We had planned a camping trip up here this weekend, but things didn't work out. I knew the owners would be up there, and the weather was great so I took my dad, who had never been there, for a ride up there to show him the strip and introduce him to the owners.

This is the best backcountry strip in Colorado. And the owners are just great people. Always feel bad about leaving.

Also had a chance to see a very rare, yellow toed wolf hybrid. Actually all his feet were yellow from playing in the dandeliens.

Had some friends from Az. fly up also. Their first time in there. Also met Skypony there.
Here's a few photos













Here's a video of my buddies leavin.

Beautiful Gary! Thanks for sharing the pics. I'd like to check that place out.

One of these days I'm going to do more than just fly over that place.

Glad some were able to make it and thanks for the pics Gary.

This one is well hidden, it isn't lised on the sectional, is it?

very nice one!

Nope, not on the sectionals, and I like to say, as close to Idaho as you can get in Colorado"
Awesome place.
Thankyou Mr. and Mrs. Gallegos for sharing you slice of paradise.

That is beautiful country, makes me homesick sometimes. Great pictures.

I wish we could access these backcountry strips around here with pickups and RV's.

gb

Gary and all who made it, I'm so glad some of you got to enjoy Marble. I feel pretty crappy about trying to organize the trip and I didn't even go. Things are looking up for my wagon. I have an O-470R engine and an 88" seaplane prop deal in the works. Just trying to iron out shipping details. I managed to pull my O-470A off today. Went pretty easy. Lets hope the conversion goes well. I will do Marble again SOON. Just wish I could have hung out with Glen and Diane this weekend. We are so lucky they give us the privilege of sharing their paradise which happens to be in our backyard. Marble ROCKS!!!

Awesome, Gary!! Beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing!

mountainmatt wrote:One of these days I'm going to do more than just fly over that place.

More than I've done and I'm closer than you!

Great video of Corntown Dawg departing Marble. He got off, but not like a rocket. What was the density altitude that day, anybody know?
S

S
Just guessing here, but temp was probably 60ish, 7800ASL,slight 5 kt. tailwind. His first time in there. He noticed not getting off as quick as he expected. After he got off, he stayed low and was building speed before trying to climb out.

That would mean DA would be somewhere around 9600'-10100' depending on what he actual temp was. Then throw in a 5kt tailwind and the sinker over Mckee Pond. Can make for some interesting departures.

Wow Gary-nice pics-marble looks gorgeous! Hopefully I will get to see it first hand one of these days

bushwagon wrote:That would mean DA would be somewhere around 9600'-10100' depending on what he actual temp was. Then throw in a 5kt tailwind and the sinker over Mckee Pond. Can make for some interesting departures.

Yeah, I noticed it. I was not able to climb enough to get over McClure. I got some ridge lift but not enough. I got about even with the pass but unable to get enough altitude to feel safe crossing. I had to go down the valley. I finally got enough altitude to get over the ridge N of Sunlight Peak. A lot of turbulence too in my little light airplane.

I had only planned on staying an hour. I should have kept that plan and maybe had enough lift to get over. I had planned for the possibility of just going down the valley so it was not a problem.

I videoed the approach and landing at Marble and have been trying to upload to youtube. It takes about 12 hours for a large file and often aborts when about 99% done. It already aborted once. I'll post the link when (if) I ever get it uploaded. Then those who weren't able to make it can fly vicariously.

John

Hey John
I don't know if ya know about vimeo or not, but it works pretty good. And can be free. I use the free account. I think it takes a little longer to download(.5-1hr.), but nbd for me. Once that is done you just use the link to send videos to friends or post on here

Zane has a good tutorial to post vimeo here.

Here's one you will probably like

Gary

Gary,

Thanks for posting the video. Kirk told me my airplane glowed when I went over in the pattern. Now I see what he means.

I have looked into Vimeo but my videos are usually bigger than the 500MB per week that Vimeo allows. I record in HD so the 10 minute video I'm uploading is 1.4 GB. Youtube allows up to 10 minutes and 2GB per video.

Maybe I'll try downsizing my video to see how it turns out. Maybe the loss would not be so great. My software will also allow me to speed up or slow down the video. I prefer real time but I could make the files smaller by increasing the speed.

John

Hey John
Sounds like you are WAAAAAY ahead of me in this world of technology.

C-ya next time
Gary

what a spot!! beautiful location, great people, good friends...my thanks to the Gallegos family for sharing their beautiful strip with backcountry pilots, and to my friend Gary
for taking me on my first small plane ride 10 yrs ago....thanks buddy its gettin more fun all the time! ....as far as getting off like a rocket...i was doing about 95k at the trees at the end of the runway and maintained that speed all the way up to 11.5 to cross mcclure pass a couple miles up canyon

skypony wrote:Maybe I'll try downsizing my video to see how it turns out. Maybe the loss would not be so great. My software will also allow me to speed up or slow down the video. I prefer real time but I could make the files smaller by increasing the speed.

John

John there is definitely an optimum for online delivery of HD video. 1.4 GB for a 10 minute video means that your quality/bit rate is set way too high, but the ideal target bit rate will also depend on what codec is being used. H.264 vs MPEG4 for example. I believe H.264 can get away with a slightly lower bit rate thatn MPEG4, and therefore a smaller file size.

You can tell when it gets lossy if you set the bit rate too low. Hopefully someone will chime in who knows more, because I've seen some pro-quality work on Vimeo that has fairly low bit rates, and looks better than my higher bit rate videos.