Grouse Mountain August 12

 With Covid-19 affecting regular Grouse Mountain operations, we actually had a really pleasant experience!  No lineups at Guest Services to get our ticket, no lineup at the gondola, only 5 people on the gondola, and the staff turned on the Peak Chair for us to save the hike up the last part!

Heading out to land as my hands were getting cold!

It was pretty strong in the air and Capilano Lake had catspaws and gusts showing, so no landing for the next little while!  The cu's were big but slowly shrinking, while in the back, and in the Fraser Valley, it looked like it was overdeveloping, very dark, and possibly some rain in spots.  But cloudbase was around 1800m and it was easy to get high (and cold!) around Dam Mountain.  Alex and Greg went back to Crown Mountain but didn't stick around that long...it's a long glide back if you get low in the shade back there!

It was a pretty quiet day at Grouse with only 4 pilots (the day before was 10) so we were able to social distance quite easily in the LZ.  And as per usual,the LZ was active and with the trees getting taller each year (and we're not allowed to cut them!), the landing zone feels smaller and smaller each time, necessitating good spot landing skills whilst handling thermals, wind, and turbulence.

Grouse Mountain Aug 13 flight.