Canada Day Weekend in Pemby

Click photo for more imagesPemberton Valley flying for Lee, Mark, Merwan, and Natalie!

Natalie, Jaron, Hannah, Lee, and I left early Sunday morning bound for Departure Bay in Nanaimo. After taking the overly-hyped 'Coastal Renaissance' ferry to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland, we headed north on the construction-riddled Sea-to-Sky Highway, eventually arriving at our BnB north of Whistler in the small town of Pemberton. Mark and Merwan had arrived a couple of hours before us and had been enviously watching the paraglider pilots soaring over Mt Mackenzie, directly east of the Lillooet River.

After checking in, we wasted little time in walking the LZ and then driving up to launch. It had been a couple of years since my last visit but I remembered the turnoffs and we soon got to the surprisingly open and well-maintained takeoff. A couple of pilots had just top-landed and they turned out to be Sony (who we had last seen during our winter tour to Hawaii and Nepal before that!) and Mike (who I did tandem work with years ago in Whistler and Pemberton).

The wind was on the strong side but everyone launched during lighter cycles and got to experience their first Pemberton flights in fairly rare north conditions. Lee bagged a good 30mins or so and everyone handled themselves well in the less-than-smooth thermals. I should mention that it was HOT. Easy 35degrees.

I drove retrieve and then we had dinner at the new 'Pony Espresso' before calling it a night.

Click photo for more imagesThe next morning was overcast and cooler than we expected and we wasted little time getting up the mountain for some forward launches into the smooth air. We did another round in similar conditions before the sun started cranking up some thermals for the third flights of the day.

The wind still had some north in it (crossing from the right of launch) and the lift on the lower spine was sharp-edged and punchy. Everyone worked it well, with Merwan and Lee climbing up to launch height multiple times.

On the fourth run of the day (a record for Mark and Lee), Natalie elected to drive retrieve and I flew for about 40mins, finding the air pretty snarly with 4-6m/s up and similar down. I flew with Merwan for quite awhile, surprised by his tenaciousness as we both got yo-yo'd about the ridge. After an hour or so, Merwan headed in to land at the Community Centre LZ and I touched down in the alternative LZ, situated close to our BnB.

We then hooked up with a good friend and PG/Helicopter/Powered/Glider pilot friend of mine who'd just recently moved to Pemberton to work at Rudy's Gliderport, Drew. We all jumped in One Mile Lake to cool down before heading to Whistler for some great Japanese food.

Click photo for more imagesThe next day was July 1st, Canada Day and we made the most of it with everyone getting 2 or 3 flights in, swimming in alpine Mosquito Lake (much nicer than it sounds), getting to see some local bears (on the road and from the air), experiencing 50min glider flights with Drew (Lee, Jaron, and Mark) and then enjoying the beautiful drive and ferry ride back to Vancouver Island.

Local flying guru, Jim Orava, apologized for the less than perfect soaring conditions (he toplanded before our last flights) and invited us back next May when Pemberton is usually at its best.

We really felt that we experienced a heathy dose of BC this weekend and I know I speak for everyone when I say that this flying trip was more than worthwhile!

Here's a video of Merwan reverse launching

and one of Natalie forward launching