China/Tibet preperations

It was a huge disappointment to miss the Santa Cruz Flats comp this year. Kind of a dichotomy of feelings when the weather proved to provide the best year yet over the desert and agro lands of AZ. I was both bumming to miss racing with my friends in such stellar conditions and at the same time, really stoked for them while I enjoyed watching and reading the results and hearing the stories as they unfolded. Congrats to Jeff, Dustino and Mitch. Lights out flying boys. I'd certainly be lying if I said I wasn't proud that they were all in T2c's and Coverts. Well done representing guys;-)




Racking up


A-Strain

The reason behind my absence is that I was given a rare and exciting chance to go on an expedition to climb in the big mountains of Western China. Trying to balance quality time with the family, getting Coverts done for pilots around the world, training hard, tandems, teaching lessons and the endless logistics and bureaucratic red tape involved in a big trip to the Himalaya made it an obvious choice. I couldn't do both, nor could I pass up the opportunity to fulfill the dream to try for a first ascent in one of the Greater Ranges. I am really hopeful that we will find wide experience and personal growth that will help with a solid head space for the Spring Comps. After all, it's all about progress. We will be climbing in the Daxue Shan and have secured permits for two peaks of interest. I'm just hoping for reasonable conditions to allow us to get on a nice line and maybe even do something memorable.


10 new Coverts


Carsten Freidrich's new harness

Speaking of progress, while making the last batch of new harnesses, I patterned a new, bilateral pocket which runs down both thighs. They almost double a pilots ability to store bags and pads in a Covert. Also, with the two pockets packed up, the outer shell behind the chute(s) has a much cleaner look and better tension. I'm really encouraged with how nice it makes the shell look (on top of easing the pack job by a lot). You can now easily pack the harness bag on one side, most pads on the other and pack your glider bag in either the big bag behind your knees or in the hollow boot, leaving the other empty. I'm hopeful it will be a well received addition and improvement to the design.


New pocket zipper is just below the leg loops


Rolled up harness bag in the new storage compartment



I did manage to sneak up to Canada for a 3 day blaster to do a "warm up" climb in the alpine with Chris, my partner on the China trip. We climbed on Mt Andromeda, up a route called "Andromeda Strain". It was a great day in the mountains and cool to move light and fast up a beautiful line in the Rockies.







Flying hang gliders and climbing in the mountains is so inspiring to me. What I learn and how each experience becomes part of me helps shape my appreciation of work, family and friends. I feel so incredibly lucky to build harnesses for happy pilots, to fly WW hang gliders and to see the world in a way that allows for cultural perspective. If your at all interested, please stay tuned. I leave on the 11th of October and will be posting updates when we are back in Chengdu and out of the mountains.


Chris Gibisch

Fiesch -day 2

This place has been pretty epic so far. Don't really know how else to describe it. Fiesch is a ski and mountain town situated in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by flowing glaciers. The Rhone is to the N.West, the Aletsch to the North and the Unteraar in between the two. Huge mountains such as the Matterhorn, Eiger, Monch and the Jungfrau are all close by and make for post card scenery.



Feisch itself is located in a fairly tight and deep, green valley offering some of the most picturesque flying I've ever had the privilege of doing. The lift is strong (very strong at times) and has all of the elements of the best of big mountain hang gliding.



The view out our window here in Fiesch, Switzerland

Yesterday, we had a fantastic day with fast racing and intense flying. It was the first flight here for Dustin, Zippy and I (Derreck and James had a chance to take a practice flight a few days prior) and we were stoked that our gliders flew straight after the plane ride over from the States. There's a strong field here with many skilled and experienced pilots from all over the world. We are treating it as an opportunity to learn and to gain experience for the up coming Worlds in Italy. Zippy was on and finished with an impressive 3rd for the day. Dustin was 8th in and I was behind him after getting a little slow and conservative on the last leg. I finished 18th for the day but in a strong field, I was still fairly happy with my flight. Zippy made a nice video on the GoPro that was edited last night and should be up soon.


driving on the train that took us under the mountains

Today, we went up the Gondola for another task. The weather was supposed to be iffy and was looking wet (from the previous nights rain) with clouds forming far below launch and building quick over and engulfing the peaks. After the task was called (94 k's with 6 t-points) we were briefed on the weather which included up to 45k's of wind up high. The problem was that the clouds were not higher than the peaks yet and many were worried about over development.



Soon, we all punched off in a building wind and were struggling with punchy lift and low clouds toward the edge of the start cylinder. I got lucky with good position at the start and began racing down the range with Zippy and several others. Soon, the lift became extremely strong and turbulent with the glider being pitched past 90 several times. Problem was that the lift was, at times, quite close to the hill and it was hard to stay out of the clouds. Wire slaps and holding on tight became the norm on the way to the first t-point. I grabbed the t-point and started back up the range and into the wind.



Soon, I saw pilots start heading out into the valley and spiraling down to land. The clouds were darkening and the wind was strong. Most impressive though was the turbulence associated with the strong lift. At times, it was totally reasonable but at times, I was quite concerned about the possibility of a tumble. I must admit that memories of my tumble at King several years back were on my mind.

After some battle, I was about 12 k's from the next T-point when James came on the radio to let us know that Zippy had landed at the goal field and he was going to do the same. They felt that the conditions were unsafe and made the personal decision to land, feeling that the risk was not worth it considering the Worlds are a couple of weeks away. I was climbing in punchy 1200 fpm and after a good sized keel kick, considered doing the same. Derreck headed to the field to join the team and I turned back down the valley thinking that I would make the same choice.



On my way back, Dustin called a climb from behind that was out in the valley and, although strong, was reasonably smooth in comparison. I flew over and took a nice climb back to base and headed back on course (after a deep breath). Leaving that climb was the worst turbulence of the day for me. I was alternately losing 1200+ fpm and gaining 1200+ fpm from moment to moment and experienced several wire slaps that had me pretty tight gripped. Soon, I agreed that I did not feel it was worth it as the path to the T-point was dark and the wind seemed to be getting stronger. There was a Northerly component which made it so we had to fly into the lee of the range to get the t-point and my fear and doubt eventually won out. I turned around and flew back to the field from almost 10,000' and landed in "sporty conditions". Dustin soon landed behind me along with Gianpietro Zin, a very fast and talented pilot from France. We all agreed that for us, it was a bit too much. Several pilots did make the course and made goal with Primos winning the day. I felt good about our team's decision but I admit, it stung when gliders started coming in from final.


Ready to fly

Funny thing about "fear and doubt". There is a definite difference between "it" and "realistic danger". They can exist apart and independent of each other but at times, one is caused by the other. Decisions are made and when the conservative choice is made and the outcome is good, it can evoke the question of whether it was smart or just giving into the fear. My reality is that the line is often gray and can change from day to day. When I'm on the line of trying to tell the difference between "fear and doubt" and "realistic danger", I can feel one way one day and the opposite the next. The truth, or my truth is, that when the outcome is that I am in one piece and my glider is intact, it was a good decision. The difficulties for me lye in the inner struggle caused by wanting to self reflect and that reflection not having the outcome that I would prefer (making goal) because of my head. I question the reality of the danger and question if it was my head and not the turbulence (although today, there was plenty) that caused me to run. Either way, tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to learn and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to participate in this game of self exploration through flying in the big mountains. Win or lose, I feel very lucky and never forget how fortunate I am to be here, now.

Coverts to come

I picked up a couple of man slaves at the local peoples market. They didn't cost much and require some work, but overall, it was a good deal.


Chris Gibisch


Dustino

Team pilot, Dustin Martin, is on his way back to the shop to help Kara, Chris and me get as many customer harnesses done, and sent to excited pilots around the world, as is possible before we leave for our next adventure. We plan to sew night and day (with afternoon flights if possible, of course;-) until the drive to meet Zippy at the factory for a flight out of LAX. First stop, to meet Nic, James and Derrek in Feisch for the Swiss Nats. Then, for the main event! Meet up with O'Brien and the rest of the US team for the '11 World Championships in Segillo, Italy.



The US Team is hungry for it, for sure. Should be epic so if your at all interested, stay tuned. The T2C is going crazy good and I'm hoping that the Covert combo will help to make it clear that it's all up to us. Adventure, laughs and strong competition. Sounds like good times to me!!

Florida Ridge

photos courtesy of Ricker Goldsborough and Alex McCulloch



It was that time of the year again to leave the remains of Montana winter and to head toward Florida for two of the most competitive US Hang Gliding comps of the season. The thought of walking bare foot in cool grass with the sun on my back while setting up the glider always gets me so stoked to be a pilot. I mean, how good is it to converge with friends from around the world for consistently good racing under perfect clouds? Flying and racing every day for 2 weeks in Florida is my idea of pure life at it's essence.


line up


blue days are social


Stinnett coming out of the cart on his new T2C 144

The first of the two competitions, named in memory for our good friend Rob Kells, took place at the Florida Ridge flight park, located just to the west of Lake Okeechobee. The Ridge is well equipped and is run by consummate professionals. James Tindle and his crew kept us all safe and efficient throughout the week. One of the best parts of the event is that there is a heavy emphasis on a Sport Class which enables newer comp pilots to learn and test themselves by flying challenging tasks accompanied by the ability to fly with more seasoned pilots. Really cool to see some of the up-n-comers making their first goals and flying their personal bests.






Sport class guys were rockin it


Zippy

The Rob Kells Memorial competition absolutely lived up to my excitement with dream like flying and good racing. One day in particular Curt, Zippy and I were working well together, flying as fast and as efficiently as possible down the day's course line. So cool flying with these guys. During the strongest part of the day, we climbed tip to tip, circling in lift that was going straight to cloud base at close to 900 feet per minute. Just as we were about to be engulfed in the cloud, we pulled in and sped up to 60+mph to escape the lift before being completely "whited out".





As we cleared the cloud, we all flew through the misty white at it's edge and popped out the side above the cloud's base and raced on through the cloud canyons formed by the quickly developing sky. I laughed when I looked down our course line at a perfect cloud street, knowing that we were about to fly it's length without turning. It was one of those moments a hang glider pilot dreams about. Ahhhh, I love racing in Florida!

Dustino



The comp had it's ups and downs and competitive excitement to the last day. With a field of close to 60 pilots, no injuries and 6 out of 7 days to race hard, the party at the end of the awards ceremony was lively, to say the least. The best part....knowing that we have only one rest day until the next comp and a whole new dream to live.


Jonny boy on the winning pink cart

Glacier Park

Took the day off and advantage of a bright moon for an early start up into one of the alpine cirques in West Glacier Park. My friend, Justin Woods, lives in Whitefish so after work, I threw my gear in the truck and drove up the west shore of Flathead lake to his couch. After catching up and racking our gear, we got a short 3 hrs of sleep before getting up and drinking coffee during the short drive to the trail head.




It got light just as we were getting close to lower Snyder lake. With the inversion on Lake McDonald and blue skies above, it was promising to be a nice day. Startling how quite it was and much colder at the upper lake. We skied to the center and jaw dropped at the ice lacing the walls. "Lookin good, eh? Yea dude, looks good."



Then...... The sun hit the mountain behind us and snow started to roll. We hymned and hawed for a long time while slowly cutting switchbacks up the slope toward the base of the wall. It's prime avalanche terrain and we were trying to be smart but wind slabs and propagating cracks had us concerned. About half way up, right as it starts to get steeper, we dug a pit and surprisingly, it was fairly well bonded and felt pretty safe so we continued. After taking the skis off and kicking steps the last 200', we stomped out a ledge and tied in.



Other than Justin taking a chunk of ice to the face when a good sized "dinner plate" came off while placing his tool, cutting the bridge of his nose and giving him a pretty good bell ringer, we had a really fun day on the North face of Edwards. I yelled down to him as he was cleaning a pitch, "how ya doin dude?". "Kinda concussed man" followed by a laugh that let me know he was still lovin it. Funny how many of us (that like to climb ice) have that scar across the bridge of the nose. When he arrived at the belay, it was agreed that we were lucky indeed. That place is always good training.... for something;-)



An adventurous ski out with a long section of our skin track (from earlier that morning) being covered by a good sized swath of avalanche debris was a good reminder of where we were. The GNP is a super special place and demands respect. Back to work

Big Sur

Last week, I had the opportunity to drive out of the deep snow in Montana and road trip my way down to Big Sur, on the California coast. The coast line is super dramatic and you can't help but to recognize how special and unique that place is. Large rocks just off shore getting pounded by waves, turquoise water filled with kelp forests and mountains rising right out of the ocean covered in Spring green grass that's practically fluorescent. Just driving down the 1 and winding your way down that coast line is an experience.





The plan was to meet Dave Aldrich and his crew and try to film for his new free flight film "Dreaming Awake" while flying from the launch at Plaskett creek, south of Big Sur. He invited Dustin and Zippy as well and the intention was to get a Gyro mounted Cineflex camera, operated by Tom Miller of Blue Sky Aerials (http://www.aerialimage.com/index.html)flown up on a helicopter piloted by Chris Gularte of Specialized Helicopters - (http://specializedheli.com/Default.aspx) to film some flying.





We also had a large variety of cameras for the gliders including some really cool, new camera gear from GoPro (3D) and one of the only 360 cams in existence. This thing is crazy, it's the size of a coconut and had HD lenses pointed in every direction. The idea is that with all lenses capturing images simultaneously, the editor can pan seamlessly in any direction he/she wants to give the viewer any perspective they want. It's as if the camera was smoothly able to turn in any direction to film it all. Pretty cool.



I wasn't sure I would be able to pull it off. The drive is pretty long from Missoula and the forecast was iffy. It was a huge gamble but it was agreed that the weather is always iffy at Big Sur and it' lucky to get a good flight there no matter what so if we were going to try to film there, we should go for it. Never know until you go, yea? Zippy and Dave were going. I called Dustin and he was in so I threw the glider on and made a pot of coffee.



The first day, Dave and our friend, Dusty Rhodes drove up the coast to just North of Monterrey to sort out the chopper while Dave's brother, Brad, Dustin, Zipp and I drove up to the lower launch. We set up and mounted cameras but it was classic Big Sur. Blue above with a thick fog/cloud bank from the start of land, far out to sea. We waited for the LZ to open and eventually, small holes started to form. We piled off one after the other during one of the small holes and had a nice flight and collected some good "on board" images.







Later, we headed up to the upper and main launch as the coast burned clear of any fog or clouds. We were set up and ready for the 4pm arrival of Dave in the helicopter but about 10 mins before they showed up, the clouds started to form quickly. In a matter of 15 mins, the land at the base of the mountain was completely covered and the clouds were spilling up into the draws, seeping up hill. We could no longer see the land and it was disheartening thinking we were quickly getting hosed. Not an issue when there is a chopper in radio contact, especially one with a hang glider pilot in it. Dave had the heli fly out to the edge of the clouds and they were able to tell us that the clouds were 500' off the ground and it was about a 45 degree glide from the far side of the clouds to the LZ. We got the green light and again, piled off together. I'm not sure it could have been any better or more lucky. A beautiful orographic feature in such a dramatic place with such high quality film gear to capture it. Zippy, Dustin and I were all laughing as we flew together out to the edge of the clouds, looping and spinning our way to land after passing from blue sky to thick overcast. The lighting was something that sticks out in my memory.



The Next day, the weather was blue most of the day. We had a decent tail wind when we got to launch but the heat of the day won with nice cycles pouring into the hill. I had a nice flight with a 3D camera mounted on my wing. I flew with Zippy who had the dangle mount hanging under him, filming straight up. A few close passes gave us the result we were after. We took turns looping over the coast line and landed in time to see Dustin spin into a low level loop that made me want to go flying.



Dave got to come up the hill to get some filming done himself and the helicopter was scheduled to show up at 5pm with hopes of getting the sun setting. We were going to try to go one at a time to record as much footage as possible with the stellar weather. For this flight, Zippy was loaded to the hilt with the 3D cam and off of a long nose boom, the 360 cam. His would be the first flight in a hang glider with the new camera. It looked like a disco ball hanging out in front of his glider with the battery and processor inside his sail. The latter is a box about the size of a large shoe box and weighed enough to choke a donkey. Dustin and I looked at each other wondering how the F*&% Zippy was going to get that glider off the hill. He was keen though and somehow, I wasn't that worried.



We all had really fun flights and after seeing some of the raw footage I was stoked to have made the drive, to say the least. Always a good time flying with those boys and the beauty of that place had very real impact on me. Feeling pretty lucky indeed. From what I've seen, Dave's film is really capturing the essence of our sport and will give the person that doesn't fly hang gliders a pretty accurate idea of what its like. Hopefully, it might get some people to step up to their dreams and give it a go. I'm stoked to be part of it and thankful for the opportunity to share what we love to do. He'll be compiling a new trailer soon and the movie itself should be released sometime in 2012. Check it out.