Sunny and Hot in Pemberton June 5

Looking north toward Hurley Pass.

I was busy working yesterday so missed the flying in Pemberton, where I heard it was a bit stable-ish.  But after a week of work I wanted to get out so I opted to head up anyways and join up with Alex.

First thing in the morning Greg, Reto, and Jim took a helicopter up to Mt. Currie where they all flew off.  Over at MacKenzie it was sunny and hot, and a bit of NW wind.  Nice launching conditions but we never actually launched until sometime after 1pm.

I was flying Alex's glider since he was flying mine so it took a few turns to get used to the new brake pressure etc.  But got away from launch and up to the towers, and then turned north.  (BTW, there is still 1 patch of snow on the road to upper launch that is preventing pilots from driving all the way, but it's about a 10 minute walk from the last snow patch.)

The new launch still has snow on it.

Heading that way was slow due to the NW winds, and it picked up the further north I went.  At the gap it was significant and snotty feeling, so I decided to turn back towards launch.  In the meantime a sailplane had joined me and we flew together for maybe 10 minutes or so.  The pilot was actually very good about thermalling with a PG...he just made wider turns around me and we kept good eye contact.

Back at launch there were reports of a glider in the trees just below launch but the pilot was OK.  Then I watched another pilot spin their glider into the trees just on the ridge before you get into the south bowl, they were OK as well and hiked out within the hour.

Some company!

 The sailplane came back on another tandem flight and this time we thermalled (with Peter S. as well) over the new launch until they sped off to the east.  It was getting a bit boring so I flew across to the Ipsoot side just for kicks and then landed.  Pilots were still flying and there seemed to be plenty of lift, just not a lot to get you high and going places.  Dennis had monkey races going on today, to Pizzle and back, and a few pilots made it down there and almost back, so it was definitely XC-able for those who really wanted it.