The Summit Creek warm springs, about 70 some degrees, which is full of tropical fish that someone long ago dumped in there, and they have thrived over the years! Seen from the air, it is apparent it is fed from underneath, as there is no visible stream leading to it.

My new fat ebike is finished, (a Surly Wednesday chrome moly bare frame buildup, BBSHD motor with pedal assist, 17 AH Panasonic 52 VDC triangle mounted battery and most bad ass of all, a 14 speed Rohloff internally geared hub instead of a derailleur system) and it has added to the fun to be had this winter. We have had over 28' of snow this winter, an all time record, at the ski area just behind my place and 1,000' higher. After some freeze/ thaw cycles, it is quite possible to ride a fat bike on it once you air down a bit. Like ski flying, you have to pick your time though, the earlier the better. I have been riding it the 800' vert up to the tree line, using my skiplane tracks often to make the ride up easier. Or, my snowboard tracks, so this fatbike snow riding is a sport within a sport, within a sport. Whatever, it's fun, especially weaving down through the trees, and doing some drifting with the rear tire. The snow has wind drifts, and just like in ski flying depth perception to see them is critical, and when I am bombing down through and over them, it is eerily reminiscent of first ski flying, and secondly, snowboarding.

courierguy wrote:My new fat ebike is finished, (a Surly Wednesday chrome moly bare frame buildup, BBSHD motor with pedal assist, 17 AH Panasonic 52 VDC triangle mounted battery and most bad ass of all, a 14 speed Rohloff internally geared hub instead of a derailleur system)....

Gotta ask: Chain, or Gates carbon drive?

Chain. I'm not quite sold on the belt drive, I had a bad experience once on a 80's era Kawasaki motorcycle and it's belt drive, as in mud clogged it so tight it wouldn't move. The tension is pretty picky to get correct also, so I'm told. More $$ also. The chain I do have is a wide heavy duty one, meant for a one speed bike. Not skinny like they have to be to work with a derailleur type system, and it has a pretty easy life as the chain line is straight, no matter what gear I'm in. I know the belt drive is the latest hot item, but since I've never had any chain issues whatsoever, I wasn't going to fix what wasn't broke!

Even though we got another 7" of snow today up at the ski area, my ski runway is half melted off, while my turf strip is half snow half not. Plus the exposed ground is soft and mushy so I stay the hell off of it as I do not want to make ruts for water to run down, at a 14% grade, ain't going to happen.

But just last week.....
Laying tracks along a cornice, though I was tempted to say "this was one tricky takeoff", it was just a low pass while still having flying speed, the ski flying equivalent of water skiing, pointless but fun.

A 9500' ridge that I thought might be useable, what with all the snow we have this year, but I passed. I did leave some tracks but didn't commit, the only feasible spot was real sheltered, (maybe real uncompacted snow, unlike the exposed ridgelines) and with trees at both ends) and I just got the feeling it was a sucker hole. Even leaving tracks I hit some swales I failed to see, PASS. Though damn, looking at it now, I'm having second thoughts, but it just wasn't as good up close as it looks here, from my keyboard it looks great!

From a lower ridge, at 8600', looking over to the big boy I passed on. This site I land often in the summer, my first ski landing there.

My most pain this winter: coming down the slopes above my place on the fatbike, and I stupidly assumed the transition to the plowed road would be something I could ride down, (like the first one higher up) it wasn't, and the front tire stopped dead and I went for a ride over the handlebars ass over teakettle. My first good crash on my new bike, it always good to get that over with and out of the way. You can see my splat mark in the snow, pretty funny. A backcountry skier parking a shuttle rig saw it all, and started to come over when I didn't move, but then I told him I was just messing with him,I was OK, and I was glad that someone got to see it, would have been a shame to have it go to waste

So now I wait and see parts of my runways dry out first, I really hate to take the skis off with all the snow up high, seems like every spring I get the Airstreaks back on too soon, I'm going to wait a bit longer this year..

An absolutely perfect day for flying today, and I was unable to partake, with no viable runway! I almost jumped on the tractor to blow off the remaining snow banks but things had softened up too much, so I backed off.

I did my my first out of bounds hike of the season instead. That's where you ride the chairlift up as normal, but instead of immediately bombing down the hill, I hike out of the ski area. Being a boarder, I am walking, not enough slope on the traverse. About 30 minutes of a nice walk through the trees brings me to immediately above my place, but 3,000' above it. Much untracked powder on the way down, though others have been hitting it also, just a handful. At 800' above my place, I came upon my fatbike tire tracks I had made earlier in the morning, so followed them down just for the hell of it. This is the view before I start my run.

This would have been a lot of fun for most people, but flying has ruined me, I would rather do it then anything else, but at least it gave me something to do, and I now see at the end of this warm day, the runway has dramatically melted off some more, another few days like today and I'll be back in business.

Well that was certainly fun to watch with my morning cup of tea.

Nice Tom. Thanks for sharing.

I learned a new good trick that made the decision to take the wheel skis off a bit easier this spring. The "problem" being at my elevation and lower there was no more snow, while on the 8 and 9K ridges all around there is still PLENTY of snow. So, this year, after making 2 or 3 wheel takeoffs on my now snowless runway, with just a few tracks left higher up (just so I could still log it as ski flying) and not even a full stop landing (getting mushy, kinda rotten, didn't want to get stuck), I made the switch back to the Airstreaks.

Here's the trick: the next day when I took off, I headed towards the lowest terrain I could find, about 1400' lower then my snowless 5400', so turning green even, and I spent the next couple hours in some remote valleys low flying, NEVER looking up at the snow covered peaks. Half joking, half serious here, simply averting my gaze from high up and instead playing around low made the transition more painless! It wasn't until the 4 th ski less flight that I climbed up to where I could think, "damn, wish I had the skis on," like this area in the picture. About 40 miles from my place, I have never noticed it before and it looks intriguing, it's now on my list for next winter.

42 hours this year, not bad, bringing my ski total up to 320 hrs., almost all in and on mountains. But just now, today, May 17 th., looking out my home office window: NEW SNOW!

I had a farmer, 30 miles away by air, much more by driving due to two big ridges in the way,call me about moving this water tank. So, of course I flew there, first landing by his house, then when he pointed the tank out to me, again near it. The nearby power lines were his concern, and why I needed to look at it before driving the crane clear out there. On the way, I also overflew a large shop I'll be craning at Tuesday, and after sending a picture to the homeowner, told him where I would set up, what to move, etc.. It can be quite handy having a plane, helping out in my taxi crane service. I charge NO EXTRA for this added service. The leaning old farmhouse is not for this world much longer, and it's been on my list for several years, so after "working" I had a little fun on the flight back.

Looks like a cool place!

Did my first off-airport ski landings today. Perfect conditions, almost zero wind. I landed at a lake just up the road from my house - 13th Lake.
I walked most of the length of it yesterday. It's plenty long and wide enough to make a full turn inside the width of the lake if I need to. Kind if steep ridges on the North Side, but much lower terrain on the South Side. Plus it's only a couple miles from my house so if I really F'ed up I could walk home. Interesting, the snow at our strip doesn't get much sun or wind and is fairly powdery, while the snow on the lake was dense due to wind. I was amazed at how much longer my take off took in the denser snow - more than twice as long even though there was only a few inches. Into the knowledge bank that goes. I can definitely see where you could easily get yourself into a place and have a hard time getting out. Anyway, good fun for sure.

Pete

Fun isn't it? The differing snow conditions on landing and takeoff "rolls" distance, and room needed to turn around, sure keep it interesting. Yeah, being able to crawl home if needed is a confidence builder for sure, I think the same but have yet to utilize that backup plan.

courierguy wrote:Fun isn't it? The differing snow conditions on landing and takeoff "rolls" distance, and room needed to turn around, sure keep it interesting. Yeah, being able to crawl home if needed is a confidence builder for sure, I think the same but have yet to utilize that backup plan.

Definitely fun stuff. So far I am having a ball. Lots of variables though for sure. One thing I had a bit of a hard time with yesterday was depth perception.Once over the lake it was tough to judge my altitude agl. There was a set of ski tracks across the lake which gave me a great landing target. I found myself too high for every landing, but not too high where I couldn't slip it in and I only really overshot by 100' once. The other landings were all within 10' of those tracks. On the slips though, it was hard to tell if I was going straight or drifting one way or the other until I could find my previous tracks to line up with. I did fly around and look at a couple of other lakes close to the road, but they were all cut up with snowmobile & ATV tracks so I didn't land on any.

First ski TO and landings for both me and the airplane yesterday. Fellow facing the camera accompanied to keep me safe. Looking forward to more tomorrow.

Pinecone wrote:First ski TO and landings for both me and the airplane yesterday. Fellow facing the camera accompanied to keep me safe. Looking forward to more tomorrow.

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Congrats on the start to skis. It is a bunch of fun.

I was asking some of the Airdrie locals if you were around when I came through there on new years. Sounded like you were away for the holiday season. Fueled and overnighted on the 31st with a new acquisition I was bringing back north from Ontario. They local folks were very helpful, steering me to some tie downs for the Exp. L19.

Nice little field there. I will certainly be back for a visit. In laws in NW Calgary makes it a very convenient stop, especially with no transponder, and being half intimidated by that Calgary airspace at the best of times.

UpNorth

UpNorth wrote:

Pinecone wrote:First ski TO and landings for both me and the airplane yesterday. Fellow facing the camera accompanied to keep me safe. Looking forward to more tomorrow.

0D06171D-4764-406D-A2FE-E6B5F093F3DB.jpeg

Congrats on the start to skis. It is a bunch of fun.

I was asking some of the Airdrie locals if you were around when I came through there on new years. Sounded like you were away for the holiday season. Fueled and overnighted on the 31st with a new acquisition I was bringing back north from Ontario. They local folks were very helpful, steering me to some tie downs for the Exp. L19.

Nice little field there. I will certainly be back for a visit. In laws in NW Calgary makes it a very convenient stop, especially with no transponder, and being half intimidated by that Calgary airspace at the best of times.

UpNorth

You flew up and didn't stop in Rod? Next time you need to stop and check out my new hangar!

Sorry David, I had great intentions of stopping for a visit. Time and weather predictions had me passing by. As it turned out, I was ahead of the snow and the following 2 weeks of -40 by a few hours. Will certainly stop in next time.

Rod
UpNorth

I saw your missed call, and the guys at Airdrie mentioned you were through. I was snowmobiling at Mabel Lake, BC.

I think I saw that L19 experimental in Red Lake in about 2004, 2005?

See you next time you’re here. I’ll be in Watson Lake in March. Trying to include the Muncho Lake fly-in on the way home.