Hey guys,
I am starting to pay more attention to ski flying and am wondering if there are any Oregon guys on the board flying skis? I know Mauleguy has flown his Maule in AK on skis, but have not seen much ski flying in Oregon/Washington. Aktahoe down in Norcal and of course Courierguy.....who am I missing?

Hey Highroad,

I plan to begin ski flying next winter, if I don't make it happen this winter. It would be fun to meet up for some ski flying!

Very much looking forward to it!

Scolopax

Sounds good. That 180 will work great on Skis. Start scoping places to land/skin/ski over there!

WILCO! Looking Forward to it.

I am glad you brought this topic up. I have not heard of any ski flying here in Oregon yet, and I'd love to try it out. I am guessing that the only areas to give it a try would be some of the frozen lakes in the Cascades. However, I have no idea how thick the ice is. Diagonally crossing the Cascades again this clear afternoon from the flight levels, I actually did look for some meadow-y areas, but could not spot anything.

If anyone has experience ski-flying up here, fill us in

Isn't the Summit Ski outfit based in Bend?

Summit Aircraft is indeed located in Bend. Flybymike is on this forum occasionally, and could add valuable info to this thread.

There are a few landable lakes in the Cascade Lakes. It is probably wise to confirm the integrity of the ice before landing (not to state the obvious), but the lakes are difficult to access in the winter. Sledders are out on these lakes regularly.

Summit Skis out on Sparks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTK9RWxe7eI

Great thread. I don't have the plane for it, but love the topic.

For you 180 and 185 guys I have 2 sets of Landis Wheel penetration skis .Would like to sell 1 set or trade 1 set for skis for my Stinson. I am in Silverton, Or.

Back on skis today...

Thanks for rubbing it in........or is that motivation? Haha

I am the Summit ski guy in Bend. I had skis on my Kitfox for 3 years flying around central Oregon. Sold the Kitfox earlier this year and will have my new Rans S7 on skis this winter. I found a great place on Wickiup Res. where the water recedes and leaves a nice smooth area. I took a Dewalt drill with a long wood bit and walked onto the ice, drilled down through about 10 inches of ice, that's enough huh??
I have landed in the Ochocos mts. a few times, Cresent airstrip is not plowed but is usually tracked up by snowmachines but still fun, been into Santiam a few times. Have done lots of T&Gs on Elk Lake and Crane Prairie, no full stops as I did't know how thick the ice was. The small runway at Madras was not plowed and about 18" of snow one year, enough to have fun on, especially when you are the first to lay tracks.
Sparks Lake next to Mt. Bachelor is where I did my first ever ski landings. That was before I knew about warm wet snow conditions and how much runway was required for take off with a 100 HP engine, fixed cruise prop and 6000 ft. elevation and downwind to avoid the trees, whew!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti375srHB4E on Elk Lake

Gotta love it,
Mike
summitaircraft.com

flybymike wrote:I am the Summit ski guy in Bend. I had skis on my Kitfox for 3 years flying around central Oregon. Sold the Kitfox earlier this year and will have my new Rans S7 on skis this winter. I found a great place on Wickiup Res. where the water recedes and leaves a nice smooth area. I took a Dewalt drill with a long wood bit and walked onto the ice, drilled down through about 10 inches of ice, that's enough huh??
I have landed in the Ochocos mts. a few times, Cresent airstrip is not plowed but is usually tracked up by snowmachines but still fun, been into Santiam a few times. Have done lots of T&Gs on Elk Lake and Crane Prairie, no full stops as I did't know how thick the ice was. The small runway at Madras was not plowed and about 18" of snow one year, enough to have fun on, especially when you are the first to lay tracks.
Sparks Lake next to Mt. Bachelor is where I did my first ever ski landings. That was before I knew about warm wet snow conditions and how much runway was required for take off with a 100 HP engine, fixed cruise prop and 6000 ft. elevation and downwind to avoid the trees, whew!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti375srHB4E on Elk Lake

Gotta love it,
Mike
summitaircraft.com

All kinds of great information here, thanks
So, who do you know in Oregon would be interested in some Ski-flying instruction?

Mike,
Thanks for the info.

Z pilot, not sure if you were asking who would be interested in ski instruction, but I am looking for somebody with some experience to learn from.

Good advise to always check the ice thickness, even if one must touch down and not stop, take off, look in ski tracks, if filled with water, probably go somewhere else. Same way w/ snowmobile. It happened to me in Wyoming several times on a snowmobile.

This sounds like a heap of fun! If you guys get this going, I want to ride with sometime!

Oregon180 wrote:This sounds like a heap of fun! If you guys get this going, I want to ride with sometime!

Take me too! I'll make a cool movie of it.

Highoad-

Nah, I am in the same boat as you...I would be looking for instruction.
In the meantime, I need to figure out which skis are approved for my Scout, and perhaps locate a used pair up in Alaska.

Weather and temps look good for the next few weeks. You should just come down here and have some fun...

Every winter I think it sure would be fun to have skis on my kitfox. I have a couple questions about skis maybe someone here can answer.

In the Airport Facilities Directory the Chiloquin OR airport remarks says "Arpt may be closed due to snow". I see there is a Notam now saying it is "Closed due to snow". I think Easton. Tieton, Bandera have the same remarks. Would landing on skis there be a viloation? In the AFD my local airport (Ellensburg) remarks say "Rwy 7-25 closed Dec15- Feb 28..." They never plow the snow on it but there isn't a Notam...that I can find...closing it.

My insurance says "No skis". Do most insurance companies offer insurance on skis for an added fee, or just say no?

Being experimental I assume I would just write my FSDO that I want to modify my airplane with skis and they will say okay go ahead and put it in phase one testing for xx hours?