Jackson Hole, Days Three and Four:
Day three looks good, but again the forecast is for early over development so another short task of 12 miles is called. Five miles South down the ridge, same turnpoint as yesterday, then back to the Teton Village LZ. Conditions on launch are fairly quiet, with mild cycles coming up the south-facing launch from 8:00 on. The Extravaganza pilots are getting after it from the first tram up the mountain, often getting four or five 4,000 foot flights in before 12:00! The launch is literally a two-minute walk from the top of the tram, and the LZ is right near the bottom of the tram so quick turnarounds are easy. The sky is filled with gliders all morning, including some healthy aerobatics.
I get a good high-altitude run in before the task starts, an hour dash up the first peak west of launch, while my girlfriend Kim, relatively inexperienced, gets a nice mellow thermal flight in before conditions start to kick. The launch area is totally alpine, just a beautiful spot to hang out in or go for walks or even fly from.
The start gate for today's task opened at 11:45, so getting up quickly and getting on course is key. Tom Bartlett, a local, gets up to about 15,000 feet and glides the entire course to goal in 36 minutes, while Eric Reed (Bay area pilot, not local) takes two thermals and does it an hour. I can't seem to get the grasp of the place and do a long death glide from 13,000 feet around the course only to find exactly no lift anywhere and land about a mile from the LZ. About 25 other pilots have a similar experience with various starting altitudes, with the result that only four pilots make goal despite the very short course. The meet director calls a 2:00 "must land by" time because of the predicted over-development, but several competitors forget this and manage to complete the course in several hours by devious routes only to get zeroed for not landing by 2:00. Because the comp is being scored by GPS, it's easy to see when people landed. Scotty Marion gets zeroed despite finding enough lift to stay in the air for about 4 hours and make goal, as do others...I'm finding the flying here quite tricky, as are most people. The entire lead gaggle sunk out with the exception of Tom Bartlett, which means the scores flipped radically as most of the lead gaggle made goal the previous day (cumulative scores below).
The recreational Extravaganza pilots keep flying until about 3:00, when everyone lands as the sky is obviously getting black and large. One pilot chucks off sometime after 4:00 to everyone's amazement, and gets a really rowdy backwards gust front ride for his efforts. Several locals ask what the hell he was thinking, and he replies that he knows what he's doing...
As I read what I just wrote, I think I'm making this comp and event sound a bit nutty. It's not, it's an excellent event and a lot of fun, but Jackson is a bit site with big weather--basically everyone from new P3s to world team pilots have been having great flights, especially those here to fly in the Extravaganza side of things instead of the comp. The tasks have been low in validity and the lift somewhat unpredictable to many of us, but we're having a lot of fun in a great town with a lot to offer in addition to flying.
Day Four (Wednesday) is called due to rain and general weather chaos, so various tasks such as hiking, kayaking, mountain biking and drinking are called. The forecast for the next two days looks somewhat poor, but we'll see. Many of the Extravaganza pilots did get one or two morning flights, so it's not all gloom.
OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS FROM JH PARAGLIDING EXTRAVAGANZA:
1 ERIC REED 497 535 1032
2 RICK ARMSTRONG 518 473 991
3 JON PATTERSON 395 517 912
4 KEVIN ALEXANDER 540 304 844
5 KEVIN SMITH 497 243 740
6 PAUL FERGUSON 477 243 720
7 JOSH COHN 473 243 716
8 MIKE CARR 165 515 680
9 CHAD BASTIAN 187 490 677
10 WILL GADD 187 473 660
11 TOM BARTLETT DNF 630 630
12 NAT SCALES 468 155 623
13 OTHAR LAWRENCE 335 270 605
14 JILL NEPHEW 331 243 574
15 BRAD BLOXHAM 70 465 535
16 SCOTTY MARION 498 DNF 498
17 BIG WALLY DNF 492 492
18 ALAN BRADLEY 187 304 491
19 MARK HORVATH DNF 462 462
20 MIKE BELLIK DNF 441 441
21 WADE ELLETT 187 243 430
21 PATTERSON STARK 187 243 430
23 MIKE REED 77 250 328
24 BRUCE WILSON DNF 262 262
25 FRANK GILLETTE DNF 254 254
25 ROSS ROBINSON DNF 254 254
27 STEVE THORPE DNF 243 243
27 JASON MCCOUNTHY DNF 243 243
27 TOM MOOCK DNF 243 243
27 MARTIN LADES DNF 243 243
27 RICHARD KOCUREK DNF 243 243
27 MARK FERGUSON DNF 243 243
27 MATTHEW BOROCZ DNF 243 243
34 DAWN HIRST DNF 204 204
34 BLAINE WOOD DNF DNF DNF
34 TIM TASKER DNF DNF DNF
34 CARL SMITSELAAR DNF DNF DNF
34 JON HUNT DNF DNF DNF
34 PETE FOSTER DNF DNF DNF
34 MIKE FOSTER DNF DNF DNF
34 BJ BOYLE DNF DNF DNF
bold indicates top female pilot
Eric Reed won a RS2 reserve parachute donated by Super Fly Boys
(Firebird/Gin/Ozone paragliders)
Rick Armstrong won a helmet donated by SOL Paragliders and an Expidition
Suit donated by Critter Mountain Wear
Jon Patterson won a Dirt Bag donated by Critter Mountain Wear
Jill Nephew won a stunt kite donated by Airea and a Berber Jacket donated by
Critter Mountain Wear