Past News
December 2010 December 24: The air is cold but light. Jovial moods propagates slowly. It is the time to wish joy for Christmas and at least the holidays (and to keep some for later :). And if you have a couple of minutes, why not go see and vote for your prefered of the photos of the Willi 2010 photo contest? December 26: Brief accident assessment 2010, from memory:
- Several paragliders in trees and paragliders landing short of the LZ, as every year.
- One paraglider hurts himself seriously while scratching the mountain from too close. Helicopter rescue necessary.
- Two hang gliders crash one after the other on takeoff from the south ground. One breaks an arm the other has a laceration on one leg.
- A beginner paraglider hit the high tension hydro line at the edge of the LZ flying too far and not turning. The line explode in a flash; very low her fall doesn't cause any harm. The line is repaired the same night.
- Two paragliders collide while mountain biking on a narrow Moonraker trail seriously breaking one shoulder. Several months of rehabilitation required after the hospitalization. Dangerous machines!
Be well prepared, read this website thoroughly!
November 2010 November 5: I just tucked my wing for the winter. Very last flights of the season for me this week. The road is well snowed and most vehicles don't make it to the takeoff. My faithful car did make it yesterday. Excellent! We took the occasion and the time to cut bushes a little, François and me. The north takeoff will be a bit easier next year. The bushes and the trees begin to grow enough to cut them all, notice to volunteers. The inversion was palpable by the temperature at the takeoff and visible by the laminar smoke in the valley. Sleds only. Novembre 17: The Willi 2010 photo contest page is ready for your votes. Choose your prefered ones!
October 2010 Oct 5: Another beautiful start for the month. The first was very marginal but several stayed in flight over half an hour. The two, better yet but David and Gilles scratch too much and do not make it to the LZ. Gilles find himself in a tree by the rail way. Lucky, the neighbour retrieves it with a backhoe without breaking anything, only a bit of grease on the wing.
Today, very beautiful and excellent. Good thermals at the right places under the inversion i.e. under 2100 m (7000 ft). Mathieu practiced his thermalling, while I was able to fly around the mountain for 2:20. Oct 10: Clouds, wind, rain, no flights since thursday. Thursday that was so sunny had a south wind impeaching good thermal formation. Oct 11: Thanksgiving day, a good day between the rainy ones. A north wind brings cold to support the thermals, altitudes of 3000 m (10000 ft) reached, one 40,7 km out and return flight. Oct 14: Return of fair weather. The southerly wind impeach thermals and we only sled down. The hang glider visiting from California likes the site nevertheless. Oct 16: The too numerous cirrus make the strong thermals (2 m/s) too rare, sleds of less than 30 minutes. Notable fact, a Snowbird (or other acrobatic jet plane) makes a pass with smoke trail direction east.
Oct 17: Full sun. Two Calgarians come for a few flights. François scratch the west cliffs for an hour. I maintain 23 minutes north-ouest side. David, lacks margin, branches himself just short of the landing zone. His GMRS radios turn out very useful. Oct 21: Two warm and sunny days, hope of thermals. But too strong inversions make thermals that don't slow the descent much. Solid bad weather arrives tomorrow for a while. Oct 30: Snowy ground. Some sun, more possible. Also a perfect day to work on the takeoff. Brush cutting by François and, the clouds opening a hole for us, a hopeful flight. Not enough of the sun so a sled, more or less.
September 2010 Sept 2: Beautiful start for the month. Non-stop flights all day from the tandems, me and numerous visitors from the area, from Calgary and from Brazil (in leave in Canada). Sept 7: Strong south wind last saturday allowed some flights. One paraglider could not make the LZ and had to land in the dry slough. We are in a long stretch of bad weather that started sunday. Sunday, a short window early afternoon that only Raul and some tandems took advantage of. Several went up afterward to observe the thunderous cells closing in rapidly and the closure of the sky. Sept 10: HPAC announces that Parks Canada has reevaluated its position regarding allowed activities. Free flight (HG and PG) could be authorized in some cases. See the news release from Parks Canada.
Sept 18: Yesterday, friday, relatively good weather, so finally some flying. Tom, visiting from the UK, Tim, Martin and me have good flights, about one hour and a half. Mostly scratching on the west cliffs in a south wind. But today the weather deteriorate too rapidly, as I am barely ready a huge cloud covert hides the sun and shows signs of rain, the troph is already here. Well, a sled run is better than nothing. Tim does his sled under a very light rain. Next appointment with the sun is wednesday. Sept 23: And wednesday was very good all day. Full sun, light wind, thermals under an inversion. New paragliders and a very "sympa" french couple, enjoyed well. The sun comes back again next wednesday, probably.
Sept 26: Processing the Glassoff (was yesterday), it was a pleasant day in spite of the strong south wind. Only one flight, a sled. No target landing. Some maintenance was done on the LZ, less growing trees and holes in the middle for next summer, thanks to Thomas and Martin. Food was decent, music okay. Many original costume designs, it was a delight to see. Pre-winners on photo, all pretty good, a tight race. Final winners were the potato heads, a clever playable design. Fewer stayed for the DJ dancing but we had a good time in spite of (or with) a couple falls, spills, screems, tackling, spraying... More photos on facebook. Sept 30: Pure beautiful day, but narely thermal. Scratching practice. Yesterday, a group was surrounding the Utah paraglider, Bill Belcourt, at the takeoff for professional shoots. Posing non-stop all day. We don't imagine all the work behind advertisements. The Polartech® guys were friendly, as well as the people of the advertisement agency.
August 2010 August 2: The paragliding national ended yesterday with a windy day, one hang gliding flight only. Mike and Matt got into a mountain bike accident leaving Mike in a sling for a few weeks. Thunderstorm and award dinner finished the day. August 4: Ole Andreas Haddeland made a video about the paragliding national that I added to the videos page.
August 5: Best flying day of the year was yesterday. I did Brisco and back for 131,8 km. Today, drama. Two missed takeoffs on the south ground, before I arrive. One beginner (Andi, I've been told), broken arm probable, and Leif, laceration on the left leg requiring almost 20 stitches. No problems with takeoffs after that and I went visit Tower peak and back before sunset: 57,9 km. August 14: Finally another super good day. Everyone climbs at takeoff. All beginners beat their records. Bev and Luis make good time, Larry goes almost 60 km in a single surface. Tim and Igor make almost a complete Spilli out and return. A few paragliders went over 100 km south. Great forecast for the next five days.
August 15: Less good but super for the patient ones. The light south wind turns north around 3 pm, for a big improvement. Still, many have difficulties keeping aloft. Raul and Eric succeed and pass Radium. I don't complete a Harrogate and return and have to walk for kilometers to escape the mosquitoes. A defective shoe causes problems. After this weekend, Igor takes the second position of the BC xc league with 0,6 points ahead of me. August 16: Close to 10 paragliders here to profit from the beautiful weather notice, with me, that the dense smoke arriving suddenly in the afternoon, soften the thermals and inhibits them in the evening. The sun turns into a red disc not dazzling anymore. I manage only 52,8 km distance flight. August 18: Thin smoke but very windy from the south at the takeoff in spite of light wind in the valley. Helped by visitors, I take off and climb like a rocket. Powerful thermals in this strong wind. Fast out to Spilli, return slow but very possible. I finally take first place in the BC xc league ahead of Alex Raymont. Thanks to the paraglider for bringing my car down, the wind keeping strong late, at the takeoff. Stunning shear low at 200 m.
August 20: Return of the dense smoke. Good thermals anyway in a light wind, except in the shade of the numerous clouds. Tom Korte appreciate his first hang gliding flight since two years. August 23: The rain this weekend has cleaned the air. A few sunny days to come this week. August 25: Not too bad flying past few days but daylight shorten rapidly. August 29: Very good flights yesterday (saturday) especially for hang gliders since the wind blowing with good gusts. Distant thunderstorms to the north, south and west threatened all day but retreated at the end of the day. A fire was burning the back side of a hill about 30 km south, at least five helicopters were fighting it. The snow and rain of today surely finished it. And it will be wet all this week.
July 2010 July 3: Large group of flying visitors in spite of uncertain weather, worrisome at times. Air turned out very calm for such an active cloud cover. Large group of paragliders learning with Muller Windsports got their first high flight without incident. Sunday is rather rainy. The Willi is closing in! You can register now online or in person, I have registration forms ready for use. July 12: A weekend busy with student pilots doing their first high flights. A weather calm enough, especially Sunday. Cloudy and windy today, return of hot weather is forecasted Wednesday and on. Perfect start for the Willi 2010, this coming weekend. T-shirts has arrived today and I'd like to remind that early registrants have first choice.
July 22: The Willi is currently hapenning. The weather is challenging because of the wind, the thunderstorms and the gusts fronts associated. We learned from last year to take it seriously and we all avoided weather-caused troubles. Accidents side amongst participants: one reserve deployment on the first day (read story - may need to log in) and one missed takeoff yesterday (minor damages to the wing, minor scratches). Stewart Midwinter started a discussion about some events of the week. July 25: The Willi 2010 is now over without any more incident. See short overview and final Willi 2010 results. The PG national starts today. July 29: The weather tend to be windy and thunderstormy during this PG national.
June 2010 June 4: The road is open, dry and in good shape to the Lookout. Unfortunately, the weather remains bad and the rares flights are sleds to the landing only. June 6: The weather turned out good long enough in spite of the forecast. Nice flying visits of Sotir, Tim and Rob. June 14: Saturday was rough mid-day, excellent in evening. Sunday, a weakening front brought too much wind for paragliders. The wind calmed enough for me to race a Parson and back before a thunderous ending. A batch of Willi t-shirts is available already, $20, proceeds going to the Willi fund. June 20: Good weekend in spite of the menacing thunderstorms. Rough air saturday and few flights in the afternoon. Sunday started well but a long thunderstorm line develops rapidly easterly. All landed before the gusts arrival. June 28: The uncertain weather continues but we find some good flying windows in spite of it. A Swiss paraglider visiting the Rockies with his companion had the pleasure to find someone lending his flying equipment, saturday night. It was a rather windy day with washing machine thermals that calmed down after 5 pm. The nice weather continued until sunday around 1 pm, thunderstorm retaking over. A pleasant weekend after all, with several flying visitors.
May 2010 May 10: Sunday, the road was open up to 8 km, one km short of the 9k launch. Count a week or two for that shaded and muddy km to be ready. Tim and I walked it but for less than 30 minutes airtime flight. First mamma bear and cubs sighting this year. May 16: The barrier of Forestry BC is still at 8 km. Paragliders (Peter, Hugo, Mike) and a hang glider (Tim) had good flights saturday, short distances. The Willi 2010 page info now has a registration form with Paypal payment. Use it, register now! May 19: Forestry BC moved the barrier to 10 km today, opening 9k launch to vehicles. Fallen tree at 9k needs cutting. May 29: Flying season really slow to start this year. Bad weather all last week and this weekend. Not much sunny forecasted next week either.
April 2010 April 3: Our flying pal Tim bought a little domain right at the foot of the mountain. We surely will see him more often. April 17: Tim tries the very risky 5k takeoff. The weather get worse quickly and he goes for a direct sled to the gravel pit. The forestry road is closed by the ministry of transport at the 6 km point to keep it in better shape while it's soft. Still thick snow at 7 km anyway, it won't open before May for sure. I will keep you informed as soon as the 9 km launch is accessible.
March 2010 The free flier Lucille de Beaudrap will begin her ascent of mount Everest this month. It is a climbing expedition we can follow on her blog. March 21: The Golden film festival was yesterday and surprise, Scott Watwood had two films presented. Speed flying first and the other mostly bits of BASE jumping.
- photo 5 by Sarah Shannon — wins $40
- photo 2 by Glenn Bitterman — wins $20
- photo 37 by Jason Dyer — wins $10
February 2010
February 7: The Willi 2009 photo contest 
is now wrapped. Winning photos are:
Also new this month, I've open a twitter username mt7air . News bits sent via mobile phone has an irresistible appeal. It also has the potential to be very useful in the field.
January 2010
Wishing happy new year to all friends of mount 7! Please make the resolution to fly more safely. January 18: The PG national will be in Golden this year and its organizer and the HPAC competition comitee have decided to encroach on the Willi for it i.e. the PG National will be July 26 to August 1. The Willi will then precede it, July 17 to 24.
December 2009
Wishing happy holidays and great new year to all friends of Mount 7! Take the time to reflect on this ending year to improve the next. And as usual in aviation, learn as much as possible including from other people mistakes.
Accidents this year were all recoverable.
- Many close calls and a couple of scrapes, bruises, cracked ribs during the too numerous gust fronts
- One back injury and one concussion on takeoff
- At least two tree crashes without injuries in cross-country
Be well prepared, read this website thoroughly.
October 2009 October 3: Cold and cloudy week. The mountains are powdered white. Flight season is ending. October 12: Great weekend flying in very cold air with thermals on the rocks. How do the birds do it all winter? Mike and Louise even did a little out and return cross-country flight of 10 + 10 km. Snow week coming. October 13: The Willi 2009 is not quite complete yet. The photo contest held by Glenn Bitterman was not judged because of other concerns during the event. However, Glenn has collected and sent me the photos, and they are now posted on this Willi voting page. Please visit the page and vote for your prefered photos! Octobre 24: The flying season is over but the site is still active. Last week, Brenda Bowle-Evans held a small ceremony with family after receiving the new memorial plaque dedicated to Peter. It will accompany the ones of Chris and Willi Muller on the big white rock at the Lookout takeoff.
September 2009
September 5: Still many pilots around in nice enough weather. Rather stable air though so far. September 14: Good weekend of good weather that lasts and lasts. Good enough to add hours in the log book. Several rare visitors. September 19: Last weekend brought many visitors from outside as usual with nice weather. Julie and Joël right from Yamaska, Québec, were of the group when the thermals were so nice Saturday. Hours of airtime. The weather stayed nice until Thursday, attracting a paraglider from the US, another from southern Alberta and a dynamic trio from Calgary. Tomorrow, the return of the sun. Only the winter will let me rest from flying. :D
September 28: The Glassoff, target landing, dinner, and live band, went very well. Even the weather helped the maintenance by making Saturday too windy for flying while Sunday proved fantastic for the season. Forty-seven pilots registered for the costume and target landing event, sixteen participated in the maintenance work on the LZ, ninety-six adults paid for the dinner. Louise Bouchard won the target landing and the couple Dianne Fiala-Scott Watwood won the costume portion. This fund raising event sponsored and organised by John McIsaac collected $920 for Search and Rescue (SAR), $1000 for the Willi event fund and an extra $75 was donated for site maintenance fund. In addition, mt 7 site fund donated $2500 to SAR and Vincene Muller on her side collected another $1460 in individual donations to SAR.
August 2009
August 19: Finally I find some time to update the news. Lots have hapenned. The Willi results are up since a while with a very short overview, stressing the dangers of this year. Even in good weather, two paragliders, one non-participant, went in the trees on the very last day. One self rescued, the other got heli-rescued. The weather was not so good for the first half of this month while a hang glider from New-Hampshire was befriending some nice locals. At the same time, Odile, a woman from France no less, travelling all over Canada with a very well equipped trike (motorised hang glider) and had to pause in Golden a few days for inclement weather. We had a good time helping her, chatting, learning about her and her trek. See her website: Envolée au Canada (i.e. Taking off in Canada. Stories also in english.). Today marked the return of the nice weather with three hours airtime for me. And the forecast is plain great for the next seven days at least! August 26: The weather was excellent on Saturday with almost all having long flights. Sunday was acceptable until the strong wind arrived around 3 pm. Three hang gliders flew briefly in this wind and one found the LZ rather small in these conditions. Sun still staying.
July 2009
July 4: Cute weekend following a very sunny week. Leif fills up of flights. Tim comes back for a couple weeks. Guy comes for two days. Moors as well. More will be here for sure. July 7: the weather was super at times and at places, strange like the mountains. Better for hang gliders because of south winds, some paragliders did not make it to the LZ but without any harm. Excellent adventures. July 11: One freak accident on takeoff broke a wing on Thursday and shook the pilot. Yesterday mini celebration of the late Peter Bowle-Evans whom had the honour of giving his name to the mount 7 forestry road. Today a group is doing their first high flight. July 14: Weekend well filled with a new batch of pilots from Muller Windsports, a wedding at the most busy time, and great weather. Two fantastic days for all. July 19: this week was very excellent although darkened by one incident and one accident on friday. One paraglider clipped a tree when he came so short in a south wind but still landed okay. One hang glider, Saskatchewan representative, was a bit nervous on landing and didn't have enough speed in final. He stalled when he tried to turn. Bruises, swollen elbow and light concussion only, fortunately. Plus much repairs on the wing. This weekend is windy, few flew so far. July 24/25 – August 2: the Willi 2009! It's going on in good weather, overall. Excellent distances. Life-challenging experiences with good endings. Goofs sometimes. Drama. Beats the movies ten times over.
June 2009
June 3: The weather, so great suddenly, brings visitors mid-week from Montana and Calgary. Good distance flights. And a reminder from one field owner to avoid landing in his grown field. Oups, I thought he'd be happier to see me again. His so inviting field is the one at about 25 km from takeoff. Its GPS UTM Coordinates 
: 11U 0522487 E, 5659956 N. However, he has no problem if we land in his packages (animal fields), including the long narrow field by the river. If the river is low, it may do. Always choose a safe landing spot, though. Minimizing damages done to crop by the place you land and walk in the field, helps. If possible/useful, fold outside of the field. This owner had a bigger beef against paragliders in large competitions. June 6: After such a good week bringing me to the 1st position in the provincial distances, this weekend is cloudy. I take the opportunity to recall that the landing zone is peppered with gopher holes. Must be careful. June 17: Finally rain to seriously wet fields and gardens. Many good flights last weekend in better than forecasted conditions. Sunday, Raul (prononce raw-wool) did Invermere again. Me and Doug made Parson and return. Mike said he did Harrogate and back with another paraglider. Many flew locally. June 22: The weather turned out much better than the forecast, last Saturday. Only good for the numerous visitors. Sunday got ugly in the afternoon but some flew briefly during a long clearing. The road got a great grating Sunday and looks almost new. Super! Seven women from Golden skied the seven of mount 7.
May 2009
A small group from Calgary and Edmonton couldn't wait any longer and came to the Rockies on the 1st of the month. But the forestry road, recently christened “Bowle-Evans”, still being impassable with mud and snow, they only made it to the 9k launch with difficulty, in a jeep. There will be mud ruts to take care of again, hopefully less than last year! :)
22 May: Well no, the mud ruts are worse than last year and the road is still soft mud beteen 8 and 9 km. Moreover, snow still blocks the road above 10 km. A regular car can't pass. Others damage the road and risk getting stuck. Bring a shovel. End of May: The road opens and the weather is great. Good times begins for the season.
April 2009 Prepare your gear. Still some time since the road is not quite open yet. If you plan to come to the Willi and camp at the GEAR, please make an advance reservation. No other major competition at mount 7 this year. See Events calendar. Peter Bowle-Evans received a great posthumous honour when the mt 7 road was named Bowle-Evans drive. With street signs.
December 2008
Wishing happy holidays and great new year to all friends of Mount 7!
October 2008 24 October: After a week of bad weather, flying resumed. It was rather marginal however and didn't get a flight of over an hour in the stable air. Nice finish though on 21 October, after a snowy day in the mountain. The air was cold and crisp like Spring, and plenty of thermals. Cumulostratus were forming above the eastern ridges. The next day I was parking car and wing for the winter. Another year full of great flying memories.
September 2008
14 September: Rather stormy at the beginning of September but the good weather returned nicely. Air too stable for distances however. Several good flight though. Not bad this weekend with many hang gliders and paragliders coming from Calgary. Saturday was better with a light WNW wind. Good scratching flights. Today was more difficult in more stable air. Possible to stay up for a while above the west cliffs. 24 September: The cold has arrived this week. The air is more active, harboring good bubbles when the sun shows up.
End of September: The Glassoff was excellent this year. The best yet. The weather was terrible on Saturday and it was fine. Some had flights but the forecast was great for Sunday. So the main interests were the dinner and the following party. Even I, usually not too fond of parties, had fun. Sunday, a bright sun showed up after the fog lifted. In flight costumes are starting to get more elaborate a little. The next days were very sunny but more and more stable.
August 2008
14 August: Finally some time to update here. The Willi was very successful in spite of the rather inconsistent weather. See the Willi results. The weather got excellent for a few days, then a rainy stretch. We are now in what seems to be a long good stretch of sunny days. Expect a lot of people this weekend. 20 August: And there sure was. The weather being ideal for some distance Saturday. Thermals were going very high, over 4300 m (14000') altitude. Doug Keller did very well. One serious paragliding accident happenned in unusual risky conditions: badly broken ankle. Ouch! Sunday was more touch and go. A couple of good windows only. The sky may clear for next weekend. 24 August: It did and Saturday was good scratching, although some hesitated a bit too much. Sunday got windy with low pressure system due overnight.
July 2008 4 July: Yes, it's summer. Hot. Tomorrow, saturday July 5 the road access to the takeoff will be limited. The bike club provided us with passes to go through. These passes are available at the GEAR office at the landing zone. There are a limited numbers of passes, so please car pool more than usual on saturday. 20 July: Finally we get a long stretch of good weather and it coincide with the start of the HG national. Great flying if you can handle the rather strong (and rather small, today) afternoon thermals. Much easier in the evening. One missed takeoff damaged a glider and caused benign injuries. A reminder to be careful. 29 July: The Willi is happening. The weather stays uncertain but we pass a good time. The breakfast volunteers are extraordinary, good quality movies, BBQs, good flights, camp fires, and other activities. Not too late to enter.
June 2008 14 June: Thursday was nice. Too windy and stormy for a return distance. Still very nice. Forecast for the week is excellent. 29 June: Well, it got mostly cloudy and marginal until this weekend. Great sun, light wind but an inversion to keep us attached to the mountain. Lots of visitors. 30 June: The last weekend was only good, not super-good. Lots of flying with many visitors from Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and even a group of Californian hang gliders.
May 2008 16 May: The mountain road is blocked by snow at the km 9,5. It's icy but passable at the km 8. Flying is then possible from the km 9 launch but the weather is lacking so far. Late start, this year. 30 May: Some flying was possible at the end. Not sunny enough, so turned into good exercises for the beginning of the season.
April 2008 17 April: Scott is back from New Zealand and had a flight on the first with the help of a snowmobile ride. We were invited to an informal meeting with CSRD and Forestry BC representatives and we heard very good things for the future of our beloved mount 7 flying site. 18 April: The fresh snow sure seems to announce a late Spring this year.
February 2008 15 February: Confirmation of the annual Willi cross-country challenge end of July, see events calendar. 16 February: The website is moving. Indeed, the mount 7 website visiting traffic exceeds Geocities limits. Serge Web Service is the new host.
January 2008
Happy new year! I embedded two videos Youtube in my videos page. One is mine the other is by Rob Green. I will post more of these from videos sharing sites if they are relevant to mount 7. I will consider suggestions while reserving the right to embed or remove videos according to pertinence.
21 January: Sorry to report here the tragic death of Peter Bowle-Evans last wednesday in an avalanche while backcountry skiing. There will be a memorial tomorrow in the main GEAR building, at the landing zone.
December 2007
Merry Christmas!
November 2007 Here is the snow, here are the clouds, here is the cold. One tandem paraglider has migrated south while the others have put theirs away. Some wings will surely see the snow again a few times this winter.
October 2007
15 October: Finally, we had a couple of sunny days last weekend. Sunny enough for workable thermals. We were a few locals to enjoy it, and some in tandems, and one from Canmore. The season is winding down. The big wind sock is stored for the winter already. Snowy peaks announce and promote the coming ski season.
September 2007
3 September: A better weather than forecasted on the 1st, allowed a few good flights until a stratus, leftover from distant thunderstorm, comes stopping it all. Clouds and rain come back the next day in afternoon. Grey and humid weather. 10 September: A mild weather comes back this weekend bringing several visitors. Saturday was particularly good, better than forecasted. Showers spared mount 7 and even allowed Rob to claim a Parson and return. The wind became stronger later, many free fliers took advantage to appreciate our occasional dynamic lift north side. 16 September: Very beautiful past week. A few visitors from Calgary and the USA have enjoyed the all sunny conditions of Friday and Saturday. Sunday, with a cold front approaching rapidly in a moderate wind, all cancelled their flight.
30 September: The weather stayed on the rainy side for two weeks with very few flights if at all. However, somewhat miraculously, yesterday the weather was rather excellent. The sun was there for most of the time and when layers of smooth altostratus came, the wind was light and the thermals still climbing. I had a great Parson and return flight. The flying was low with cloudbase getting barely higher than the peaks and I recovered from low right above parson. Back to GEAR... I don't recall the winners' names of the target competition, sorry. They were all paragliders I think. Remind me, if you know them. The preferred and winning costume entry was of Tim Middlemiss. A beak and tail for the hang glider wing, which is in the spirit of the event inspired by France's renowned Coupe Icare. Paragliders were wearing elaborate costumes actually more visible in flight, compared to hang gliders. The event was fully sponsored by GEAR under John McIzaac and Cathy-Anne David direction. All entry fees collected (about $1000) are to be given to the HPAC canadian competition teams. Participants received more than the traditional t-shirt! A nice dinner was served, presence prizes were distributed, a pretty good live band played and the floor was danced until the end. This was the second instalment of the event, and the owners are very attached to it. It will surely grow more. Cheers to next september!
August 2007
3 August: The paragliding national continue in a beautiful blue sky, read Nicole's Blogs . Eighty participants mostly from Canada and the USA. No serious incident so far. Lots of fun.
4 August: Final results of the paragliding national, Jamie Messenger from Great Britain won, Matt Beechinor from the USA second and Keith MacCullough from Canada arrived third. One helicopter rescued a paraglider stranded on a cliff by the side of mt 7. How to tell them to avoid getting grounded?
10 August: The Willi cross-country challenge is already over. See the results, some photos and a short report. One grave accident to report, no relation to the Willi. A student paraglider froze during the approach and struck a tall tree. He'll have to recuperate from several grave fractures.
18 August: Another week of great flying. Edmontonians, one Calgarian, one Hawaïan and a couple of New-Yorkers enjoyed it. Many tandem flights were had too. A few Calgarians are here this weekend. Flying conditions are becoming smooth and scratchy. 19 August: Saturday, the weather dramatically deteriorated in afternoon. Rain for the next few days.
End of August: That's it, the weather pattern changed for cloudy and rainy. A few time windows best exploited by paragliders occurred nevertheless. Short flights in general.
July 2007
3 July: The long weekend and nice weather bring many visitors from Calgary and farther. Very good flights by Rob Clarkson and Scott Gravelle among others, the first doing Radium and back to Spillimacheen while the second decided rather to stop in Invermere for a friendly diner (that's what he said). Organized activities are starting this month with the bike race and the distance clinic, then the paragliding national at the end of the month. See events calendar.
4 July: Scott announce that the last bit of road to the takeoff will be temporarily closed between 3:45 and 4:45 pm Saturday 7 July for a wedding. 8 July: Rather windy and cloudy weather reduced the quality of possible flights. Still flights Friday evening and in two periods Saturday including dynamic lift in the evening.
19 July: Vincene Muller was also here for the cross-country clinic and all went well past weekend. The Psychosis didn't disrupt the flying too much in spite of road complications. There was a nice BBQ fundraiser organized by Scott Gravelle for the canadian team on Saturday with participation of Brett Hazlett. Muller Wind Sports and Rob Clarkson made nice donations that were auctioned. Yours truly (Serge) survived a scary landing Sunday during an untimely gust front, downtube broken. The group from Saskatchewan is here for the week, including Cas Wolan. One visitor from New-Zealand also. We finally get some serious rain today to abate the dust.
22 July: Rather cloudy weekend. Muller Windsports have brought nineteen new fledglings paragliders for their first high flights. Visitors are becoming more numerous.
29 July: The paragliding national commence in a beautiful blue sky, read Nicole's Blogs . The Willi cross-country challenge is coming soon.
June 2007
1 June: Visitors come with the sun and since the Lookout is open. Will Gadd came back from a 30 km out and return to land at the Lookout. Another went under reserve south of Parson after venturing too much into the lee side. Safe and sound, he climbed 1.5 h to the small peak and relaunched. It turned nice in the evening.
2–3 June: It got even better, still few to enjoy it. Less wind meant great thermals. I tried two Brisco and back but did not complete them. Fabulous flights anyway. 13 June: After over a week of clouds and rain, time is found to install the new windsock.
May 2007
7 May: The road was plowed last week, sponsored by the tandem pilots. However, not quite ready for showtime as you see. Give it a couple of weeks. 14 May: The 9k (lower) launch is accessible now and the summer is on! Last half: gives a few good days for cross country flights as shown in my provincial ranking. Scott Watwood in tandem with Sam (québécois) landed in Fairmont on the 29 while I did an out and return to Spilli. Magali, a newcomer, went to Parson on the 30, while I experienced an electric fenced landing in Horse Creek. That bailout field is now to avoid of course because these fences make it really too small to land safely. In spite of the snow left, the Lookout can be considered open since four days of sun are forecasted.
April 2007
12 April: Melting, melting and there, the first Spring flights. Paragliders Dan, Hugo, Scott, J.-P. and more already went off cross country even: Briso, Spilli... The longest being by Dan, landing yesterday at the Invermere airport, about 100 km. The road is drivable up to the 8 km and could be open to the Lookout next week. 14 April: After verification, the road is challenging, snowy and muddy at places. It was plowed all winter for tree harvesting. Higher? At least a metre of snow, quite hard still, since it doesn't melt fast in altitude. The 9 km takeoff is clear though, if you're willing to walk. 24 April: Yesterday was nice and sunny. Scott took off from the expert 5k launch. First north to Willowbank then south to Edgewater. One hundred thirty-five km, he estimates. "Up to cloud base of 11,700'. It was tiring with violent lift out there." he reports.
December 2006 Good snow falls this year. And it's already time to wish merry Christmas and happy new year. Some take advantage of the rare nice weather to go for a little flight. Here J.-P. and Dan satisfied after a flight from the summit (helicopter transport to the takeoff).
November 2006 Well, since the snow fall and fall again during the first week, put the wing away seems like the thing to do. The mount 7 road is already too snowed in for the car. It looks great for the ski and snowmobile... and avalanches!
October 2006 Sunday morning free flight aplenty and Glass Off finalization. Greg Leslie, a well known veteran, won the target competition, I'm told. Very good conditions in the afternoon when I find myself alone during set up and in flight. All gone already. Air is cold... Incredible, nice weather come back again for Thanksgiving weekend. Very nice flights and even a cross country! Several short flights the following week in a superb weather. Clouds and rain since mid-october. Cold and snow fell upon us, the last week.
September 2006
Good start for the month with a nice sunny week end during the rodéo. The decidedly stable air makes long flights difficult. Scott takes a paraplegic in tandem, helped by Peter and Hugo at the take off. Weather keeps good during week ends and so the forecast for the first Golden Glassoff, a costume and target landing competition, on saturday 30. Saturday was too windy for paragliders and most hang gliders. Thirty participants, a good portion in costumes, did appreciate the supper, and the following party.
August 2006
Less good weather the first week. Perfect to cool off and keep the dust down. And good weather comes back for the Willi (read more). A paraglider needed rescue on Pagliaro's plateau. Lucky a 4 meters tree slow him down, scraped his face, scrapped his glider. South takeoff was modified by and for paragliders. An Emu was found on mt 7, and rescued. Several hang/paragliders from Calgary and elsewhere come in the week ends with this nice weather. The tandem instructors decided to do some mountain cross country camping flights together for pleasure alone. Nice weather comes back for the last week end. Must know how to climb in thermals. Some good distances, of which one landed in Lake Louise. Janet adopt the dog wandering at the LZ. If you know its owner, tell us.
July 2006 Good weather continues during Canada day weekend and fills up the Lookout with hang glider and paraglider pilots, and mountain bikers. An american ("Spike") was here but not in best weather. I suffered an attack from hawks in flight: more patches on my wing. Second week is rainy enough for a respite. The Willi cross country challenge is coming. Great flying weather during the mountain bike race week end attracted many. Good weather continues while Bruno Berti, the national paragliding champion 2006, travels through, a hang gliding group from Saskatchewan camp in town and Will Gadd do some cross country. Uncertain weather during the last week did cause special conditions, wednesday and saturday especially. A hang glider pilot landed poorly and sprained an ankle, in a cross country flight.
June 2006 A bit rainy and windy start. Some good days. Tandem season is on. The nationals hang gliding in Vulcan being cancelled, Doug Keller directs it at mount 7 at the last minute, June 18 to 24. Brett Hazlett made the task on Sunday and everybody else went for the LZ and the second place. Monday was rain. Tuesday cleared early enough to call a task and most had a good start. Read more and photos...
May 2006 The lower launch, the one at 9 km, is now accessible. Good weather this third week. Fun every day! The Lookout is open on the 21st. And then rain.
April 2006 Some pilots couldn't wait for the road to dry out any more. They reinstated a former launch. Scott demonstrates. Spring sun is so pleasant. Beware though, the air is active!
November 2005 One nice sunny day brought three of us in the cold air. Otherwise, low clouds, lack of sun, snow prevents flights. Most wings are tucked for the winter.
October 2005 Weather keeps rather foggy and cloudy, sometimes rainy. Snow starts to accumulate on the peaks. Some rare but welcomed flights in ridge lift and weak thermals.
September 2005 Quiet month so far. Weather rather uncertain if not rainy. Still, the last two week ends were sunny enough and several Calgarians came by for at least a flight.
August 2005 Check the results of the Willi Muller cross country challenge. We were blessed with good weather. I personally recorded 21 flying days.
July 2005 The Muller flight park (Nicholson landing zone) open officially as part of the eco-adventure ranch. Vincene Muller did cut the ribbon. See Landing Zone section. A reminder of the Willi Muller cross country challenge at the end of the month (this week). Reminder also about the Session 7 shuttle up from reflection lake.
June 2005 Weather keeps cloudy and stormy during all month. The road was repaired. The grass grew.
May 2005 The lower launch is now accessible. Too much snow left above 12 km to reach the Lookout. Garth and Annelies stopped for a short flight returning from Chris Muller memorial. We all mourn the early departure of our skillful, most daring and loving pilot. Mid-May the road is practically open to the Lookout. Four gorgeous days end of May.
April 2005 Snow and ice on the road are melting. Patches of soft granulous snow, mud, and hard icy snow makes the climb hard. Must be 4wd. Weather ain't so good yet.
March 2005 The low season for forestry work leads to an increased flying activity on the mountain. Still spotty days.
December 2004 It's dark, it's cloudy. Wings are tucked in. Merry Christmas and happy new year!
October 2004 The weather improved a little. Only a few good spotty days so far though. Check the forecast before coming to fly. It's dark at 7:00 PM and days shorten fast.
September 2004 The atmosphere is now in rainy and cloudy mode most of the time in here. As usual for this season, check the forecast before coming to fly. ~ Read the new tree rescue page.
August 2004 Weather was good but challenging during the Willi cross country challenge 2004. Check the results and more. ~ Well, it's rain, clouds and rain for the last half of the month. Let's hope for the return of the sun before automn and the first snow!
July 2004 Session 7 shuttle with a small bus from Reflection lake to mount 7. It carries up to 6 passengers and mountain bikes. Also open to tourists and paragliders. ~ The Willi cross country challenge brings many visitors. ~ Fields problems: read carefully the Cross country flights and Etiquette sections before going in distance.
End of June 2004 Summer and sunny hot weather are here together. Great conditions. Regular calgarian pilots, well, start coming regularly. Already some good cross country distances reported. A field in Edgewater is now to avoid. Read the sections Cross country flights and Etiquette carefully before doing distance flights.
End of May 2004 The cloudy and sometimes rainy weather did maintain and continue. It's typical in the Spring. One must be watching the atmospheric conditions more closely.
Mid–May 2004 After two weeks of clouds, rain, snow in altitude, the sun returns. The Lookout is now accessible for all. Take-off areas were cleared of all tree regrowth and of many bushes. The landing zone owners now request to sign a waiver, in addition to the HPAC membership.
April 2004 The road to the lookout was cleared of snow but the paragliders blocked access to it with a cable. There's a need for more hang glider pilots, here! Fortunately, the Spring-efficient lower launch was accessible and I had a great season start with 7 hours 30 min. total airtime and a flight to Brisco, all during the last week. Paragliders had some good flights too, and earlier in the month. Improvements at the landing so far: graveled parking, fence open and no horse.
March 2004 The snow melt in the valley and good South wind days brought a few paragliders back to life at the gravel pit. A few hours of airtime claimed in total.
December 2003 Apart from more snow and lower sun, the Nicholson LZ property changed hand. The new owners plan to develop it as an eco-adventure ranch including a flight park. Maintenance and convenience should improve. Merry Christmas and happy new year 2004!
2003 November 9 Snow falling and low clouds. The early sunset, the road, the weather preclude good free flights. All hang gliders and most paragliders are tucked in for the winter. Time to cultivate your knowledge. Time to travel South.
2003 October 9 We just had 11 great sunny days. Conditions were very pleasant although marginal.
2003 September 9 The recent rain announces the start of wet season and the end of the forest fires. Access to the backcountry, and mount 7, is open. Let's now wish for some sun. Check weather forecasts before coming.