in the light but sometimes trashy thermal cycles. The paras finally took off only to find light conditions out front as well. The paras flew around for half an hour or so and landed below in the school LZ.

A fine shot of Mt. Timpanogas courtesy of Jeff Obrien

A fire that started at the base of the mountain a few days ago burned all the way up to launch, leaving an 800 acre black spot on the hill. Can someone say thermal generator? Not long after the paras landed, I noticed small dust devils forming on the blackened hills below. At times there were five or six going off at once. Ironically, just last week I read an article in the latest Hang Gliding mag about a similar occurrence. The fine black ash left behind after the fire is easily picked up by the dust devils, therefore marking these small meteorological phenomena that normally could not be seen by the human eye. Anyway, that was enough to get my butt in gear and get ready to go. Right after launch I encountered a somewhat solid core that put me a grand over Cascade. After hanging out in thermic ridge lift on Cascade for half an hour, another solid core landed me at 13,950. With the strong south wind, I was over Mt. Timpanogas in no time at all, losing only 1,500 ft. I continued soaring Timp's awesome spine for over an hour. After leaving Timp and a 30 min tour over Provo, I landed at the main LZ. To top things off, for the second day in a row Jeff drove me back up to launch to retrieve my truck!! By the way, his phone number is 1-800-IDRIVEU.

Stuart's Arete

A few weeks ago I was able to climb one of my favorite routes with a fellow climber who doesn't get out much. Stuarts Arete is a three pitch climb in Big Cottonwood Canyon that fit our agenda for the day perfectly. Its rated 5.6 in the guide book, but the third pitch is a stellar 80' knife blade arete with one bolt and no gear! You never really feel like your sketched out on the last pitch, but the excitement factors is definitely there. There are tons of routes in Big that are fun and enjoyable. Maybe the reason I climb there more than anywhere else is because the rock reminds me of the sandstone back in the south - where I honed my climbing skills.



Jason, obviously pleased



The right side of the formation falls away drastically into Big Cottonwood Canyon.