My first stop was Vernon where I joined another pilot to fly a popular site called Baldy Mountain. Launching at an altitude of about 1100 meters, we flew a nice route west towards Kalamalka Lake and then back to the launch where a thermal took us up to almost 2600 meters. Alex and I then flew east back to the town of Lumby for a nice little twenty-four kilometer XC (cross country) start to my trip.
The next day, another friend Norm, and I drove to the Mara Lake launch. This time my flight path took me to and above the beautiful Enderby Cliffs, a truly breath-taking landmark in the Okanagan. I landed south of Armstrong for another nice twenty-three k flight.
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| Flying towards the Enderby Cliffs |
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| I landed several kilometres south of the cliffs |
From Vernon, I carried on to Golden, home of one of the most famous soaring sites in the world, Mount 7. There was a competition going on this week called the Willi Muller Classic. The NW-SE orientation of the Columbia Valley allows for some very long and dynamic flights towards the US border. The dry interior air and immense mountains allow for huge thermals. Pilots can find themselves going up very high, very fast. Sure enough, On my first day, I climbed in thermals going up at 7-8 meters a second. Within minutes of launching I had climbed from 1800 meters to over 3,000 meters. Topped out at an altitude of 4300 meters. On this flight, I flew about eighty kilometres south of Golden, my furthest distance from this site.
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| Very high over very high mountains near Golden |
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| Flying past Edgewater almost 90 km south of Golden |
On my second day, I reached 4500 meters or almost 15,000 feet and landed after eighty-six kilometres just past the town of Edgewater. If this seems impressive, some of my friends who had been there all week, flew 140 km and a really skilled US pilot flew almost 300 k into the US!
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| Mount 7 launch in Golden |
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| Gliding over the verdant Columbia Valley |
On my third day in Golden, I had what is called an "out and return", flying downrange twenty-five kilometres and back to Mt. Seven. Out and returns are a little more challenging because the return is often against the wind and so the pilot has to choose the line very carefully to use the topography as a shield against the wind or fly further out to avoid turbulence.
This flight ended the period of good weather in the interior and so I began my westward journey. The next day, I had a chance to help my friend, Glenn Derouin of Vernon's Paraglide Canada with some tandem flights. Check out the photo of the little girl I took with a huge stuffed horse that was part of a global scavenger hunt being played by a friend of Glen's.
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| My young passenger and her big stuffy |
I returned to the smoky Fraser Valley a week after setting off. It was wonderful to connect with so many pilots and experience some of the best flying in Canada.
