Hiked up again via Reid Road and lots of pilots at lower launch this time, many are using the front trail despite reports of a bear sow and cubs near that trail.
Started going down Owl Ridge but turned back since it was getting shady that way, and looked to be for quite some time. Instead it was sunny over by the Duffy Lake pass so a bunch of us went over the back to Lil'wat Mountain and then the Duffy pass entrance. I saw some pilots flying deep into the pass and not sure what happened to them, it wasn't very sunny in there and I was guessing there was plenty of "canyon suck" for those low and deep. I stayed out front and connected with the front of the various Duffy peaks, easy to get to cloud base at 2800m and surf along the ridge there along Lilloet Lake to Twin Goat Peak.
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| Crossing the Duffy Lake Pass with Lilloet Lake below. Mt. Currie to the left and the Pemberton airport airstrip visible at its foot. |
I turned around at Twin Goat although some others went a peak or two further before turning back too. At the entrance to the Duffy the wind had indeed picked up and it was a bit of a slog to get back across the pass, and below 2000m it was quite windy from the SW and rough.
Since the car was at Reid Road I decided to cross back to MacKenzie via the Coyote launch, also we weren't getting high enough for a direct crossing to MacKenzie. If I landed short, it would be near th car anyways ;). But I found lift along the Coyote ridge all along to Ivy and Mosquito lakes, enough to get me around the corner at MacKenzie and back up high. Several pilots crossed back via the Mt. Currie route, and Tom landed behind MacKenzie in the rotor, in one of the various gravel pits lining the road to D'Arcy.
In the end I landed at the school LZ to get Tom's car and it was getting a bit Whistler Express-y with lots of lift over town, but only mildly. Just enough to keep me on my toes!
MacKenzie to Twin Goat and return flight.
The following day was much mellower, I flew out Goat Peak and return after a slow start (it took about 40 minutes to get to upper launch height!). Coming back the Whistler Express was just starting up so a bunch of us opted to land at the old Festival grounds. When I landed it was still a nice 10 kph breeze, but when Alex and Pete landed it had picked up quite a bit from the Pemberton direction. Good thing the field is huge and lots of room to land!
MacKenzie to Goat Peak and return flight.
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| Sunset from our campsite near Mt. Currie. |
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