Report from Mission Hike/Fly last Tuesday

[Jim Chu]

Six pilots showed up at Mission Tuesday. We had both a nice hike and
a nice, but short, flight back down to the LZ. Had excellent Thai
food and beer afterward.

Hope to see the same and more next week.

Jim

[Jim Chu]

that's "nice hike and fly and a nice, but short, flight back down . . . ."

[Jill Nephew]

Yay! I will definitely try to make next week! Sounds super fun.

[Simon Waddington]

Looks good for Saturday - I'll probably hike up in the morning (unless
Sunday's forecast turns out better).

[Aaron Price]

Hey guys, long time hike 'n flyer, first time poster in any kind of group.  I live in the Los Angeles area right now but I do travel around California quite often.

There are three main hike n flies I want to do this year:

- Telescope Peak (Death Valley) - 11,000'

- Lone Pine Peak (Owens Valley) - 13,000'

- Cucamunga and/or Baldy (Los Angeles Area) - 10,000'

Let me know if you are interested.

Also I'd love to see people post their favorite hike n flies on ParaglidingEarth.com  I just finished entering a new one that took me awhile to figure out after much research and trial and error of hiking around the hills:

http://www.paraglidingearth.com/en-html/index.php?site=11258

The great part is I can drive there from my house or work in 10 minutes, be @ launch in an hour and be 6000' over in another 15mins, just like yesterday :)

Further I'm interested in some discussion about gear and safety:

- What gear do you hike with?  Do you have a dedicated setup?  

I fly with my regular wing and my first harness which I ripped out all the padding and backing so it folds up.  I use a side mount reserve that I can it take off or put back on.  I then use an old 70L backpack and put my wing, reserve and flight deck inside and strap my harness to the outside with my helmet and water.  This works pretty well but a bigger pack is coming soon, any recommendations?  I'm thinking a 95L pack would give me room for a tent and sleeping bag plus a bit of food.

- How do you fold your glider to get it as small as possible?  

I've been messing around with accordion and regular folding but not sure which one works best yet.  My new wing has a much higher aspect ratio which totally changes how it folds up compared to my last wing.

- What extra gear do you fly with?  I always have my SPOT, compass, headlight, lighter and whistle, a small first aid kit and more food/water then I plan to use.  I also usually have dental floss in case I get stuck in a tree, you can lower it down to a rescue crew and pull up increasingly large ropes to eventually haul up gear.  I also have some cordelette and webbing in case I need to anchor myself in a tree separately from my wing/reserve, could also be useful for downclimbing from a tree or hanging your harness from a branch to make some adjustments before launch.  Finally, I always carry a folding saw and pruning shears.  This is great if your wing gets stuck in a tree on a tight take-off area or allows you to clean up a new launch area from small bushes, and plants that would snag your lines while launching.                                                                   

Let me know if you are ever down in the SoCal area and we'll go rip up something!

Cheers,

Aaron                                                                                                                                                       

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[Simon Waddington]

I'm not sure it matters too much how you fold it (okay obviously
stuffing it into your bag in a big ball is bad...), so long as you
squish out as much air as possible and protect the mylar - which
normally means accordion right?

My Gin bag has internal compression straps and lets me sit on the
folded glider, cinch it down tightly and then add stuff. Works much
better than just external straps alone which I find are mostly good
for getting my pack into a long and thin shape which feels better when
hiking (instead of bulging way off my back).

I'm guessing if you were going on a really long hike with one flight
at the end of it you could use a vacuum sealer and a big bag to do a
fantastic job of squishing down your glider! (and protecting it).
They make them for clothes storage so one might be big enough for a
suitably folded glider. In that case you'd probably want accordion
folding to ensure your mylar isn't trashed.

There might be some strap based compression solutions out there light
enough for traveling with - although most I know of are designed for
things like sleeping bags where squishing into a ball is an option,
you really want squishing down flat.

My next harness / bag will probably be selected primarily on hike and
fly suitability so I'd love to hear recommendations.