| Date |
Site |
Pilots |
| 1-Jan-09 |
Jubilee Cairn |
Tommy |
| |
It was a sunny day in Ettrick today, so it was off up
onto Jubilee Cairn, to find a light easterly, too light to soar but
okay for a wee mess about before flying down. |
| |
Cardon |
Dave H, Jamie and Dave T |
| |
Dave H, Jamie and myself went for some Ne'er day torture
with a climb up the steep and deep heather slopes of Cardon. The views
were lovely but it turned out to be the wrong place. Met wind had
been ENE all morning, with small Cu forming from about 12 but as we
walked in, it appeared to be E - which makes a big difference in the
complex bowl between Cardon and Chapelgill. Low down, there were strong
small thermals but with large "holes". I was sure it would be smoother
higher up, so took some rough climbs to just above the hill at 2200
- where I was surprised to find a layer with wind at more than 35
km/hr (which is the speed my glider goes). I decided that was enough
and called it a day. Dave and Jamie sensibly decided to pack and walk
down. |
| |
Schiehallion |
Gordon M |
| |
Hogmanay was another new site visit with Bob on a walk
up Schiehallion. Like Ben Ledi this rather out of the way site is
made very accessible by the excellent tourist path which speeds and
eases the walk in. The top is very rocky and we launched on a patch
of snow, not sure how friendly it would be with no snow. |
| 2-Jan-09 |
Beinn Bhan |
Gordon Gibb |
| |
Seems like a never ending stream of spectacular days
in the hills. Went up Beinn Bhan at the eastern end of Loch Arkaig.
I attempted to soar the corrie but the wind had dropped to almost
nothing by the time I got to the top. |
| |
Lee Pen |
George, Henny and Dave T |
| |
George, Henny and I (and Les from N Wales) walked up
Lee Pen at Innerleithen for a glide down. |
| 3-Jan-09 |
Broughton |
Tommy, George, Al Bowman, Robert, Alastair T, Dave T, Mike J, Al
Brown, Gordon S and others |
| |
Another days flying, but with a differant wind direction,
a pleasant change from the run off easterlies. It was a most enjoyable
day at Broughton with a great turnout, how much longer can this go
on?
A lovely winter flying day at Broughton. Met wind was light W, with
a light thermic breeze up the SW side of the bowl which followed the
sun round during the day, but there was a significant SW in the valley
- and at the end of the day, a katabatic breeze in the landing field
which caught out a few folk (including me). Lesson learned - leave
a bigger margin for landing to deal with the unexpected. |
| 5-Jan-09 |
Megget |
DT, Cliff, Tom P, Naomi and Tommy |
| |
As winter flying goes, today was perfect, starting with
a walk up the shoulder from Megget Stone in a winter wonderland, arriving
at the first bowl to find the perfect breeze, slightly out of wind
for this first leg but we know the next bowl should be good, and it
is, and we are off again cruising along and then its the huge face
of Lochcraig Head, its working well and everbody's soaring about taking
in this amazing place, but it's time to move on again. After a good
glide we have to land on the East flank of White Coomb, a quick pack
and a short hike takes us to the top, the views are stunning, and
so is the huge bowl that beckons us to fly. We were not to be disapointed,
the flying was awsome with loads of super smooth lift. We played around
here for a while before going on a final glide into the Moffat valley
and back to the Tibbie for a beer. Present today were DT, Cliff, Tom
Percival, Naomi and Tommy. |
| 13-Jan-09 |
Broughton |
Robert, Tommy and DT |
| |
Robert, Tommy and I had a great day at Broughton today
in the first hint of spring conditions (almost). Although the airmass
was pretty dry, the ground is really wet so there was orographic cloud
as we walked up, but it quickly lifted to give great soaring conditions. |
| 26-Jan-09 |
Tinto |
Gordon, Robert. Ian and DT |
| |
With almost no met wind, it was like a summer day with
a light thermals rolling consistently up the S side in regular cycles
and forming Cumulus 1000 ft above us. The only problem was that it
was taking 10 min for the thermals to get up to cloudbase so climb
rates were rather limited! We had walked almost to the top of Tinto
but it seemed to be a general stable layer, rather than a definite
inversion, so no chance it would break. We kited up in the really
short and weak cycles and waited till almost 3 before going for it.
With an expected maximum climbrate of 100 fpm (down) I set myself
a task of getting in as many turns as possible and still glide to
the stile, found a thermal over the shoulder on the Tinto side of
the gulley (a reliable thermal source) and got about 12 turns in.
Not an epic but a clear indication that the sun is already higher.
It won't be long now !!! |
