The final day of the comp, and the task committee set us an 85 km task to Galena Pass and back to Sun Valley, landing at the River Run LZ.

The going was tough at first, since the inversion was quite strong, and many pilots decked it on the first glide. We were originally on the Smokey Mountain Range, and had to cross to the Boulder Mountain range at some point, and many pilots chose to do so right at the beginning, at the narrow point in the valley. I got quite low on this crossing, and was getting trashed in the lee, so a bunch of us headed out to the valley. We got a boomer thermal which took us to 16,500', and we were back in the game!

After yesterday’s adventures, I wasn’t really in a mood for a lot of hiking, so when the task was announced (104 km task) and the second part was over the territory I had hiked the day before, I resolved to not land out in boony-land, and land on a road if necessary.

The air was quite stable, with a lot of forest fire smoke around. It was hard to get high, and we all left for Sun Peak way lower than we usually do, only 11,000’. But over at Sun Peak it was working, and we managed to get high enough to bench our way up to Otto peak, and then commit to crossing the Trail Creek Pass to the other side.

I had a really long day!

Task was a 70km dogleg course to the Mackey reservoir, via the airstrip over the Trail Creek Pass. Launched and got myself over to the start gate, 15 km away, and then away I went with a bunch of other people over the Pass. The winds were quite strong from the NW so we were drifting across the valley as we were crossing the Pass, and ended up on the east side of the Pass. Got the airstrip TP, which is about ¬Ω way to goal, and then a bunch of us went for the reservoir.

The winds had switched to NE, and the going was tough. Abe landed out quite hard, and had to hike down with a very sore leg. I was with Farmer trying to get up high enough to make it over the last mountain range, when we both hit extreme sink in the east winds. Farmer was high enough to limp over the mountains and land on the other side, near civilization, while I was forced to get flushed down a gully to the Copper Valley area.

The past 2 days have been cancelled due to high winds aloft, so we’ve been finding other things to do. Yesterday I explored the Hot springs just outside Ketchum, which are very nice, with several pools of varying temperatures, and nice pea gravel to lay in, and rocks to move around for backrests. And the sulfur smell was pretty negligible.

Today a bunch of us decided to head to Twin Falls to BASE jump off Perrine Falls Bridge. Although a bunch of pilots showed up to watch, only 6 of us actually jumped.

The canyon Perrine Bridge spans is about 484’ high. BASE jumpers usually land in the LZ next to the river, in the canyon, but the river is a viable alternative (it’s slow-moving, and a boat is always ready just in case). Today the plan was to jump and land in the LZ, but it was a bit windy so we all decided to wear appropriate dragging-through-the-bushes-clothing.

Task today was a 124 km dogleg flight to Ellis! There was some concern on launch about the conditions, very strong cycles and not very organized lift over the ski hill. Many people decided not to launch, but it appeared to be OK once in the air, so I went.

Once in the air it was indeed OK, and in fact I found it smoother lift compared to yesterday (although many disagreed on this). The first crossing was to Sun Peak and Otto Mountain, and then over the Pass to the north. Once on Otto Mountain it was easy to cloudbase, and then over the Pass with a nice tailwind of about 30 km/h (my groundspeeds approached 70 km/h at times).

The first day of the comp and the task committee set a 78 km task, through the Galena Pass, to Obsidian ghost town, and back to the Smiley Airport.

The logistics for launch are quite sweet. Instead of cramming 10-12 people in a truck for a bumpy ride up the mountain, we take a chairlift right to the launch, and when we get up there, there’s a restaurant, bathrooms, and meeting area for our meetings. Very civilized! The only problem is that the launch area isn’t grassed, but has lots of twiggy bushes and rocks, so you have to be careful about catching and breaking lines.

The skies above launch was a bit of a gong show, with the thermals not taking us very high, and more people joining the thermals every minute. It was a wonder there wasn’t any midairs, but lots of yelling between pilots! Finally I was able to get high enough to cross over the valley to the next range, and get some space.

Drove to Sun Valley yesterday, 14 hour drive from Vancouver, for the US Paragliding Nationals. On the way here, passing thru Boise, I looked toward SV and could only see anvil cloud after anvil cloud, with an angry red glow underneath (forest fires), looking like the “cauldron of death”. According to those who flew yesterday, it was pretty kick-ass and many people chose not to fly. But today looked much better. Sunny and more stable!

Went to Sun Valley Paragliding HQ to pick up my lift pass (7 days unlimited rides up to launch!), and fill up my borrowed O2 tank (thanks Brett for the loan!). All the O2 you need for $15, with unlimited refills! With the launch at 9000’, and cloudbase easily getting to 18,000' and over, O2 seemed like a good idea, especially for those people who live at sea level. I didn't need it today (cloudbase was only about 12,500') but I took it just to get acquainted with the system and using it in-flight.

Yesterday we called a task, but nobody got out of bombout distance (7 km) so it wasn't scored (invalid task). The sky looked spectacular, but the instability was up higher we figured, and there was a stable layer we couldn't get through. So that meant we had an early evening, and no scoring necessary by Bill, so he had the night off too (we watched Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, for Sink Out Cinema).

Today it was overdeveloping and forecast to start raining, so we set an early task to Harrogate (44 km). When we launched it wasn't very good-looking, and the only reason we launched was because it didn't look like it was going to get any better. Scratched our way around the corner to the gap between Mt. 7 and Pagliaro, and 6 of us made the crossing even lower than the first day (below cliff height!). Good thing it was cloudy since I don't think we would have dared fly that close to those rocks in sunnier conditions.

A similar day to yesterday, with us waiting until late in the day to fly. It was very strong in the afternoon, south winds, so when it became lighter we were once again using the south launch. It was stronger though, and swirly winds, so it was a bit of a gong show to watch the launches. Many duffs and aborted launches, some excitement too. Ryan gashed his knee on the sharp rocks during an abort, and had to go to the hospital for stitches. Jeff had some punctures to his leading edge of his glider, and while he was fixing the holes on launch, undid his legstraps. He forgot to re-strap them when he launched afterwards, and as he flew away from the hill, sensed he wasn't strapped in and opted to right away slide out of his harness, to fall to the slope below. Fortunately the slope is super-steep, and he fell and rolled, no injuries other than a fast-beating heart. But the rest of us just about had heart attacks watching him fall from his harness from the air. But he got himself sorted out again, and successfully launched later on.

Up on launch it was sunny but south wind. Normally we'd set a task north in this wind, but it looked a bit stable for that (crossing to table mountain with no LZs), so we opted for a 40 km "fishbowl" task, from launch to the Pagliaro gap, to the gravel pits, again for another round, and to the Nicholson LZ in time for the Sunday party and dinner planned.

We ended up waiting all day, opening the window, closing it, extending it, once again closing it, etc. We could see it getting better as the day went on, so we finally decided on a 6:30pm start of the race.

It was really south, so we all launched from the south launch. The locals have been working to fix the south launch so it's not as steep and clifflike, and it's a bit sloped now (still being worked on though), but still not the most comfortable of launches. There were a few hairy launches, but most people got off (some decided to stand down).