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OSCARS
RIDGE
- A BIT of FLYING HISTORY & TRIVIA
by John McClintock
I should start by admitting my bias for Oscars,
easily my favourite site. On top of the many user-friendly features
of this site, it may now very well be that this is where free-flyers
are the most welcome anywhere in the province! Believe it or not,
the land owners are pleased to see free flyers using this site.
(fortunately they seem quite forgiving of that forest fire created
by certain visitors) This welcome was confirmed in a meeting with
band council in spring 2001, where our good stewardship of the launch
and landing areas was freely recognized. In turn, I would like to
thank those who made the effort to look after other peoples' abandoned
rubbish over the years.
Apparently this ridge was active in the 75-78
era, but those are stories for others as I didn't move into the
area until 1981.
 And
now for some stories and site trivia:
OSCARS (top launch)
Many moons ago (269 at the time of this writing), I went for
a drive to the Deadman Creek Indian Village to ask about permission
to hang glide on their lands. The first person I came across said
'sure', without hesitation. (more like 'SURE') I asked for his name,
so that if questioned by Others, I could say that I had permission.
Ever since that fine day, I have called this launch Oscars.
The local band used to call the rock outcrop
(launch) Spieek (phonic) in Shuswap, or eagles' ridge. They know
that the local flyers call it Oscars. The local band has re-named
it Oscars Ridge, in honour of he who is no longer with us.
INTERNATIONAL FIELD
This paddock seems big enough to be an emergency field for international
jetliners! Nice open approaches, except for the high voltage lines
on the launch side of the LZ. These powerlines are something to
watch if you ended up launching into a flush cycle, but are plenty
far enough away from the convenient touchdown spot to not be a problem
for the majority of flights. (is that why PG's use the crash pad
as their regular LZ?) There are plenty of other places to land before
the powerlines if height is a problem.
This field was already named International before frequent visitors
from abroad brought a second meaning to the name International Field.
CRASH PAD
This was originally the prime LZ, and it didn't take much imagination
to come up with a name. When the wind is straight into the ridge,
the upwind topography creates an extra bump into the thermal turbulence.
(a good wind & topography study for beginning pilots, easily
viewed from launch)
Another factor here is the gently rolling lay of the land, and patches
of sagebrush.
TOILET BOWL
When you get flushed, at least there is somewhere to go. But what
direction will the wind be, it can't always be down. Watch out for
that sage brush, it is tall and tough (imperative to flare hard
and drop down, do not let the sage snag a flying wire). Sage is
not totally an enemy, some have found it to be a nice 25 mph bumper,
compared to terra firma!
UPPER MEADOW
About 1 km behind launch, and a few hundred feet higher, this is
a rather handy spot when one is flyer-bating - flying alone without
a vehicle retrieve plan - but it can be funky getting in here on
a thermally day. Smoothest air when the wind is fairly cross on
the ridge - the meadow is actually a fairly deep basin, best to
visit landing fields by vehicle first, and make sure the cows haven't
eaten the tell tales!
This meadow looks very promising for a land based
tow operation, perfect for those soarable but blowing down on launch
days!
LOWER LAUNCH
This is another nice piece of natural topography, ideal for foot
launching. This launch does not accept much of a cross wind from
the north side. If sinking from top launch, when you are down to
this height you should be heading for the International if you want
to avoid the toilet bowl.
CORNER ROCK
This is the highest rock outcrop at the corner of the ridge, (junction
of Deadman Creek valley and Thompson River valley) - closest to
the lake and the town of Savona, and the site of a new microwave
tower. Can cell phones fry flyers?
RESIDENT BLUE PATCH
The Thompson Valley enjoys sunshine while the surrounding higher
plateaus are under the shade of cumulus. The sink from the southern
plateau helps trigger the hot south facing ridge. Not only is the
main valley nicely aligned to a very available sun - the wind often
provides a boost to your groundspeed. Too bad the valley is only
about 75 miles long!
FLYABILITY at
EASTER MEETS
Oscars, Savona, B.C.
1983 
first meet, one valid day, John McClintock wins with a 31 miler
- several practice X-C's the day before the meet!
1985
2 X-C days, Barry Bateman sets new site record 104km
to Falkland area
1986
March 28 wave soaring en-masse
1987
3 X-C days, Several pilots make it 50 miles to Chase
on first day. Randy Haney flys to Salmon Arm. Dan Keen flys 84 miles
to Vernon on 2nd day for longest flight of the meet.
1988
3 days soarable
1989
no X-C, but March 29 was soarable
1990
3 days flyable, 2 soarable, 9 pilots make task Loon
Lake & return
1992
2 days XC
1993
3 days of X-C
1994
2 day X-C meet
1997
Good Friday, 10,700 cloud base
1998
mid April, 2 soarable days
2000
one X-C day Basils and return
2001
one booming X-C day, stopped by powerline incident
2002
first time snow keeps Easter meet away from lower launch - stormy
conditions make flying impossible anywhere near here
OTHER MEETS at OCSCARS
1984
Cornwall Team Meet, Labour Day Weekend,
John flew 52.5 miles to Chase, 6th place for the day
1993
3 X-C days for the Club Cup, May long weekend (after 3 X-C days
@ Easter!)
EARLY START DATES
some of the better early starts:
1991
Feb 22, sled ride home
1994
March 4 thermals 1000 fpm up, very cold, 2 hr flight glad to be
lower
WHY I LIKE THIS PLACE
- easy 2 wheel drive access, even a sports car
can drive in close to launch
- opens early, minimal snow pack (March 4 1000fpm
up)
- resident blue patch
- big open landing fields
- lots of landing fields for the first 50 miles
of ridge
- fairly empty airspace
- no line up on launch
- only 1700 vertical, but can be launchable
even though LZ indicates tail wind
- natural launch, minimal cliff very user friendly
topography (no cliff rotor)
- adjacent logging has been selective - retaining
aesthetics and improving thermal generation
- desert-like climate, less cloud over-development
shading out thermal generators, but really this desert is tiny
compared to Owens Valley type hardship - here the desert is little
over a mile wide on the valley floor, but certainly enough to
effect a micro-climate, while being easy enough to survive outlandings
- and, weather is always sunnier than surrounding
areas (ignore weather forecasts) - this place will be one of the
best soarable windows in the province
OK, THERE ARE SOME MINUS POINTS AS WELL
1. sometimes un-launchable - when systems come
in from the coast, the Thompson valley lower winds are from the
east, regardless of what the flight service specialists read from
the (Toronto computer generated) forecast - fortunately this effect
is less prevalent during prime soaring season
2. shallow slope & long glide to main LZ
- only 1700 vertical - right after launching you have to be willing
to circle close to the trees if you want to get up - since this
is mainly a thermal site, this combination does not favour learning
thermaling here (your flight will be over all too soon)
3. only 1700 vertical - on some of those more
stable days of late summer, it would be nice to have more altitude!
4. under-populated - it can be difficult to find
others to fly with!
A FEW FLYING STORIES
1982
my first flights from Oscars, Mar 13, 2 flight day, smooth ridge
at end of day
1983
feb 12 8 min sledder, using Oscars' in the log book
1985
John's best X-C year, 508 miles predominantly Oscars
launch
1986
Randy Haney sets new site record 106 miles to Cherryville (past
Lumby, this straight line distance record still stands)
1987
John's 500 hour party June 26 1987, 6 pm launch, 11,600 max. altitude
at 8pm
sept 16, launch from Oscars, land at home in Cherry Creek, 20 miles
sept 27, launch from Oscars, land at 'new' home, Savona
1988
3 flyable days at easter meet,
june 15, 103 miles to Messiter summit, stonewalled by a headwind,
140 miles ground cover, just short of 5 hours, still my personal
best
1990
Aug 1 to Malakwa, turn back to a safe lz at 92 miles, this was a
hurdle, the Shuswap Lake usually brings you down
Sept 1, team meet blown out at Clinton, move over to Oscars, group
wave flight to Cache Creek, I remember looking over at Mia flying
straight up the middle of the valley (huge lift band)
1991
July 4 - to Coldwater Ranch, Vernon, 83 miles
1996
day 2 of team meet at Clinton, but I was flying from Oscars, they
were racing to the International LZ, I watched several pilots zoom
by underneath near John's Jump,
then flew in low straight down the valley, barely crossing the finish
line, then they realize I'm not a competitor!
1998
April 8, Easter meet, Basils and back, several touches
of grey
1998
July 12, passing the 1000 hour barrier, flew 25 miles to Kamloops
2001
September 3 "What if they called an X-C meet and Nobody Flew?"
team meet at Sun Peaks, rather windy all weekend but forecast on
last day is for diminishing winds in the afternoon, I call Ian let
him know its sunny in Savona and the blue is heading their way,
and it looks like a good day to fly from here (Oscars) to there
(Sun Peaks) - but Ian reports that the pilots looked rather immobilized
from the keg(s) last night, but if I actually get there he's sure
some ride will be available;
later that morning, call from international LZ, anybody coming?
looks great to fly here to there; no, nobody is capable of looking
at the sky yet
self launch, got to 11 twice, low crossing North Thompson but got
a save, to 10,400 and LZ is in glide path, GPS shows 50 mph with
little effort, I want to arrive high enough to look for other pilots
etc, but all the wind socks are gone, and only one extra vehicle
at Ian?s, oh no, what about a ride, try to get down through the
biggest widest turmoil of the year, 1000 up continuously everywhere,
half hour later, the wings level off just before the ground effect,
by the time I walk over to the fence, I see a HG vehicle coming
over, good ol' Rick Hunt, as fast as I could pull the battens, I
was back at my vehicle behind launch - good thing I didn't soar
around too long! 42 miles to a declared goal, the XC meet where
nobody flew that day! lonely, but fun!
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