Missing out on what sounds like a really tough walk up White Mountain yesterday I was glad to get a phone call from Ian C. to see if I wanted to chance Shane's Hill. Ian had identified a small weather window that would hopefully allow some flying at Shane's Hill before the wind got stronger in the afternoon .
I only got two flights, the first was only a couple of minutes long, a quick run down the ridge gaining lift, then turn back and slowly sink back down for to a top landing almost where I took off. The next flight I started sinking straight away so I headed towards the low end of the ridge. There I soared for a while and found myself above take off again. I pootled about back and forth in front of take off (the guys that were there were not ready to take off yet so I wasn't in any ones way). With the thought of aiming to land in the bottom field near the car to save me walking too far I got quite low and far out the front but several times I was able to regain my height back to above take off. I was at one point soaring a small bank with a fence along it and a thermal helped me back to the top again.
Slowly but surely I made my way down the hill to land by the cars but not before encountering some quite strong patches of lift that a better pilot than I would have been able to use to get back up the hill.
07/04/2013
05/04/2013
Slieve Gallion in the snow and retrieves
It was decided that Slieve Gallion was the place to fly today. We drove most of the way up to take off to find that a fellow pilot had grounded his Volvo on a small snow drift that was across the road. After he was towed off the snow we decided not to try and dig out the short stretch of snow which was a good call as when we walked up we found a 10 foot snow drift that must have extended for several hundred meters along the road.
After the fairly long walk through the snow we found very cyclic conditions on the hill. I spent some time taking off only to slope land a way down the hill and have to walk up again. At times the conditions were just slightly too strong to launch and at others I they were to weak for me to keep the wing above my head. See below video of me parking my wing on Walter.
Maurice pulled off the most casual take off into a thermal subsequently leaving the hill in the same lift in such a relaxed manner I was almost sickened (with envy). It was as if he was plucked from the hill and sent skyward.
A couple of times I circled in lift but I soon lost it again, nothing like the sky gods that left the hill before me.
I got a phone call Ian who had driven. He had gone over the back (left the hill in an attempt to see how far he can get) asking to go get him when I had finished flying. So after a bit of ground handling (well ok, struggling to launch in changeable conditions) I got what I thought might be enough height to fly back to where the cars were parked. Unfortunately the height turned out to be far too little because as soon as I was committed to leaving the ridge I hit sink and landed only about 500 meters away. I then had to pack up and do the walk of shame back to the car.
So I got my first taste of being a retrieve driver. The idea is that those that leave the hill eventually land and have to come back to the hill for their cars, unless they can convince someone to bring their car to them. I left the hill in Ian's car to collect him somewhere the other side of Cookstown. On the way to Ian, I had spoken to Dave, who told me that Maurice was in Cookstown, so on the way back we collected Maurice. After we Got Maurice Dave rang back to say he had hitched back almost to the bottom of the hill. We drove up the hill keeping an eye out for Dave and bumped into Billy who had walked back to the Hill from about 10km away (Billy is a hill runner so is extremely fit). Billy had found Dave walking up the hill and given him a lift to the cars.
With a few more bodies at the cars we could get all the remaining cars to their owners. Ian drove his car and I drove Mark's car (he had now made his way to Cookstown) to drop Mark's car. Dave drove Donal's car to collect him somewhere near Pomeroy and Maurice followed Dave in his own car.
Unfortunately half way down the hill I came a cropper, Mark's car ran aground on a snow drift we were previously able to pass. Fortunately I had thought to throw a spade into the back of Ian's car so 10 minutes of driving back and forth, some digging and much shouting of (at times contradictory) instructions got the car through. The other drivers seemed to take a slightly different method to get through , drive at the drift as fast as you dare and hope for the best.
I found my first involvement in retrieves fairly complicated even though I only had to do what I was told as all the arranging was handled by the elated XCers
After the fairly long walk through the snow we found very cyclic conditions on the hill. I spent some time taking off only to slope land a way down the hill and have to walk up again. At times the conditions were just slightly too strong to launch and at others I they were to weak for me to keep the wing above my head. See below video of me parking my wing on Walter.
Maurice pulled off the most casual take off into a thermal subsequently leaving the hill in the same lift in such a relaxed manner I was almost sickened (with envy). It was as if he was plucked from the hill and sent skyward.
A couple of times I circled in lift but I soon lost it again, nothing like the sky gods that left the hill before me.
I got a phone call Ian who had driven. He had gone over the back (left the hill in an attempt to see how far he can get) asking to go get him when I had finished flying. So after a bit of ground handling (well ok, struggling to launch in changeable conditions) I got what I thought might be enough height to fly back to where the cars were parked. Unfortunately the height turned out to be far too little because as soon as I was committed to leaving the ridge I hit sink and landed only about 500 meters away. I then had to pack up and do the walk of shame back to the car.
So I got my first taste of being a retrieve driver. The idea is that those that leave the hill eventually land and have to come back to the hill for their cars, unless they can convince someone to bring their car to them. I left the hill in Ian's car to collect him somewhere the other side of Cookstown. On the way to Ian, I had spoken to Dave, who told me that Maurice was in Cookstown, so on the way back we collected Maurice. After we Got Maurice Dave rang back to say he had hitched back almost to the bottom of the hill. We drove up the hill keeping an eye out for Dave and bumped into Billy who had walked back to the Hill from about 10km away (Billy is a hill runner so is extremely fit). Billy had found Dave walking up the hill and given him a lift to the cars.
With a few more bodies at the cars we could get all the remaining cars to their owners. Ian drove his car and I drove Mark's car (he had now made his way to Cookstown) to drop Mark's car. Dave drove Donal's car to collect him somewhere near Pomeroy and Maurice followed Dave in his own car.
Unfortunately half way down the hill I came a cropper, Mark's car ran aground on a snow drift we were previously able to pass. Fortunately I had thought to throw a spade into the back of Ian's car so 10 minutes of driving back and forth, some digging and much shouting of (at times contradictory) instructions got the car through. The other drivers seemed to take a slightly different method to get through , drive at the drift as fast as you dare and hope for the best.
I found my first involvement in retrieves fairly complicated even though I only had to do what I was told as all the arranging was handled by the elated XCers
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