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September, 2003 |
Newsletter of the British Columbia Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association |
Volume
1 Issue 4
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Date: July 26/27, 2003
For a few years I have been dreaming about doing a bivouac flight somewhere and I finally got it together. I wanted to combine my flying with some hiking and my love for spending time out in the mountains. The weather forecast for the weekend of July 26/27 looked perfect. On Thursday I started trying to find a companion but didn’t have any luck. A few people I know have already done some bivi flights in the Pemberton Valley but they were either away or busy so I ended up going by myself. My plan was to take off from MacKenzie launch on Saturday, fly up the valley about 25km and land at Tenquille Lake which is at about 5500ft in a valley behind the main ridge (up above the Hurley launch). There I would camp and Sunday morning I would hike up the ridge (about 1000ft vertical) and find a spot to take off again, launching to fly back to Pemberton.
Other people who have camped there always landed on the ridge so they could take off again without hiking anywhere. I decided I would rather land down at Tenquille Lake where there is a big meadow and a campsite with a well used trail coming up from the Hurley launch. I reasoned that it would be easier and safer than top landing on the ridge in strong thermals and also in case of bad weather the next day I could always hike out the trail if I had to. As well, Tenquille Lake was someplace that I have wanted to visit for a long time, one way or another.
Well, it all worked as planned: Saturday afternoon was great flying conditions with lots of people out. After working some light lift to get up higher, it gradually got stronger and stronger with climbs up to about 7m/s. It was a blue day and there was a light NW wind (headwind) making it a bit slow going but not too bad. There were thermals everywhere that they were supposed to be so it wasn’t too hard to get up the valley. Halfway there, having crossed the gap to the bigger mountains, I was getting higher, up to about 9000ft asl. It took me about 1 ¼ hours to get up to where I could see Tenquille Lake. Three of us (Joris, Alistair, & I) ended up there roughly together but they didn’t want to camp out so they flew back to Pemberton after top landing on the ridge somewhere for a snack break. I left them, flew over the ridge and radioed to them that I was going down to Tenquille Lake. As the valley came into full view I had to choose a landing field. I originally thought the meadow at the pass above the lake might be a good LZ, but the meadow right next to the lake looked bigger and more open with the advantage that I wouldn’t have to walk as far after landing. I decided on it, spiraled down into the valley, and landed about 200 metres from the Lake at about 4:30pm. The winds were light so it was a pretty easy landing.
All of a sudden I was in the middle of a big alpine meadow all by myself and it was totally quiet. It was really cool to be able to land at one of those beautiful places that you usually just see as you fly by trying to make it back home before the thermals are gone for the day. After landing I was able to radio Alistair, who was still flying on the other side of the ridge, and tell him that I landed safely. I packed up, trying not to trample too many flowers in the process, and then walked over to check out the campsites. There are a number of rustic campsites around the lake along with two outhouses and a very old and rundown log cabin. You wouldn’t want to stay in the cabin unless you really had to. It is an amazingly beautiful place and a popular hiking destination. As I expected, there were a few other groups camped there for the weekend.
Before cooking dinner I did a bit of exploring and took some photos, hiking all the way around the lake on a nice trail. There was a nice little beach near where I decided to camp. I waded in the water but it was a bit cold for swimming – there were still snow patches around melting into the lake. As the sun got lower in the sky the bugs came out in force, but I expected that so I had bug juice and a mosquito net to put over my head. They were annoying but bearable with bug juice. I cooked myself some dinner, cleaned up and then crawled into my bivi sack as it started getting dark to go to sleep and escape the bugs.
Sunday morning I was up at dawn and did a bit more exploring around the area before breakfast rather than sitting around getting eaten by bugs. I hiked part way up towards the ridge where I had to find a launch and got back as the sun was starting to hit my camp. After having some coffee and breakfast I packed up and got ready for the hike with the big pack. It took me about an hour hike to get up to the ridge where I could see into the Pemberton Valley again but it took a while longer to hunt around and find a suitable launch site. Eventually I settled on a spot that was at about 6700ft asl on the side of a mountain called Copper Mound and then I had to wait a while for the thermals to start.
It wasn’t a great launch site and I did have a few aborts because of my lines getting caught in some bushes and rocks. Eventually, though, I got in the air at about 1:00 and was going up immediately. It only took a few minutes to get up to about 8500ft and then I was on my way back toward Pemberton enjoying the great scenery along the way. It was a fairly easy flight back with thermals everywhere and a very slight tailwind. On the way back I heard some pilots on the radio who were flying at MacKenzie and some who were just arriving in the valley. I flew past MacKenzie launch when I got back and there were some pilots scratching around and others waiting for it to pick up a bit. I was ready to go land and have a beer so of course as I flew out I went through a huge thermal but I managed to resist and flew straight through it. At about 2:30, I landed at the Pemberton Community Centre field in no wind and grabbed a beer from the cooler in my car. Exactly as planned!
Some people may be curious about what equipment I took with me so here is a list:
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