Tiger South

16 July, Fri - Scott Ernst stopped off at Tiger on the way to Seattle and his flight home to Santa Fe, so we joined him with high hopes for a good flight. First off we were surprised that the wind in Issaquah was from the south rather than the north as it was at home in North Bend. Nevertheless people were soaring so we loaded up the Trooper for our first drive up to launch in a long time. The road is still good even if the blackberry vines are starting to encroach a bit. We stopped to show Scott the north launch then parked at the south where pilots were just hanging around rather than launching. Sparky, however, was soaring out front and above launch. Later a bunch of folks launched but Mike Daniels had called Heckler and got a report that the conditions in the LZ were strong and switch-y. When three good pilots launched and seemed to be sinking out, C.J. and Scott (and his Seattle friend, James) decided to hike down and I put my gear back in the vehicle and drove down. About three miles from the gate I stopped to ask a family of five if they'd like a ride. The kids were ready for a break and piled in, and Mom and Dad were really grateful also. It was nice to be able to spread some good will among the hiking community. Back at the LZ the last guys to launch hadn't sunk out and were just landing in what appeared to be reasonable conditions. Looks like we may have guessed wrong about not flying.

18 July, Sun - C.J. and I had invited Luis Rosenkjer to stop by on his way to SeaTac from Chelan and he got to North Bend in time for us to regroup for a trip to Tiger. Since it appeared to be another southwind day I drove the Trooper up while C.J. and Luis hiked. This time the clouds dissipated to weak cumulus and we were all able to launch. C.J. and I got up in lift south of the Yaher Wall and I crossed over to the main ridge at about 2500'. After some ups and downs I got to 2800' at the top of what seemed like a pretty solid inversion. Meanwhile Luis had headed way out in front and seemed to be getting higher; apparently he was using the haze domes that I can't even see. We found out later that David Byrne was out there with him. After just over an hour I sank out to the LZ leaving the Trooper on top. C.J. volunteered to fold my wing so I started to hike back up. I didn't get very far before Luis called on the radio to report that he had successfully toplanded and would drive the Trooper down. After gathering again at the LZ, we all went to dinner at Billy Bob's BBQ on Gilman Street for burgers and pulled pork - yum. After visiting for a while back home, Luis got to test out the Aerobed in the front room. We were really glad to be able to host Luis and Scott as they have both been very welcoming to us when we have visited them on our travels.