We're Trying to go to Jackson
August 7th 2013
I have been having a great summer here in Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho. I decided to live here after a three week flying trip here last August. I was impressed by the friendliness of the people and the numerous world class pilots who chose to call Sun Valley home. I have not regreated the decision for a second. Flying tandems here uses and improves my skills, and never ceases to challenge them. The xc flying here is off the hook. Just look at a map of the area to see that we are in a zone where the hot desert of southern Idaho meets numerous mountain ranges through a small constricted valley. Its big, its scenic, and its strong. The local pilot community is nothing short of amazing. They have helped me feel like part of the family from the very first day. From LZ bbqs to impromptu route breifings, and spontanious retrieve drivers, this small flying community shows big heart.
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| Taking care of business before the big flight |
Matt "Farmer" Beechinor and I had seen the forecast and asked Chuck Smith, legend and owner of FlySunValley, to help us expedite our passengers so that we could be on the gondola with them at 9am on the dot. Farmer was top FAI ranked pilot in the US, and was on the USA team that took 5th place at the 2009 World Paragliding Championship, he also held the US foot launch record with a 194 mile flight from Sun Valley last June. It worked smooth as silk (thanks Chuck), with a 9am gondola loading, and a quick take off from Hun Run (named after a marathon tandem launch by Chris Hunlow). We felt small thermals on the shady side at 9:30am, after winging over, spiraling down, and landing we quickly packed our wings. I got a call that Gavin McClurg forgot his camel back and I grabbed one from my truck for him. Gavin flew three monster flights in one week last month, two of them were back to back 192 and 238 mile flights, crushing the US foot launching record, his blog is a great read; http://www.cloudbasemayhem.com.
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| Artwork by Tony Lang |
Farmer and I headed up with our solo gliders, getting pumped up to some old school Hip Hop. On top we found that the other two 9am tandems had not launched yet, and Nate Scales, Hayden Glatte, and Garth Callahan where also gearing up to go far. Nate Scales has held the Idaho and US foot launch record numerous times, the most recent of which was a 199 mile flight last July. Hayden Glatte calls WoodRat, Oregon home and recently reset his site record there to 98 miles. Garth Callahan has been flying paragliders professionally since before I graduated elementary school. As we put down our bags Emily Mistick, launched and immediately found a good climb, by the time I had my bag unpacked she looked to be 2000ft above us and still climbing, it was on. Those of us planning to fly XC agreed to try for Jackson Hole, a flight that has never been done. Apparently a party of epic proportions, complete with professional women wearing nothing but illicit substances, has been promised by a certain greecy jackson pilot when the flight is completed.
In launched soon after Gavin into a wide strong thermal just in front of launch. Soon Gavin and I were at 12,000ft and hoping the others would launch soon. I shouted to Gavin that I was game to go if he was, he practiced restraint and radioed that he was going to wait for the others, thanks Gavin. I often find myself diving off alone on xc flights, even when a gaggle of good pilots are around, it's a habit Im trying to break.
Soon the others were in a strong core and climbing up to us with Colin Frazer, a solid intermediate local pilot, who had done his first xc a couple of evenings previously. We toped the climb out at 13,600 ft and went on glide East, for the Pioneers, Colin went on glide for Griffins Butte to the North. Farmer came on the radio and told Colin he should take one more climb then go for a massive glide and land before the day got really big. In the Pioneers Farmer lead deep into the center of roadless high, steep canyon terrain. Garth and I opted to glide a little more south, downwind and towards a closer trigger. After some rowdy climbs I was feeling pretty good at 14,000ft when I saw Farmer, Nate, Hayden, and Gavin cruse by at 17000ft+ on a line deep over the center of the Pioneers. Soon I got the climb that allowed my to take chase, Garth decided to fly out and land in East Fork Canyon, he ended up having a 3+ hour hike out. At about this time we heard Colins Dad and fellow pilot Tom come on the radio "Stop thermaling Colin, its time to land now." Then we heard Chuck Smith come on the radio "try to limit your time over 14,000ft Colin, we don't want you to get hypoxic." I chuckled and felt pumped for Colin, he has been flying really well and making good decisions, he has earned that great flight.
I was flying my trusted Ozone Delta 2, while everyone else was on Niviuk Ice Peak 6's, except for Gavin on his Peak 3. I had to tell myself to just keep flying my flight and not blow it by chasing after these legends on comp gliders. By the time I got to the Donkey hills, west of Moore, I was high and able to see Farmer and Nate catch their climbs. I flew to the trigger and was surprised to be joined by Hayden. I felt that I was flying slow and taking climbs high, but in reality my pace was just right, and I was back with the gaggle. Hayden and I left that climb at about 17000ft but flew through a lot of lift for the beginning of our glide to King Mountain. At this point I knew that if I was going to make it to work on time I had to spiral down and hope for some lucky hitchhiking back to Ketchum. Farmer was also scheduled for a tandem flight that evening, and he seemed to be firmly blowing off work, so I followed suit. I have heard that Chuck is O.K. with us missing work if the flight is good enough to make it into the papers and thus grab some interest in the business. The flight to Jackson would do that, and it seemed like we might be able to pull it off. Luckily the tandems were cancelled due to rain, thanks for not firing me Chuck.
At King Mountain I saw Nate's glider below me dancing like a bucket on a geyser and flew over to join him. The climb was incredibly strong, and quite rough, after a little while Nate left the climb to go join the others a little further north. Nate latter told us that that was the strongest core of his life, he recalled being thrown forward and up and his fully inflated IP6 being 8ft over his head, with slack lines all around. The stories about King Mountain are true, and we were there at 2pm on a booming August day. Luckily I was in a alpha state of function, and I was barely registering the turbulence in my conscious mind, rather I was letting my sub conscious deal with it. I have found that if I can get my conscious mind out of the way, and just make decisions and react then the flying gets easier and distance goes by with less effort, stress and worry. Some would call it letting go, and as XC pilots flying in strong conditions we are all letting go of a certain amount of control, the trick is getting your mind to let go of the control, and except the violent skies rather then fight them. I took that climb high and decided to follow a cloud street that went ESE of King ending in the flats. Matt, Nate and Hayden were topping out a climb to my North and decided to glide to the Southern end of the Lemhi mountains. Gavin had fallen slightly behind, but was catching up fast. In retrospect it was not smart of me to leave the group and push out into the flats on my own, my decision was based on not wanting to push into the wind, while playing catch-up, but the flats would have been much easier to work as a group.
I was flying over huge lava fields and the Idaho National Laboratory, which is a nuclear testing zone, and a place to avoid landing at all costs, if the radiation doesn't get you the black helicopters will. The thermals were few and far between but it was working. I radioed to the others that the blue hole was working. Nate responded that he and Hayden were going to push into the flats towards Mud Lake. I altered my course to try and meet them there. Emily Mistick came on the radio and told us she was stationed at Arco for retrieve, Nate asked her to drive to Mud Lake, and keep track of us from there. I was leaving each thermal lower and lower, either because they were toping out or, more likely, because I was getting inpatient and feeling like I was going slow. Near Mud Lake I found a lot of sink, and was soon getting desperate. Its funny that I felt desperate 2,500 feet from the ground, but thats what happens when you've been over 10,000 feet from the ground for a lot of the flight. The air low was hot, and the thermals were small, drifty and bullety, I suddenly felt very tired and sun scorched. Soon I was going off course, downwind, to improve my searching ability, while unzipping every piece of clothing I could. There was a layer around 8,500 feet that I was having a really tough time breaking through. I landed in a plowed wheat field. The owner of the field came to see that I was O.K., and told me that I looked "really spectacular" as I was setting up to land. I called Emily and she drove up to me in a pimped out travel van, complete with leather seats, a flat screen T.V., and cold beer, before I had even finished packing up. Thank you Emily.
We resupplied the beer and got some snacks before heading across I15 to pick up Farmer. On xcfind we could see that Gavin had taken a line further south, and approaching Rigby, while Nate and Hayden were close to Rexburg. We picked them up, had burgers in Idaho Falls, shared stories of the days adventures and drove back to Ketchum, arriving at midnight. Thanks to the other pilots, Chuck Smith and most of all to Emily Mistick for the perfect retrieve.
Soon the others were in a strong core and climbing up to us with Colin Frazer, a solid intermediate local pilot, who had done his first xc a couple of evenings previously. We toped the climb out at 13,600 ft and went on glide East, for the Pioneers, Colin went on glide for Griffins Butte to the North. Farmer came on the radio and told Colin he should take one more climb then go for a massive glide and land before the day got really big. In the Pioneers Farmer lead deep into the center of roadless high, steep canyon terrain. Garth and I opted to glide a little more south, downwind and towards a closer trigger. After some rowdy climbs I was feeling pretty good at 14,000ft when I saw Farmer, Nate, Hayden, and Gavin cruse by at 17000ft+ on a line deep over the center of the Pioneers. Soon I got the climb that allowed my to take chase, Garth decided to fly out and land in East Fork Canyon, he ended up having a 3+ hour hike out. At about this time we heard Colins Dad and fellow pilot Tom come on the radio "Stop thermaling Colin, its time to land now." Then we heard Chuck Smith come on the radio "try to limit your time over 14,000ft Colin, we don't want you to get hypoxic." I chuckled and felt pumped for Colin, he has been flying really well and making good decisions, he has earned that great flight.
I was flying my trusted Ozone Delta 2, while everyone else was on Niviuk Ice Peak 6's, except for Gavin on his Peak 3. I had to tell myself to just keep flying my flight and not blow it by chasing after these legends on comp gliders. By the time I got to the Donkey hills, west of Moore, I was high and able to see Farmer and Nate catch their climbs. I flew to the trigger and was surprised to be joined by Hayden. I felt that I was flying slow and taking climbs high, but in reality my pace was just right, and I was back with the gaggle. Hayden and I left that climb at about 17000ft but flew through a lot of lift for the beginning of our glide to King Mountain. At this point I knew that if I was going to make it to work on time I had to spiral down and hope for some lucky hitchhiking back to Ketchum. Farmer was also scheduled for a tandem flight that evening, and he seemed to be firmly blowing off work, so I followed suit. I have heard that Chuck is O.K. with us missing work if the flight is good enough to make it into the papers and thus grab some interest in the business. The flight to Jackson would do that, and it seemed like we might be able to pull it off. Luckily the tandems were cancelled due to rain, thanks for not firing me Chuck.
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| Gavin Flying his Niviuk Peak 3 on King Mountain during an evening flight. Photo: Jody McDonald Photography |
I was flying over huge lava fields and the Idaho National Laboratory, which is a nuclear testing zone, and a place to avoid landing at all costs, if the radiation doesn't get you the black helicopters will. The thermals were few and far between but it was working. I radioed to the others that the blue hole was working. Nate responded that he and Hayden were going to push into the flats towards Mud Lake. I altered my course to try and meet them there. Emily Mistick came on the radio and told us she was stationed at Arco for retrieve, Nate asked her to drive to Mud Lake, and keep track of us from there. I was leaving each thermal lower and lower, either because they were toping out or, more likely, because I was getting inpatient and feeling like I was going slow. Near Mud Lake I found a lot of sink, and was soon getting desperate. Its funny that I felt desperate 2,500 feet from the ground, but thats what happens when you've been over 10,000 feet from the ground for a lot of the flight. The air low was hot, and the thermals were small, drifty and bullety, I suddenly felt very tired and sun scorched. Soon I was going off course, downwind, to improve my searching ability, while unzipping every piece of clothing I could. There was a layer around 8,500 feet that I was having a really tough time breaking through. I landed in a plowed wheat field. The owner of the field came to see that I was O.K., and told me that I looked "really spectacular" as I was setting up to land. I called Emily and she drove up to me in a pimped out travel van, complete with leather seats, a flat screen T.V., and cold beer, before I had even finished packing up. Thank you Emily.
We resupplied the beer and got some snacks before heading across I15 to pick up Farmer. On xcfind we could see that Gavin had taken a line further south, and approaching Rigby, while Nate and Hayden were close to Rexburg. We picked them up, had burgers in Idaho Falls, shared stories of the days adventures and drove back to Ketchum, arriving at midnight. Thanks to the other pilots, Chuck Smith and most of all to Emily Mistick for the perfect retrieve.
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| Our spot tracks from xcfind. Gavin's on the bottom, Farmer on top, Nate the middle long one, me the middle shorter one. |
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