This year we had more than 20 hang gliders participating in the Easter meet!
Friday started out looking nice and sunny, however without much lift in the morning. As we waited for conditions to improve, our side of the mountain became shadowed by big clouds more and more often. We waited through rain, hail, winds from all directions until eventually the gust front became too strong to launch into. Just a bit more than half of us launched at various points in the day. If I recall correctly, those who launched later got a better deal on average, flying mostly in ridge lift. Landing zone also had very high wind later in the day with hang gliders making helicopter landings and one paraglider regretting that he was in the air at the moment.
Saturday was the epic day. Thermals on the ridge were strong but punchy, and the area on the ridge south of launch quite sinky at times (it was blowing over the back more and more often after about 2pm), but if you managed to get above 5000 ft as many of us did, lift was everywhere, commonly up to 8-9 thousand feet. That day we had one blown launch (lifted wing immediately as the run began, wingtip dragged over the ground, glider turned around and hit the mountain face-first a few meters below launch). Thankfully the pilot is unharmed. The glider will need repairs to its leading edges.
After the flights we had a great time at the special turkey dinner at Savona Hotel.
Sunday was mildly sunny but east wind. A few pilots who had their HAGAR went to fly the Pimple, the only east-facing site nearby that is accessible this time of year. You really do need HAGAR to fly there because it's overlooking the Kamloops airport, and we're flying in what is normally a flight path for smaller planes. Before noon the conditions looked mellow, then for half an hour good cycles started coming in, then strong stable wind started blowing in, and pilots launched into nice ridge soaring conditions.
All in all, it was a great weekend. A big thank you to everyone who organized this meet, drove the trucks, explained local weather patterns, showed us the Pimple, etc. It was a blast.
