BRD wrote:Yes, they drill about 12-15 thousand holes the night before within the square. (impressive operation to watch) Then when it starts in the morning, (10am-3 pm) the contestants chop out whatever ice reformed during the night in their chosen hole. (around $100K in prizes)

Wow that is pretty damn cool! How thick is the ice on average?

I finally got out for some fun yesterday and flew down to Lakeside and met Little John and a crew for lunch. I spotted a landing site on a ridge in the coast range on the way down there, and was flying back via the coast and couldn't stop thinking about it, so I flew to the ridge and managed to land on it. It was pretty cool, def a personal best for me as far as landing sites go. Up at 3400' and about 250' usable to me, with only maybe 75x50 of flat area. Then I got a text from a friend who was in Toledo, so I met him there for some BBQ and then flew home. Fun day!


Nice collection of airplanes.




A nice collection of pilots.




My Savannah on some hill top.




Looking down the runway.




Looking up the runway.




Don't hit that!




An old memorial site up there as well.




Nice view at 3400' in the coast range.




One more shot of the Savannah.

Nice Chosstro, what an awesome spot!!!!!!!

Looking down the runway.

That's a sweet view. Nice work, and TR!

Ice is 20+ inches right now. Would have been thicker, given the coldest winter in a while around here, but we've also had a lot of insulating snow.

chosstronaut wrote:

An old memorial site up there as well.




Nice view at 3400' in the coast range.




One more shot of the Savannah.

Beautiful spot! I wonder if the memorial site was one of those, someone was killed here memorials or if someone buried a beloved pet up there? I always wonder what the stories are.

And here is a little video with my first attempt at narration...

Finally got out to play. Darn "work" thing sure gets in the way of having fun.
You have to love the cold dense air and no thermals.

Short video (time lapse) west of Albuquerque



https://www.dropbox.com/sh/53hkdmiiwslsh2y/SQNjcAxfbV

around the lakes to warm up the oil...kinda' sorta'...





But the colors were great!

FINALLY was able to get up today. Been almost a month. Got my 1st solo xcountry done.

Nuke plant we fly past on the way down to 2b2.

All that frozen stuff gave me the chills.
Here's one from the summer. 100 degrees at 9 in the morning.

Here's a little flight I took a week ago or so. There's several inches of snow on the ground this morning!

clippwagon wrote:Here's a little flight I took a week ago or so. There's several inches of snow on the ground this morning!

Hey Clippwagon: I've been to Smith Rocks - where do you fly out of, Bend? The weather wasn't perfect, but at least you got up. The grass strip I keep my plane at is a soggy mess so the homeowners association closed the runway until it firms up again. It's driving me crazy, and has me rethinking that whole grass strip thing!

Flyhound wrote:

clippwagon wrote:Here's a little flight I took a week ago or so. There's several inches of snow on the ground this morning!

Hey Clippwagon: I've been to Smith Rocks - where do you fly out of, Bend? The weather wasn't perfect, but at least you got up. The grass strip I keep my plane at is a soggy mess so the homeowners association closed the runway until it firms up again. It's driving me crazy, and has me rethinking that whole grass strip thing!

I'm based out of Prineville. It's a 5 minute flight to the "Rock" to there but my house is only a five minute drive to it! We've had an unbelievably sunny and mild winter here is Central Oregon, but that day was not one of them. I drove to the airport when it was sunny and by the time I departed it was raining to the west! Oh well, like you said at least I got to fly! Bummer about your soggy field . Hope things improve there!

CW

Went up to Park Rapids today for Dr. Randy's pizza and chili feed...

Flew by Mt. Theilson on Wednesday checking to see if an ice route was in on the East Face, well the route we wanted to try wasn't fully formed, but still got a couple pics...

I went down to the river to try the new tires out

[quote="chosstronaut"]Flew by Mt. Theilson on Wednesday checking to see if an ice route was in on the East Face, well the route we wanted to try wasn't fully formed, but still got a couple pics...

Dang! Those pictures make me cold just looking at them. I think I need to move closer to the fire! I used to snow camp, but gave that up when I left the northwest almost 20 year ago. Living on the eastern seaboard has softened me.

BRD wrote:Went up to Park Rapids today for Dr. Randy's pizza and chili feed...

Is there a Franklin 220 in this 170B. Looks awesome!

I had to stare at the fire picture to warm up after looking through these pictures.