It's been a Rotten Spring.....

Stir crazy? Looking back through the old log book I figure this has to be one of the worst starts to a flying season ever. I'm running out of winch projects and would really like to get a few km's of XC here in the Fraser Valley to warm up for some real flying down in Mansfield.

By this time last year I had logged nearly 500km xc in the Fraser Valley.  This year... .The VR has had one trip to the mountain, never bothered to take it out of the bag as the day was so stable  it hardly made it worth the effort.

The coastal mountains have had epic snow packs (the ski hill up at Hemlock recorded over 5 meters of snow.... well above the norm).  The road into launch at Woodside was buried up until two weeks ago. For most of the spring, you could just make it to the spur road turnoff, then pack it in from there. We are now able to drive into launch. But still the weather has been far from inviting. Mia and I have both managed a few flights on the Bag's but good old Woodside has been far from inspirational.

Yesterday, there looked like an opportunity to get the VR into the air, but the weather Gods were angry and the Valley was hit with 20mph out flow conditions..... oh well the VR stayed in the bag (no doubt some deranged bag pilot hucked off someplace?)

Mia and I are going to head to Mansfield this weekend to try and get our summer shack opened up. We normally take a weekend to clean up the lawns, collect up all the fallen tree branches and patch up what ever may have been damaged through the winter storms. Hopefully the trip down last fall to fix a leaking water line will have cured the problems we have had with the flooded basement. Always a treat to discover the sump pump failed and 4 feet of water has "moved" in to form a indoor swimming pool!

I don't think the winter on the east side of the Cascades has been that harsh so I'm hoping there will only be a small amount of clean up (weather looks like its going be cool but sunny for the trip). It's still too early for towing so we will just take the bags down for some kiting or the airport ridge in Chelan.

Of course, there may be a catch to heading into Chelan from Mansfield... McNeil Canyon road is likely to be closed and under construction (for the next 9 weeks!).  The reverse of this is pilots flying Chelan Butte will not have access to the flats. There are ways around the work but they will add at least an hour to the drive. The closure will last well into June. I guess we will just have to wait and see if its going to completely cut off access (there is some hope they may find a way to allow limited access).

So for now, its waiting for spring.....