|
Skyport to the Base of White Ledge Here's a few shots I took on [Friday] and [Saturday] For the record, I’m writing this story under duress. Pipkin threatened to expose himself to me if I didn’t share my flight story for the day. That's an image I'd rather not have in my memory. So, considering the consequences I thought it would be in the best interests of everyone, especially me, to put pen to paper. This account may be a little long winded but I thought I would give as many details as possible to help those pilots that haven’t been through the pass yet and may end up in a similar situation. A good size group of pilots showed up at Skyport today with conditions looking stellar. I launched at 11:00 behind several others. The lift was marked well by the cumis but it was very light. Unfortunately several pilots sunk out which left me flying down range alone. Cloud base varied between 3400-3900. The further down range I got the darker it got and it became a game of cat and mouse looking for holes of sunlight. I would say that cloud cover had increased to about 80% by the time I reached West Divide at 12:30. Even though the lift was light it was pretty reliable up to this point. As all of you that have been through the pass know it was decision time. Do I make the crossing or don’t I? Cloud base was about 3700 and it didn’t appear that the conditions were going to improve so rather than wait I jumped over to East Divide, gained a few hundred, and headed for White Ledge crossing my fingers the whole way. Unfortunately, the same pulse that gave me a few hundred over East Divide also clouded over the rest of the sunny areas on the way to White Ledge, things weren't looking so good. I came in low at White Ledge and knew immediately I needed a miracle to get back up. I called upstairs and was told there weren’t any miracles being given out to paragliders flying low through the pass today. I was also told if I needed a “Going through the pass” miracle in the future I would have to call 4 days in advance just like the permits for Chiefs. So, I had to put it down at 1:00 on the fire road that runs East-West at the base of White Ledge. Feeling a little disappointed, I sat down and ate the sandwich and some chocolate chip cookies that I had packed and got ready for the hike. I began hiking East around 1:30 and ran into some bear tracks about a half mile down the road and they looked fairly fresh. Fortunately the tracks were following the road headed in the opposite direction and I was upwind which put me somewhat at ease. What's the worst that can happen? After all, I had my 2" pocket knife, the bear wouldn't stand a chance. Of course, it didn’t stop me from turning around several times while walking just to make sure I wasn’t the catch of the day. I‘d heard about some re-launch areas nearby but this was my first hike-out going through the pass and I wasn’t quite sure where they were. I finally connected with Truax on the radio, who was still in the air, and he steered me in the right direction. Pipkin and I connected on the cell phone soon after and he confirmed the location, so off I went. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of hiking out of the pass, finding the re-launch area is very easy. Follow the fire road East approx 1 hour from the base of White Ledge and you’ll come to a big pasture on your right that overlooks the valley and Casitas Lake. The photo titled “Re-Launch02” in Fridays pics is a shot from the fire road looking East towards the pasture and re-launch knobs. If you decide not to try to re-launch, for whatever reason, you can continue on the fire road for another 90 minutes where you’ll find yourself at the Taft property gate just ½ mile NW of Hwy 150 on La Garrigue Road. IMPORTANT: Try to avoid the residents at the Taft property at all costs, they’re definitely not paraglider or trespass friendly and they’ll drop the dime on you to the cops in a heartbeat. Get to the automatic gate and have retrieve pick you up outside the property. If your retrieve vehicle drives through the gate your chances of getting the vehicle back outside the property is slim and you’ll be at the mercy of the Taft residents (Good Luck). It requires a remote control to open the gate from the inside. If you decide to try and re-launch there’s a little trail that breaks off the fire road to the right, winds through the pasture (a couple hundred yards) and continues up to the first of three knobs. All three of these knobs are launchable and each favor a different wind direction. You can see these knobs in the photos I’ve attached below. I was advised to proceed past the first knob and launch further down. I got to the third knob at 2:45, looked at the cumis above me and thought there was a good possibility of getting up and continuing on down range. After all, the day was still early…right. This knob favored a SE launch and the wind was coming from the SW. The only place to lay out was a small area on the lee of the SW face and it was sloping away slightly. If the wind was coming from the SE this area would’ve been great but it was definitely SW. What the hell, it looked like a good challenge, time to “Get er’ dun”. From the layout area there was approx. 50-60 feet of overgrown grass, some small bushes and a fair share of 4-6 foot tall shrubs you had to penetrate through before you had a chance of leaving the ground on the SW face. My plan: bring the kite up in reverse, kite and navigate it through the foliage, launch, get to cloud base and fly to Fillmore. My result: 6 attempted launches requiring at least 15-20 minutes each of glider extraction time from the bushes with 2 or 3 new expletives to add to the dictionary in the process. I was just getting pissed off. Each time I brought the glider up and moved through the brush something would grab my clothes, foot strap or harness and bring me down while I watched helplessly as the glider draped itself over the shrubs. Pipkin had called OJ and he was on his roof with binoculars watching this whole process sharing in my pain and lending support. Now it’s 4:45 and I’d been at it for 2 hours with nothing more to show for it than 3 layers of soaked clothes. Pipkin had been trying to get me to pack up and hike down for the last hour but I was determined. I finally threw in the towel and relayed that I was going to pack up and start hiking, hopefully I’d find a place to re-launch along the way. I hadn’t backtracked more than 300 yards when I found myself at a flat area along the same ridge that seemed launchable. Cycles were coming in at 3-4 straight up the face. The best part…no tall shrubs. How did I miss this spot when I came through here the first time? I was relieved at the thought of not having to hike down after all. I got ready in record time in wind that was getting lighter by the minute. I brought the glider up but there just wasn’t enough wind for a reverse launch so I put it down. This time I spread the glider out perfectly and set up for a forward launch. As I waited for just a little wind to help my forward launch I started to feel a tickle at the back of my neck and it wasn’t female. Nooooooo...... this can’t be happening! It’s only 5:40, katabatic already? Well it wasn’t katabatic but it was the forecasted North that had finally pushed through the now weak SW flow. Now what? How many more opportunities would I have to launch? The sun was starting to dip below the horizon and time was running out. I walked to the NE side of the knob and it looked launchable. Although it faced the direction I ultimately wanted to be going, it was leading straight down the canyon… hmmmmm... Ironically, one of the pictures I had taken earlier in the day while I was making my way down to the first launch location just happened to be spot I was launching from now. If you look at the photo titled “Re-Launch03” in the shots I took Friday you have a perfect view of my launch and what lay ahead of me. Just picture it 3 hours later and totally shaded in. Looks like fun, eh! With the wind coming from the North steadily at 3-4 I felt confident there wouldn’t be any rotor from the knob to my right and it was too light from the North to be a factor from the high ridge line far to my left. I laid out the glider facing NE, pulled up and was airborne. I can’t even begin to tell you how I felt at the moment I realized I didn’t have to hike down the rest of the way. More than that I was happy that all my launch efforts didn’t go in vain. I couldn’t stop grinning as I glided around the last knob and had the Taft property in sight. The air was very buoyant and I had the glide to clear the Taft property putting me on the other side of the gate. As I approached the Taft property gate I hooked up with my retrieve on the radio. Tom and John (last names withheld just in case someone from the Taft property is listening) had come to my rescue. Only one problem… they had driven through the gate and were stuck inside the property trying to get back out. They have a great story to tell about their attempts to get back out, you’ll have to ask them about it. Eventually they made it back out, picked me up, and we put pedal to the metal to get as far away from the Taft property as possible. Sometimes you just have to roll the dice to make a mediocre day into an epic day. The dice just weren't in my favor today, maybe next time. Dean
|
|
[Top of Page] [Home] |