Weather forecast for XC route planning

Here is a list of resources I use to determine weather potential:

NWS - US National Weather Services
I use it to see what kind of weather expected in 3-5 days in general. Is there are any rain or storm expected, temperature trend. There is also Radar and Satellite Images available, which tells you how storms moving, where and what kind of clouds in the area.

RASP San Diego
RASP Santa Barbara
RASP Sierra Nevada
RASP - Regional Atmospheric Soaring Prediction. This is main XC planning tool, which is available online and shows you distribution of cloud base, wind speed and direction, convergence lines, expected cloud development and overdevelopment potential across region. The most important parameters are listed below:

Hcrit - is basically cloud base, MSL. For good flight you need at least 3000 ft. over terrain. Of course, you can fly with lower cloud base, but I don't count on a good result in this case and don't take a vacation day in the middle of the week.

BL Avg. Wind - if cloud base looks good next thing to check is a wind direction and strength. For PG wind strength in forecast should not exceed 10 knots, because in reality you can expect double of predicted wind speed due to addition of thermals, valley wind, compression and other factors. Depending on wind direction you need to determine launch point and anticipated route. After this step you need to come back to previous parameter and make sure that Hcrit is good along entire route. Keep in mind timing factor, condition changes along the day, so you need to know when and how wind direction will change. Of course, it's very approximate in forecast, but you must know at least general trend.

BL Max. Up/Down (Convergence) - If you anticipated route doesn't match to convergence lines then you need to reconsider your route one more time.

CU Cloudbase where CuPotential>0 - Useful to know where clouds will be forming and how high they're expected.

CU Cloudbase where ODpotential>0 - Overdevelopment is common on a good days, so be aware.

windguru.cz
This is good tool to visualize GFS and NAM forecasts. You need to register (free) to create your own custom spots and forecast set. I use it to see wind speed, direction, precipitation and cloud cover (high, mid, low) on launch spots. It also calculates correct temperature on launch, taking into account it altitude.

NOAA Ready - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
I use it to see sounding and stability, based on NAM 12 km, NAM 40 km and GFS forecasts. Stability is similar to combination of RASP Thermal Updraft Velocity and Hcrit, but calculated for one point and shown as graph in time. Sounding helps to determine thermal and wind strength, wind direction, depending on altitude. Even points of interest are similar to RASP, sounding provides raw data for all important parameters, when RASP shows you only average values. NOAA Ready is very useful for verification of flight concept made based on RASP.

NWS weather history
Before going to fly it's useful to check current wind and past day weather history. In the link above you can change KBUR code to other airport for example, KSBA - Santa Barbara, KVNY - Van Nuys, KSBD - San Bernardino.

Snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain

I don't snowboard as much as 10 years ago when I started, but still try to go few times per year. There are several places around LA with biggest, probably, Big Bear, but all of them doesn't even close to Mammoth Mountain, located 300 miles north from LA (~6 hours drive) in Owens valley, Eastern Sierra Nevada. Even on crowded weekends there are a lot of free space there and its easy to find lift with fewer people. However the best option is going there next day after storm on the week day. Hotel prices also much higher on weekends and room may not be available unless you book a week or 2 in advance.

We got lucky with conditions and had a lot of riding both Friday and Saturday.

Kagel flight, 6 miles

North winds and winter storms was in place for quite a while. However this weekend was perfect exception with post frontal conditions. Peaks of the local mountains covered with snow from recent storms, smooth winter thermals, warm sun and birds showing you the best lift, what could be better? Spring, of course. But spring is still two months away and its essential to get ready before it comes.

2009 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Cup

Jonathan Livingston Seagull Cup is annual paragliding competition (since 2005) organized by ROSTO, Moscow (similar to US USHPA) and PARAPLAN.RU team. It's open to all ex-USSR citizens regardless of where they live right now, time frame from April until end of September and there is no entry fee. There are 4 type of tasks:

• Open distance
• Out and return
• Open distance via turn point
• FAI triangle

Winner is a pilot who has minimum sum of places in 3 (out of 4) categories. There is also totalizator for how many kilometers will be flown by all participants. This year 148 pilots from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Canada and USA took part in competition and flown 18820 km (11694 miles). Winner is Maxim Tatarinov from Russia, who placed second in "Out and Return" and "Open distance via turn point" categories and first in "FAI triangle" with total score 5. I took 6th place overall with score 24. Results:

• Overall
• In each disciplines

There are also

• XC category - sum of your 4 longest flights where I took 3rd place (428 km)
• Vendors category - sum of all flights on vendor's wings. AXIS took second place (2112 km) with my contribution of 714 km

Thanks a lot to organizers for excellent competition!

Walt's to Nevada flight, 103 miles

May and September are probably the best time to fly in Owens valley, so I keep looking for weather forecast and actual wind last few weeks. There were a lot of pilots from Santa Barbara, Crestline, Sylmar and other places interested to fly here during Labor Day weekend (mostly HGs).
Forecast was for 10 knots SSE and base at 13K, not perfect, but still good. There was another 3 PGs: Roger, Steve and Ron. When we arrived to launch around 9:30 am wind was blowing from the back (not good), but at 10:00 it switch to up slope, however Roger and Steve opted not to fly because of this. Ron was first to launch and climb well with birds, then Jonathan and me. I headed downrange first, but Jonathan and then other HGs overtake me easily.
I try to stay below 3000 m to avoid turbulence caused by west wind. Worst place was Onion valley where west wind was so strong that it almost pushes me toward the valley. I made transition across this valley heading almost directly to the mountains and still ended quite far from next ridge. To avoid rotor I stay out of mountains for a while, but then near Big Pine headed back to get enough altitude to cross the valley.
I choose a good line and stop for lift over Big Pine. Next difficult part was after Back Mountain because of strong WNW wind. Speed dropped to 15 km/h almost on full bar. But after a climb to 4000+ I got pretty good south tail wind and try to stay between 3500-4500 m the rest of the flight.
Jonathan, Greg and Dusty already landed at this point and chase me. After Boundary Peak I probably could glide farther, but 7 hours in flight, lost communication with chase and doubtful terrain for landing help me to decide that this is enough for today.
103 miles total distance (personal best). Chase was on radio immediately after I landed and was there in a 5 minutes. Greg thanks a lot for retrieve. After dinner in Bishop we got back to Lone Pine at 10 pm and home 1:30 am. Thanks to Jonathan for driving.

GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/265210
Photos:
http://paraplan.ru/photos/thumbnails.php?album=3495

US Paragliding Nationals, Inspo, Utah 2009

Second round of US Paragliding Nationals was held at
Inspo near Salt Lake City, Utah. I did not had enough time to compete, but went there for two days just to check out place. It took me 10 hours to drive from LA plus 2 hours in traffic jam, but Inspo was worth the driving. 5.5 hours flight at Friday took us south first along the ridge, then north to SLC and the south west to Point of the Mountain. Here is GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/254825

Forcast for Saturday was even better, but it did not come true. Day started late base was lower, more wind and less spectacular flight, but still more then 3 hours, so no complains. GPS track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/254826

Other Photos:
http://paraplan.ru/photos/thumbnails.php?album=3478

Mt Whitney day hike

Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). Its a 22 miles (35 km) round trip with an elevation gain of over 6,100 feet (1,900 m) from Whitney Portal. You have to apply to the Mt. Whitney Lottery in February to reserve a wilderness permit for summer hike. I was lucky to win permit for Sunday July 5th.

We arrived to Lone Pine at Friday to get actual permit and some acclimatization before hike. Spent night in Horseshoe Meadow, elevation 10000 feet (3,048 m) and hiked to Cottonwood lakes at Saturday. Then moved to Whitney Portal, elevation 8,360 feet (2,550 m) to get some sleep before long day. I want to have some extra hours just in case things will go slow. So, we started our journey at 1:30 am. We catch the sunrise near Trail Camp, 12000 ft (3,657 m).
Looking back to Trail Camp and Consolation Lake from switchbacks
Acclimatization helped me and Ivan a lot. I did slow down just after Trail Camp, but in the middle of switchbacks regained my normal speed. Our third companion Igor refused from acclimatization and arrived to trailhead just before hike, which cost him a lot of time to deal with hypoxia and finally he was short of summit by few miles.
Arriving at Trail Crest
Looking to Hitchcock Lakes from Trail Crest
In the middle of Trail Crest looking back
From this point trail is quite flat and walking is easier. I noticed that following somebody I can move much faster then walking by myself. Ivan was ahead of me and arrived to summit about 15 minutes earlier, Igor was behind and did not made summit.
View from the summit toward Lone Pine
Looking south from the summit
It took me 10 hours to reach summit. I rest for awhile, sign the register, take photos and we start our way back at 12:00 pm. Going down is always easy, but still it was long long way back. At least we could enjoy by beautiful lakes and meadows, which we did not saw on the way up.
Trailside meadow
Mirror Lake
We was back at trailhead at 7:40 pm (17:10 total hike time) and back home at 1 am. In terms of equipment the most important are comfortable boots, jacket to protect from wind and cold, headlamp and water. I used 2.5 litters of water, 2 apples and 5 powerbars. This is my longest and highest hike so far.