March 2011
Monthly Archive
Wednesday, 9th March 2011
Our second day of skiing at Masella. The valley was cloudy at various times on our drive up, but on getting to the resort, it was sunny and clear, with a sea of cloud below us. We skied most of the day, Wayne entertaining us with more crashes. Because the sun was so strong and the temperatures have risen, it got very slushy, even at the top. On skiing down for lunch there was so much resistance in the ski that I was wincing with pain in my knees, so I decided to quit while ahead and just go for a read and snooze in the car. Geoff joined me and we let Mick and Wayne have an afternoon skiing on their own.
Tuesday, 8th March 2011
Geoff writes: we woke up to rain. We got up early, because skiing seemed the only option, and it would take a while to sort out everyone with ski hire and tickets. The forecast for here was rubbish, but getting better further west, and in the mountains. And actually, this was largely accurate. It rained most of the way to Masella, but as we got closer, the sun started to appear, and there was no rain there. It just got better throughout the day, and in fact ended with wall to wall sunshine – though looking towards the coast, it was still cloudy.
We had a great day’s skiing – a little crowded, and the snow lower down was slushy, since it was quite warm, but higher up, it was fine. I would mention all the times Wayne fell over, except that on the final run, I fell quite hard too, again, so better not mention Wayne’s crashes. I feel I’ve been skiing much better overall this year, but also I’ve fallen far more than I have ever done before, so obviously I’m doing something wrong, and need to work on my technique a lot. I might spend some time on this tomorrow.
We finished with the usual apres ski beers in t-shirts, in the sun. A really enjoyable day.
Driving back, the closer we got to home, the worse the weather got, and clearly most of the area had been in cloud most of the day. And in fact, it was still raining at home. We definitely made the right call going to ski.
Monday, 7th March 2011
Geoff 08 Mar 2011 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Geoff writes: today we had to pick up Wayne and Mick from the airport – they’re visiting for a few days. This meant skiing wasn’t an option, but it seemed that maybe flying would be, in spite of the easterly forecast. After a morning cleaning up (we only do this when we have visitors) we went to Santa Brigida, where the wind was on, but it was very gusty. Very sunny, very warm, very thermic, but maybe about 10km/h too much. In the end, we had to leave for the airport, though it probably would have dropped off enough for an evening flight.
We came home from the airport via Besalu, which was really nice in the evening, with all the lighting of the old part. Warm too. And we saw three otters swimming down the river.
Then back home for food, drink and games. A pleasant evening.
The forecast for the rest of the week until last night had been wall-to-wall sunshine. Predictably enough, as soon as we have visitors, the forecast deteriorated dramatically, and it doesn’t look too good for Tuesday, so we decided we would go skiing, and hope for the best.
Sunday, 6th March 2011
We had been planning to go to the famous carnival in Sitges today, but on getting more info, we decided to go elsewhere. On checking on the internet again, we realised that we would have missed the main fun in Vilanova i la Geltru and St Feliu de Guixols by the time we got there too. It wasn’t a massive hardship… the weather forecast was excellent and we can easily go to the Olot carnival next weekend.
Lots of people were planning to go to fly at Bellmunt, what with the forecast sunny with light southerlies. On the way there, it seemed very windy in the Val d’en Bas, but less so when we got to the Plana de Vic. A huge number of people were out, but when we got up to launch the wind seemed to be picking up. We decided to wait a bit, but Oscar took off first, and it was evident how much west there was in the wind. Nevertheless, Oriol, Marc, Dai and Miquel also launched. All got high and Marc and Dai flew to Aiats, Cabrera then off to Olot. The rest of us sat around and waited for the gusts to stop and the wind come more on.
Eventually at about 3pm, Amadeu launched followed by a few others. Then the wind picked up again. Then it dropped, more launched, etc. Lots and lots of people flew to Olot today. Once I launched, having waited around for three hours, my heart wasn’t really in it any more. It was also bumpy in the air. I did get high and could have gone to base and tried to cross Puigsacalm again today, but instead I flew around, enjoyed the view and took some photos. A nice chill out!
Geoff got high and pushed into wind, getting to the castle to the west for the first time. We landed together and enjoyed the sunshine, and then drove back up the hill to fetch Amadeu’s car. It seemed daft someone having to drive him back from Les Preses when we were going back that way anyway and when he lives just up the road from Olot.
Saturday, 5th March 2011
It was one of those forecasts where it could be really good, or over-develop too fast and become crap. Oriol posted on the Parapent Bellmunt group that he thought it would be excellent, but only we and Marc wanted to come out to play. We hooked up with Marc at Les Preses to leave a car there and then drove up to Bellmunt. There was cumulus popping off everywhere and we needed to get a move on, given the forecast of possible over-development. We spent 20 minutes assessing the sky, but each cumulus that started to tower collapsed again, so we decided to take-off. First goal was the Val d’en Bas and then we’d decide which route to take.
Oriol launched first and had no problem staying up. He headed west along the ridge, while Marc took off and rocketed up to cloud base. I was next and by the time I was half way to base, Marc was already making his way to the Col de Bracons, which is the pass that leads along to Puigsacalm and the Val d’en Bas. Oriol came to join me and together we climbed under a cloud. What we hadn’t appreciated on launch was that the fluffy stuff in front wasn’t matched behind the ridge, where the cloud has spread out and was completely shading everything. Geoff was stuck on launch for a while with little wind and no sun to bring it on. Oriol and I were surfing the front of the spreadout and making good progress, but Geoff, only 10 minutes behind us, had his work cut out, racing against the advancing cloud cover.
The clouds were wide, so you couldn’t see what was above you and I decided to proceed with caution. I would test if I was still in the thermal or was being sucked up by the cloud by flying bigger circles and pushing out to the edge of the cloud. Once I was in cloud suck, I went on glide, making the most of the lifty line. Going across Puigsacalm is a bit of a wind-up. The pass is at the top of a massive bowl, covered in trees and usually there is a strong venturi effect, so you do not want to sink into the bowl. The top of the ridge, Puigsacalm, is 400m higher than take-off, so you need a decent cloudbase to cross. I have only done it once, three years ago, when the higher base was over 8000′ and I crossed comfortably. This time I got to base and put big ears on at 6300′ AMSL, and glided to the edge of the Puigsacalm ridge and arrived there at ridge height. Below me, and to my horror, I could see Marc scratching at the foot of the mountain in the bowl. Given his postition, I assumed there wasn’t a strong wind, but there’s only limited, small, steep landing fields or the road. He managed to land in a small area next to a tunnel.
Oriol showed me the guaranteed lift trigger, which was beyond the sheer wall of rock and the waving walkers on the summit. Having seen him crab along the ridge and then hit the lift, I was reassured that it would work for me too, and if it didn’t I could make it out into the valley, which is jam packed with massive flat fields. We got a thermal at the end of the ridge and then had to decide which route to take… along the Val d’en Bas to Olot and beyond, or down the valley to Santa Brigida. I could see a big fire with its smoke stuck to the ground blowing SW, so we decided a better plan would be to fly to Olot and try to cross the ridge to Castellfollit. I promised him beer and olives on our terrace if we made it.
Oriol chose a better trigger and got high, but I went to a cloud that wasn’t working and got low over Les Preses. Twice I got a low save, but with no drift didn’t make any progress in any direction. In the end I landed about 300m from Marc’s car. He arrived about 4 minutes after I landed. Oriol tried to head to Castellfollit, but hit a strong headwind once at Olot, so he turned round, flew back and landed with us.
Meanwhile, we hadn’t heard from Geoff and couldn’t reach him by phone or radio. The spreadout had caught him and he wasn’t able to get a second thermal to cross the pass, despite being at 1600′ ATO. He had to fly back and land in Torelló. He was busy walking up for the car, but with nobody going up, he walked for an hour (with PG), before a passing car gave him a lift. Once he got into the Val d’en Bas, the sky was clearing and he decided to drive to Santa Brigida for an evening flight. He texted us to meet him there, so Marc and I drove down and they both had a really nice evening flight in residual thermals (getting about 700′ ATO) and restitution, landing at 6pm.
Friday, 4th March 2011
Another rubbish weather day. Annoyingly, Meteocat predicted that it would be snowing/cloudy in the mountains as well as here, so we didn’t bother going skiing, but on looking at the webcams it was sunny at Masella all day. We worked and on making a cup of tea, Geoff excitedly shouted me to come down to the kitchen. On the floor was a tiny baby gecko. We’ve rarely seen them in the summer in Castellfollit, never mind in winter. We also have no idea how he got in. I felt terrible turfing him out, but indoors he’ll starve to death, so I scooped him up and put him on the window sill. They’re great climbers, so he’ll find his way down.
And the other news is that I am an aunty to a baby boy. None of us have any experience of those (we’re a family of nearly exclusively female children), but I can’t wait to meet him week after next.
Thursday, 3rd March 2011
What a miserable day. At the beginning of the week today was supposed to be the best day of the week. We woke up to pouring rain, but got to spend the morning with my parents who are en-route to the airport so my mum can help out with the birth of my new niece/nephew who is due by caesarean tomorrow morning, unless s/he decides to turn upside down.
The rest of the day we worked, finishing off all the conference documentation for the US Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and then having an LMSC committee meeting this evening.