Frostbite 2010

9-11 April 2010

As is typical, the day before the fly-in had great flying! We might have been there on Friday for the excellent flying but I had a appointment to discuss some test results with Dr. Johnson. After lunch and re-sorting the USHPA membership list we looked at the sunshine and decided to head to Dog for the night anyway. We didn't get there much before six and, while a few diehards were still doing sledders, we decided to just hang out and visit by the campfire.

Saturday the wind was East and blown out, but a sizable herd took on the snow-covered trail to the waterfall; others found more distant hikes, while some kayaked or dared the slack rope (though none as gracefully as Sierra). We ran into Kim Smith and Jerry and got directions to Layser Cave, an ancient Indian shelter south of Randle. We found it just before milepost 7 off FS 23 and a couple of switchbacks up FS 55. Besides the cave there was a good overlook across the Cispus valley to Burley Mtn. and Mt. Adams. On the way back we looped around on FS 76 to FS 25 and stopped for a hike past a beaver pond and up into an old growth grove of hemlock at Wood's Creek.

Amazingly, in spite of the weather, the crowd continued to grow at Dog Patch all day long. Tina said something like 55 keys were sold, and most of those individuals seemed to come with family and friends. The Dogpatch camp area overflowed with tents, trailers and motor homes as well as the usual diver rigs.

Dinner was served early and, if the trestle tables weren't groaning with all the potluck goodies, it's only because they were extremely stout. Thanks to the Williams brothers for the tarp shelter that provided some escape from the howling wind. As the clouds had moved in, it wasn't too cold and the party continued around the raging campfire till early morning. During the evening Tina handed out Dog Tags of honor to Ralph, the DogFather, and, surprisingly, to C.J. and me for service to Dog and the NW pilot community. As the chill deepened, we withdrew to our small, but warm Aliner, just one of the dozen or more trailers and motor homes housing pilots and their families.

By Sunday everyone was ready to fly and the forecast promised light SE with sunshine to heat up the west face. Alas, except for a few good cycles, the majority of flights had to be launched with a hard and long run during lulls. (An exception was over at East Dog where several pilots got off in decent SE cycles. Chris and Christine joined us over there and I eventually decided to give it a try. I caught a straight-in SE cycle (this, after several aborts) and launched. After several tries, and halfway to the LZ at Dave Gerdes's nursery, I found smooth lift and climbed to 4000 ft drifting toward the microwave towers. I followed the South Bowl ridge to Dog and then continued NW to the ridge on the far side of the drowned town of Kosmos. Returning to the LZ I encountered turbulent conditions in the rotor but managed to avoid the other landing hang glider and land within the chalked circle.) Larry and a few others found soaring conditions in front of Dog and climbed above launch.

The day was better suited to spotlanding, however, and those who flew the most flights typically won the Dog Tags of honor - Justin Himes, Rob (both H2), Brian Scott and Steve Alford, among others (Even I garnered an award for my flight, taking home one of Dave Carroll's jigsawed eagles). Late in the day, Tina radioed down that she had finally found a cycle that she liked and was launching. Her Falcon blazed toward the LZ with her bright red puffy jacket plainly visible. But her glider did some most un-Tinalike maneuvers followed by a screaming approach to the east low over the parked motor homes and berm and pulled off a (very Tina-like) faultless landing only to reveal Aaron Swepston in the control frame wearing Tina's jacket. The show was almost as much fun as watching Aaron loop it!

Bottom line, despite Tina's email disclaimer, she and Larry and all their many helpers are what really made Frostbite a well-organized, and awesomely fun event. But she WAS right about thanking all the pilots for showing up east wind or west, soaring or flying down, snow or shine. I can't wait for the next one!

So who all was there? Larry, Tina, Justin (and Jazzy), Michi, Doug McClellan, Aaron, Kerie (Jade and Jagar), Rob, Ceannie, Steve Alford, Brian, Dan Utinske, Dan Uchytil, Dave Schy, Tim deHate, Dave Gerdes, the Williams Bros, Scott Campbell with an old deflexor-equipped glider, Ralph Senter, Doug Campbell, Dave Lindberg, Dave Chadwick, Russ Gelfan, Bill Jensen, Igor with his LED sculpture, Chris Culler and Christine Nidd with their new trailer, Terry, David Carrol, Gary Braun, Aaron Rinn, Vince Collins, Paul Dees, Tom Pierce, and a bunch of people I didn't meet.

Spring Skiing - Amabalis Mountain

4 April 2010


It's been a strange spring - more snow now at Snoqualmie Pass than in February. Good for us, since we hadn't yet used our skis this year!

After a check of snow conditions on the Internet (I-90 Travelers Report, WA state traffic cams) I decided it would be perfect at Blewett Pass - lots of new snow and high enough to stay cold. C.J. was agreeable so we were on our way by 1000. By the time we were over the pass and driving along Keechelus Lake, the idea of a shorter drive overtook our plans. Surprisingly there were a dozen cars in the (practically snowfree) Cabin Creek SnoPark lot. Once we had walked across the overpass there was enough snow on the FS road to put our skis on. At the sign "Amabalis Mtn 12 km" we turned uphill on a skim of snow that became steadily deeper, thankfully following the tracks of skiers ahead of us. Before we reached the trail fork (~2.5 mi), we traded leads with another couple several times. Beyond the fork the wind picked up and we began getting blowing snow and stinging ice crystals.

Another mile and we decided to call it a day and head down before we found ourselves skiing in rain as we descended. We left the other couple to continue breaking trail on the loop trail over the summit, and skied down far enough to get out of the wind. A steep bank gave us a place to stomp a seat for a lunch break, but we had to consider the chance that a snowball-avalanche might roll down on us from above (didn't happen). The rest of the trip was an easy glide down to the base and a short walk back to the car. We were much less fatigued after seven miles of skiing today, than five miles of snow-hiking/snowshoeing earlier in the week.

We weren't sure whether SnoPark permits were required after 1 April, but the SnoPark parking lot had no need of plowing, so probably not. In any case, we didn't have the "groomed trail" pass, not that any of the trails had been groomed lately either.

Spring Snowshoe...errr, Hike

31 March 2010

After the last few days of pounding rain in the lowlands, the snowpack in the mountains has been revitalized. C.J. and I drove across the pass (where there was plenty of snow) to Cle Elum-Roslyn-Ronald and on to Salmon la Sac where the roads AND the surrounding forest were disappointingly snow-free. We tried driving up the Cooper Lake road until it became snow covered but decided that there would be too many snowmobiles for pleasant skiing and returned to the SnoPark.


It was pretty clear that we had come to the wrong place if we wanted to XC ski, but we could climb to the snow on the steeper Jolly Mountain FS road and then snowshoe as far beyond that as we had energy. We reached snow patches quickly and shortly afterward the road was covered with new snow and old base packed by the passage of a snowmobile or two. Snowshoes were not required until we reached a fork where we left the tracked road, and continued to a scenic lunch spot (about 2 3/4 mi total). On the way down we left our snowshoes on to avoid the possibility of potholing and slipping. The snowshoe crampons really do work well. By the time we had almost reached bare road, the mostly sunny sky had turned dark with clouds and we were getting some snow pellet precipitation. Exercise, sunshine and new trails - a good day!