A Flying Week with the Arctic Air Walkers

Anchorage, Alaska
July 10-16, 2013

check back later for more photos

For the last three years C.J. has been writing an article for the USHPA Hang Gliding and Paragliding magazine about the club that has won the Chapter of the Year Award. In 2012 the Anchorage area club put out a great effort and handily won the honors. In order to get the best impression of the chapter and its members C.J. likes to interview a number of the members. This can be done via email and phone, but there's nothing like face-to-face interaction to get the real lowdown. Fortunately, Laddie Shaw, president of AAW, was totally in favor of C.J. visiting and invited us to stay at his house. Jack Brown, a top comp pilot as well as an Alaska Airlines pilot, sweetened the pot still further by providing us with "buddy passes" which reduced our air fare expenses radically. Little did we know, however, that ex-Navy SEAL Laddie is the Energizer Bunny on steroids. This was not a relaxing, slow-paced vacation; Laddie crammed in as many hikes and flights that he could into each day. Here's a day-by-day calendar of events:

Laddie kiting his Gin Yeti

10 Jul, Wed - Travel day (we thought). To be in plenty of time for our first attempt at flying "standby" on an Alaska Airlines flight at 0720, we got up at 0315, had a sketchy breakfast of granola, fruit and yogurt and hit the road as the sky was lightening at 0430. This time we chose to park in the Extra Car lot after arranging a good deal through AboutAirport Parking.com, and drove the Trooper in to avoid the chance of getting a scratch on our new Sorento. The shuttle was ready to go when we were and when we got dropped off in the parking garage, I paid the exorbitant $5 fee to use a baggage cart. Check in was pretty painless; we just had to punch our confirmation number into the kiosk and then put our own baggage tags on our three checked bags (two wings and a rolling duffel. There was no charge for checked bags when flying on a buddy pass! At the gate we had to wait only until loading started in order to get our seat assignments. (We had chosen a flight with a large number of unassigned seats using Jack's log-in.) The 737-800 flight was about three hours and the last bit of it provided somewhat of a view of the mountains, glaciers and inlets of the Chugach Mtns. Laddie Shaw, president of the Arctic Air Walkers and our host, was waiting for us in his Toyota Tundra when C.J. called him from the baggage claim area. He drove us (passing our first moose of the trip just outside the airport) to his lovely house on Meander Lane in a southern Anchorage suburb. We moved our stuff into "our" bedroom (with a bathroom right next door, and got our wings and gear repacked. Then Laddie took us to the Glen Alps trailhead of Chugach State Park, not far from his house. We checked out the newly-constructed overlook with views of the

Denali from Jeff's Piper J-3 floatplane

nearby surrounding mountains (such as Wolverine, O'Malley and Flattop) and the distant mountains like Illiamna, Redoubt (and Denali, when visible). A large compass was the centerpiece of the overlook; strangely, "south" did not line up with the sun (it was 1130 now) even accounting for daylight savings time. [It wasn't until 1500 or so that my GPS compass showed the sun in the south. A local pilot later explained that even though Anchorage is thirty degrees longitude west of Seattle, there is only one time zone difference, a convenience for doing business with Seattle.] Laddie led us on a loop hike around Blueberry Knoll, but we opted out of a climb of Flattop to fly. Back in the Tundra we drove to Eagle River and parked in the Harry McDonald Community Center lot next to a field cleared for an LZ. We met Kevin Mitchell and drove several miles up winding, paved roads to a trailhead for Baldy Mountain. There were lots of hikers here although not as many as at Glen Alps. It was a ten-minute walk up a gravel road to a launch near two radio towers. Kevin launched first in light conditions and I followed. I found bits of lift particularly around the brown Frost house, the usual house thermal, but  I may have been out too far and couldn't stay in it. I flew out over a cul-de-sac (emergency bailout) to a large white-roofed Fred Meyers and lumberyard. When I turned back to the LZ, the flags were hanging straight down. I landed hard in no wind/downwind conditions, skidded on the dry grass and fell to my seat, and the wing dropped on top of me.(:08) Laddie and C.J. launched and went to the house thermal. Laddie let C.J. have it and flew out to the LZ. C.J. climbed back above launch before breaking off and flying out. Meanwhile a Cu had formed right above the LZ so C.J. descended very slowly. While C.J. and I packed up, Kevin and Laddie went up to retrieve the vehicle and then Kevin had to return to work. The rest of us returned to the house and had some fruit and rest while Laddie ran out to Costco for some snack food for a gathering in the evening. The idea was for club members of the AAW to gather at Laddie's for a "meet and greet" with us but only Kevin McDaniels and Jake Schlapfer and his daughter, Doneka, showed up. Still it was a fun evening. After everyone went home or wherever, C.J. went to bed about 2300; I stayed up long enough to upload my tracklogs.

C.J. at Eagle River

11 Jul, Thu - After breakfast of oatmeal (and a Cinnabon from the base commissary), Laddie went to his rock climbing gym for an hour or two. When he came back he was ready for his usual aerobic exercise routine of a hike and fly at Flattop. We drove to the trailhead and met Brad Crozier who hiked to the summit with Laddie and flew off landing in the overlook area. I followed them up the steep northside trail to the saddle and down the other side on the new trail with its 375 railroad tie steps. C.J. followed me partway and then returned to the parking lot. On the way up the Blueberry Knoll trail we saw two moose, a cow and a bull. Hopefully C.J. got some decent photos because mine, taken with my phone, show a tiny brown lump far away. I got back to the parking lot right at noon just as the fliers were finishing packing up. Then we headed for Eagle River to meet Kevin, Brad and Bill Ross for a flight. The wind was stronger than on the previous day so C.J. and I were concerned about not penetrating out to the LZ (400' msl) from the distant take off (1900' msl) in the quartering headwind. Kevin launched first and showed us that there was some lift and that it would not be a problem to reach the LZ. [What IS a problem at Eagle River is that the flight path of many GA planes is squeezed between Ellsworth AFB airspace and the mountain so there is a lot of air traffic flying relatively low near the LZ.] I went next and caught lift to 200 ft over launch  right away. Then I headed west and north across the "valley of death" and along the main valley toward the smaller Fire Lake. After the lift ran out, I turned back to the LZ which suddenly looked much farther away, and was not an easy downwind glide away. In fact, it was no problem to get there but the wind was blowing across the LZ toward the parking lot, opposite of the wind direction on launch. I had to pass between some light poles in the parking lot to land into the wind, a smooth touchdown. C.J. was getting good lift to 400 ft over launch

C.J. kiting at the bluff

out in front and had a good long flight. (:16) [There was a use fee for visiting pilots of $5 per day so we handed over $20 to Laddie who took it to the manager of the community center.] On the way back we drove through downtown Anchorage, picked up Laddie's harness from a tailor who had added a skid plate, and stopped for frozen yogurt at a by-the-ounce place named Yogurt Lounge. Back at the house C.J. and I spent some time making motel reservations in Newburgh and researching air fares. We also looked at flights back to SEA from ANC - all the ones with a good number of empty seats are after midnight. Sometime after 1800 we drove top a park on a bluff above Turnagin Arm for a kiting practice session with a dozen AAW members led by Jake of Midnight Sun Paragliding. Conditions were just about perfect; I even had a short flight across the face of the bluff. We left around 2000 and picked up takeout Mexican dinners at Taco King, a Mom and Pop storefront. We ate at home with Laddie's beer and sodas.  Even this long after the solstice, the sun was shining on the house across the street after 2200.



12 Jul, Fri - After a Jimmy Dean Mix scramble for breakfast we packed up some overnight stuff. Around 1030 Laddie (who had already loaded a Coleman Road Trip BBQ, a cooler and a bunch of food into the Tundra) drove us to Elmendorf AFB (actually now JBER - Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson) to pick up his toy hauler. The gate guard would not let him in with us two civilians without a pass so he dropped us in a nearby shopping plaza and picked us up 20 min later and we got on the road again. We drove the Glen Hwy past Eagle River, across the Knik River and picked up the George Parks Hwy. Once past Wasilla I began to recognize a few places we had seen or stopped at. like riverside RV, on our 2009 trip to AK. Near Willow we turned left on Long Lake Rd,  HoneyBee Lake Rd and Fighting Five Cir to the driveway to Jeff Bertrand's property. Since no one was around we had some lunch in front of the hangar. Pretty soon Jeff's wife,  Deanna; showed up and gave us a tour of the property including the hangar, the little cabin we would be staying in and the 12x24 ft cabin that they live in, plus the little boathouse. When Jeff showed up we spent a little while looking at his airplane rebuilding projects in the hangar before taking Laddie's truck on the hour-long drive to Summit Lake on Hatcher Pass, most on paved or good, oild gravel road. There were 12-20 pilots at Lakehill launch and at least one had been high around the "diving board" corner and on the "back wall". Clouds looked dark and threatening around the area and the wind was somewhat strong and gusty (conditions that we later learned were usual if you wanted to soar) so we hung out and watched. Around 1800 Laddie cooked up a nice burger on the BBQ then he went off to fly while Scott Amy cooked up some burgers for his kids. Conditions were a bit milder on launch but there was virga out in front. People were still flying and by 1930 I was ready to give it a shot. I managed to launch while there was only one other wing flying in the narrow lift band but soon two more returned and it felt

C.J. on Lakehill Launch

crowded. I took one more pass and made a try for the diving board (necessary to reach that point on the corner higher than the DB in order to have a chance to get up on the ridge that is around the corner) but I was too low and returned to the Lakehill ridge low. I was able to work my way back up and tried the DB corner again (after being "waked" a couple of times). I had no better luck this time but I stayed with it and flew all the way to the corner before turning back. This time I was too low to bench back up so I followed C.J. out to the main LZ (:12) (although lots of people sidehill land below launch and hike back up, or land near or on the road) which was pretty calm, downsloping and full of tussocks. Jeff landed as well and two students of Steve Amy (Caroline and Ben). Dave Burgess was there to give us all a ride up in his truck although we left Chris "the YouTube Guy" ______ behind who landed hoping to catch a ride with us. That was about all the soaring even though the sun was still high in the sky at 2100 or 2130. We all drove back to Jeff's where Deanna and her pregnant daughter (visiting from Seattle) had a campfire going, not that it was cold or dark. Brooke showed up with his motorhome later and so did another couple with a truck camper. It was close to midnight when we had finished some beer, hot dogs and S'mores and went to bed...and it was still light.

13 Jul, Sat -I got up at 0800 (or maybe 0900 since I didn't bring my watch along...) and washed my hair in the hangar where there is a cold water sink (a surprise since there was a tank nearby that looked like a hot water heater, but it turned out to be some kind of geothermal heat exchanger). Laddie was up and provided some hot water from his trailer for cocoa. Later Deanna made blueberry pancakes for everyone. Around 1100 Jeff took me for a ride in his float-equipped Piper Cub J-3 (1940, but re-engined with 100 hp). It was great flying out over the tundra/taiga (?) at 300-400 ft. We saw some moose, some off-the-road-grid homesteads, the Susitna River (gray with glacial silt) and its tributary, the Deshka (brown with tannins) and a big fishing (?) lodge with its own airstrip. We crossed the Iditarod Trail a couple of times and did a touch-and-go on another lake before heading back to Honey Bee Lake. Then Jeff took C.J. for a similar flight. It was after 1230 when they got back. Since Laddie had already driven to Hatcher and down a few miles to Marmot, a hike-up site, for a morning flight, we rode with Jeff to Lakehill (at Summit Lake) and then on to the LZ/parking lot at Marmot. We found that Laddie had already hiked to the top and flown. We shared a sandwich from Brooke's Winnebago Chalet and watched several other pilots flying down on speed wings and mini wings. Another pilot on a full-size wing had crossed the valley and was flying what appeared to be the backside of the "back wall" but really isn't. We rode back up to Summit Lake (where parking was getting scarce) with Laddie (with a detour through the parking lot for Independence Mine State Historical Park. Conditions were better than they had been on Friday and I got ready to fly. As soon as several gliders left the ridge in front of the TO and looked to be getting up near the diving board, I launched and got 100 ft or so over. Feeling lucky I headed right over to the diving board and arrived above it. Rounding the corner I flew along a lower ridge with just enough lift to keep me at about 4000 ft, but not enough to get me above the ridge and go across the gap to the back wall where others were high above. I made several passes between the diving board and the end of the ridge without gaining  so I returned to launch and benched back

Jeff Berstrand on Launch

up. Then there was a lull and a flush cycle and I ended up in the LZ again. (:31) Two of us started walking up the road because there wasn't room for all of us in the one vehicle. Fortunately Joe Kaiser was coming down to pick up Anna from Brazil and he gave us a ride back to Summit Lake. The AAW BBQ was happening and I snagged a plate of salads, chips and a burger. Meanwhile C.J. was sitting on launch all geared up to fly talking with Janet Alexander. I let her know about the food and she took a break to get some food. Laddie convinced 13 pilots to do a hike and fly from Nixon's Nose, across the highway from Summit Lake. That left the air pretty empty for a while - part of Laddie's plan to clear the air for C.J. She launched and got to soar the ridge before landing in the LZ. Deanna, Lizzie, Hannah (J and D's younger daughter) and her boyfriend had joined us at Hatcher by then. After C.J.'s retrieve we hung out and didn't leave for Jeff's until after 2100. [The road to Willow is only 35 miles, 17 or so on gravel, but it takes about an hour.] We didn't stay at the campfire too late but headed off to bed at 2345; it was still light, of course.


14 Jul, Sun - After a restful night in the snug little cabin (and no mosquitoes to speak of!) we joined Laddie in front of the hangar for some chai tea and hot chocolate, both embellished with foam from his milk frother. It was cloudier than the previous days. Jeff came over to invite us to join his family for Lizzie's buttermilk pancakes and reindeer sausage. After a leisurely breakfast Laddie drove us to Lakehill where people were already soaring - one of the advantages of a ridge-soaring site. It was pretty chilly on launch without the sun and in a stiff breeze; I wore all my warm clothes -vest, jacket flight suit and fleece hat. C.J. and I hung out quite a while before deciding to fly. When I did, I pulled my

C.J. at Summit Lake

wing up in what I thought was a lull. The wing came over my head but then pulled me up off my feet. I spun around and thought I had it under control but one side must have collapsed in a gust and I found myself being dragged toward the north corner of launch. Fortunately, Chris, Janet's husband, grabbed my wing and stopped me. I was not injured, not even any rips in my suit but there was a lot of dirt to be cleaned up. It wasn't until much later, when C.J. decided to fly, that I was ready to give it another try. We both launched and flew for a short time (:09) before ending up in the LZ where Laddie retrieved us. [C.J. hadn't been planning to fly because her foot hurt from so much use, but conditions looked good and she didn't want to miss a day of flying in AK.] Back at launch C.J. didn't waste any time and set up to fly again. This time she made it across to the diving board and then climbed high above it on the corner. Noting the clouds still shrouding the back wall she chose not to go back there but had a good 31 minute flight. Conditions were changeable on launch [In fact, before C.J. launched, Anna got snatched into the air in a twist and thrown to the ground and dragged - not hurt except for a cut nose caused by her sunglasses.] and most of the pilots were holding off on launching. But I took a good cycle, good but not strong, and joined C.J. in the air for a short flight (:06) I tried to reach the diving board but was too low and came back below launch. After a short struggle, I set up over the road and landed near the switchback. I walked the short distance to the pullout and accordion-folded my glider carefully and packed it away. Just to see if I could do it, I decided to hike up the face of the ridge to launch, not too far but pretty steep and covered with tiny flowers, heather and moss. I made it to the top about the time C.J. got there with  Kent Hudson. Laddie was already back from a hike-and-fly to Nixon's Nose so, after a bit more visiting, we loaded up and headed for Willow via the other side of the pass. The scenery was spectacular, at least until we left the mountains and got to the outskirts of Wasilla. Back at the Bergstrand’s it took only a half hour to pack up our stuff, hook up the trailer and get on the road. Laddie again dropped us off at the shopping mall while he parked the trailer in the Elmendorf storage area. Back at the Shaw residence we were glad to get a good shower and fall into bed. 

15 Jul, Mon - This was a sort of rest day in that we did not go flying or hiking. We were up at 0800 and Laddie cooked up another scramble for breakfast. Apparently he planned a rest day as well because he was only going to do the laundry, clean the house, wash bith car, and take a hike and fly to Flattop. C.J. needed to get the editing for 1309 done and we had to pack up to be ready to get to the airport at midnight to catch

G at Lakehill LZ

the 0200 red-eye. Laddie's wife Linda was due home around 1630. I spent most of the morning making reservations for our flight home and for the flight back to NY for C.J.'s Mom's memorial service. I also sent an email to Extra Car telling them that we would be earlier than expected so they could dig the Trooper out of the back row. We had a late lunch of smoked salmon and chicken. Laddie went out around 1600 to pick up Linda at the airport. Around 1730 we went out to eat at a Thai restaurant called Siam Cuisine, the second choice because the first place we went to had closed. We had fresh spring rolls, egg drop soup, and three main dishes - pork broccoli, chicken Pad Thai, and Side Walk Noodles with beef, all very good. We stopped at the Yogurt Lounge again so Linda could try it out. Back at the house I rested until 2300 and then got ready to go. Laddie drove us to the airport around 2345. Check-in was slow; it was surprising to have so many people going to catch flights that late (or early). It finally got dark around 0030 (but on the flight the eastern horizon was lightening by 0230). We got our seat assignments when we checked our bags and then got them changed so we could sit together. We were on the left side of the 737-900 so when it got light we could see the mountains and coast. We were a little early getting into Seattle (0630) due to an early start. At the baggage carrousel I managed to snag a loose cart so the trek to the elevator to the 4th floor, the walk across to the parking garage and the elevator to the 3rd floor were not a problem. There was a bit of a wait for the Extra Car shuttle but when we got to the lot, our car was parked in front of the building all ready for us. We were home by 0730.

Laddie, Five Star Host and Guide

C.J.'s thank-you note:

Hey, Laddie and Linda,

We're home, and mostly caught up on sleep—what a grand adventure we had with you in Alaska!

We actually saw the dark of night just before we got on our flight home (I'd been wondering if it ever got past dusk...), and then shortly into the flight we enjoyed the beginnings of what turned out to be a truly glorious, and long-lasting, sunrise. Even though the flight attendants requested we keep the windows covered so others could sleep, I had to keep peeking out—beautiful colors along the tops of the clouds, and then glorious sun-streaks on the water, and long shadows extending out from the islands.
I'm not so great at sleeping on planes, so I nearly finished Dan Brown's Inferno on the trip home—great read, as expected.

Sure did enjoy the non-stop action, your five-star tour guide service, hanging out with everybody, the perfect weather—heck, even the mosquitoes weren't too bad! So, what's the plan for tomorrow? ;o)