February 2010
Monthly Archive
Saturday, 13th February 2010
Geoff writes: it started out sunny, and today we were planning to go to fly, so we went to Santa Brigida – where else? It was flyable most of the day, but not epic, just a couple of hundred feet max over. Me, Judith and Wayne flew a few times, mostly top landing. It was easily soarable, and in spite of the cloud coming in, it was quite thermic. Richard Westgate only managed a couple of top to bottoms (though, to be fair, he was flying a speedwing).
Later on, Judith, Wayne and Richard went to the tree house at Argelaguer. An amazing construction, and no way would it be allowed in the UK!
All in all, a pleasant day.
Friday, 12th February 2010
Geoff writes: another day skiing, but what a different day to yesterday! Wayne managed to not slice any more bits off. Richard got a lot faster. The wind dropped and the sun came out giving the usual stunning views. We all had a great day, skiing until the lifts closed, which we rarely do. The snow was excellent, the pistes were well groomed, and though there were lots of people you could avoid them by getting higher up, or going to the less well-used side, La Pia, away from the main resort parking. Richard had another lesson, is hooked, and determined to beat Judith’s speed of 80-odd km/h. But he has to learn how to stop first.
On the way back we met up briefly for a quick drink with Kai and his son James, who are going to Masella for a few days skiing.
And out for a meal in the evening, where Wayne practised his Spanish by asking for more, and more, and more, wine; Judith started slurring her words; Richard tried, and failed, to get off with the extremely attractive waitress.
A great night out.
Thursday, 11th February 2010
Geoff writes: a sunny forecast, but very cold. In the mountains, a torb wind was forecast. This is a very strong mountain wind that blows over the summits, and whips up the snow, so that it seems as though it’s snowing, but it isn’t. Normally we would not go skiing in that forecast, but because Wayne and Richard were here, we decided to go. It was bitterly cold, and also very crowded – must be half term here, hundreds of kids. We don’t normally have to queue for lifts during the week, but this time we did.
The snow was good, though a bit slow in places where the wind had blown snow over the groomed pistes. The highest slopes were closed, but that was no great loss – still plenty open, and according to Richard’s instructor (he had a skiing lesson) the wind chill factor on the top was an incredible -50C. Seems a bit low to me, but anyway, it was extremely cold – possibly the coldest we have every skied in. Judith had four pairs of gloves on this time. A new record.
After his lesson, Richard went off to practise on his own on the blue runs, and Wayne, Judith and I went off to ski a bit faster. Wayne managed to fall and slice his leg open on the edge of the ski – which was a bit unfortunate. Eventually, Judith took him to hospital in Puigcerda to get it sewn up free, rather than paying 100 euros at Masella. Hopefully, he’ll be able to ski tomorrow. He was very unlucky – as he says, if he fell into a barrel of nipples, he’d end up sucking his thumb.
Skiing tomorrow, and it looks good for flying on Saturday.
Wednesday, 10th February 2010
Geoff writes: a bit of work, then flying at Santa Brigida. Joan, Lluis and Ivan arrived at the same time as us, so we went up together. I flew first, followed by Joan, then we top landed. Base was really low, though it was sunny, and the cumuls improved, and base rose a little. Still, it was a bit up and down – so much so that at one point four out of the five people flying got flushed, only Joan making it back on top. Fortunately, we’d left a key on our van, and Joan came for us.
Lluis and Ivan re-launched, and promptly got flushed again. Then it got much better, easy to stay up, and the rest of us had a pleasant flight. We left before the day was over – had to go shopping for our house guest arriving tonight, Wayne and Richard, for, hopefully, five days of skiing and flying.
Oh, and Joan told us that a couple of French pilots got 3000 metres at Berga on Sunday and flew to Bourg-Madame, across the border, when we went to Belmunt, thinking it would be too windy at Berga. Seems incredibly high for the time of year, though it was an excellent day everywhere around here.
Tuesday, 9th February 2010
It rained all night, so we woke up to the mountains around us covered in snow. Masella has 30cm extra snow and the roads higher up needed snow chains. The forecast was for more rain/snow, so in the end we decided it was just too much hassle. So another work day for us; finishing off conference tasks and preparing for the LMSC committee meeting in the evening.
Weather better from tomorrow, so hopefully we can get some flying in.
Monday, 8th February 2010
Geoff writes: dull early, then wet, but we’ve plenty of post-conference work to do, so not a problem. And there should be a lot more snow in the mountains. If the weather clears for tomorrow, we’ll go skiing. Forecast from Wednesday onwards is good, sunny, though getting colder.
Sunday, 7th February 2010
We woke up, closed the conference, smiled at a lot of the good feedback and then decided what to do with the day. As is always my luck, when I am really looking forward to something, then it gets messed up. And so it was today. I was too ill to fly.
We went to Bellmunt, where there was a light SSW breeze and we met a few people already there. One of them had a model airplane and was checking out the thermal strength. It seemed to be working fine and they got ready. The first guy off flew through a thermal, but then got another in the valley and got back up high above the ridge. Geoff launched and thermalled his way along the ridge and topped out at 1500′ ATO. He could have got higher, but pulled out of the climb to head back to the front. Conditions were typical spring thermals – strong and a bit bouncy. An excellent day’s flying, though, plenty of thermals, easy to stay up, nice cumulus development. Big sink in between. After an hour or so, he went out to land. The only minor problem with Belmunt is that it is not top landable, being a tiny take-off, in the middle of trees.
I went for a short walk up to the monastery to enjoy the views and then drove the car down to collect Geoff. We considered driving back to Santa Brigida for a quick sausage and to say ‘hi’ to all our friends, but I wasn’t really feeling up to it, so instead we sat in the sun with a picnic and beer.
And here’s what we missed at the Aplec – see Johnny’s video.