Merry White Christmas!

Great day for fireside flying!

Vandalism

One of the downsides of Nakusp's beautiful, sleepy little airport is its isolation.  The proximity between town and airport is seen in the large photo in the post below.
Sometimes there are dog walkers, quick to scurry off the runway when a plane approaches.  Birds, coyotes and deer are seasonal hazards.  Occasionally, usually after a weekend, Bill finds beer bottles near the hanger, likely left by partying teenagers.  It is worrying, because it takes very little tampering to affect an aircraft's flight.
The skies cleared briefly yesterday, and we headed to the airport to run the engine and test a new camera.  We were shocked to see the wanton destruction of one of the three resident aircraft!  An essential part was ripped off a second plane.  Damage was done inside a storage hanger.  It is possible that the culprits were interrupted as they approached our plane, as our damage was superficial.
It is a Criminal Code offense to tamper with aircraft.  Last seen, the RCMP Constable was awaiting the forensic team's arrival from Revelstoke.
http://kootenays.myezrock.com/News/story.aspx?ID=1846080

Perhaps a very real benefit of small town life will apply:  someone will squeal. 

Nakusp

downtown Nakusp

We live in New Denver; our nearest airport is Nakusp. 
http://archive.copanational.org/PlacesToFly/airport_view.php?pr_id=3&ap_id=727

It is a 40 minute drive through countryside - about the same time it took from our apartment in downtown Ottawa to our rentals at the Flying Club at MacDonald-Cartier Airport.  
The trick here is anticipating what the weather conditions will be in the next valley west.  Recent advances in highway and airport cams lessen the suspense, but Nature often has the last laugh. From November through March it is a guessing game.
Here is a case where there is a hole over Nakusp, but it looks grim southeast over Summit Lake and through to the Slocan Valley...

looking southeast across the airstrip and village of Nakusp

Air work

other work today: log booms and tugs

Every now and then, usually when the mountains are clogged with clouds and only the valley is flyable, Bill heads off to do some air exercises.  A private pilot must be able to demonstrate slow flight, steep turns, stalls, spins, and other manoeuvres that passengers would rather not suffer through.  Upchuck time, for me, so Bill has custody of both the camera and the control yoke on these flights! 

Here is a flight school that does an excellent job of describing air exercises, plus other aspects of becoming an airworthy pilot:
http://www.langleyflyingschool.com/Pages/Private%20Pilot%20Program.html#5 

Bill practises over nearby Halfway Creek (where he spotted the log booms), then heads into Revelstoke for fuel.

flying home: Nakusp ahead

at Revelstoke fuel pump

Flyday!

Regular readers can detect a pattern to our flying adventures. Living in a steep mountain valley, we have many days – weeks – when the plane sits in its hangar. Our local sightseeing and our long distance travel happen ad hoc, i.e. when the skies clear. Aren't we lucky that we are retired and can fit our excursions around the capriciousness of weather?

Sometimes we awake to this view out our west windows:

early November panorama, Slocan Lake and the Valhallas

Bill checks the airport cam in Nakusp, and if the skies are as clear there, it's a flyday. Here are some vistas from just such a serendipitous adventure. Early November is a transition period. The colourful leaves have fallen. Fire restrictions have ended, and slash burns dot the landscape. Early snow dusts the peaks; valley snow is on the way. 

slash fires on plateau east of Kelowna

Pinnacle Lake, west of Nakusp

Mt Burnham, west side Upper Arrow Lake

Revelstoke ahead

Castlegar - Cancelgar

Selkirk College, Castlegar, from AC Dash 8

rain on landing, Vancouver airport

Last week I flew Air Canada to Ottawa.  These photos were taken on the outbound leg.  Not a flying day in the Cessna!  Alas, 6 days later was not a flying day for Air Canada either.

Bad weather delayed my return by 24 hours.  With mountains at both ends of the runway and outdated navigation electronics in the commercial aircraft that fly this route, Castlegar frequently becomes Cancelgar between November and March.  When Castlegar is closed, it means a flight to Kelowna, then a 7 hour + bus ride or 4 hour drive home. What we need is some competition from WestJet.  Fingers are crossed that they will take on this route, with their new state-of-the-art regional jets.

Here is the YCG approach, shot in good weather.  The comments are interesting, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9gxtADTSAQ

Glacier Tour

Kokanee Glacier

Wow!  I've seen Kokanee Glacier a number of times, but this is a a particularly striking view!  Jo-Anne went up with Bill recently on his glacier loop, and her artistic eye is evident in the images she took.  See all 11 in this side show:
http://photopeach.com/album/i65hwq

Jo-Anne has been in many small aircraft, but never above the valley that raised her.  She figures that Kazee is a great recreational vehicle - better than a motor home any day!

The path of this flight was recorded by SPOT as
http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=316413 
 

Hovering

upland valley

mountain tooth

larch

Rossiter Creek

in the mountains

These vistas look alarmingly close because they were shot from a helicopter.  Brother Will was on Forestry business in our area last week.  Two hardcore foresters who thought they'd seen it all were spellbound by the scenery.  Even the pilot was thrilled to be flying on such a great day!  Will reports that more than once they sucked in air as the helicopter barely swooped over a tight pass in the rocks.  It was odd to be in the middle of nowhere, then see people in highly remote spots - likely hunters or miners.

Thanks, Will, for sharing these wonderful images!

Smoke

Since our wettest-ever June, the pendulum has swing the other way.  September has been hot and dry.  So dry that the fire hazard cancelled sister Barbara's horse trail-riding events near Coombs this weekend.  So dry that layers of smoke from forest fires have settled among the peaks and valleys along our familiar air routes.
Here are some unusual views from our recent round trip to Calgary:

Looking back at New Denver Glacier from Kuskanax Valley

Rocky Mountain Trench at Sinclair Pass

peaks west of Canmore, Spray Lake

Although the beauty of the layers is arresting, I find it unnerving to fly in the murk.  I felt the same way about scuba diving in poor visibility.  At least with flying there is the potential destination.  Celebrating birthdays with family was worth some anxiety over staying on route.
http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=315650

The Incomparable Incomappleux

We love visitors!  Bill especially, as he gets lots of treats and doesn't have to rummage around for Auntie Dorothy's freezer-burned pork chop.  Sorry, Smith family joke.  
With luck, the weather is good and the visitor wants to fly. Such was the case recently when Bill and Vince headed north in a loop across Beaton Arm, up the Incomappleux Valley, into Roger's Pass, and home via Revelstoke.  It's not a route for the faint hearted, as there are no emergency landing spots until you break out over the TransCanada, and who wants to mix it up with that traffic?
Vince's photos speak for themselves:
http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d3282362k1803915o1/flying-the-incomappleux-peaks

Patchwork

A quilter's eye finds something very beautiful about the clearcuts that dot BC's landscape.
From our first flights, we were struck by how cleverly concealed from the highway view most bare tracts are.  It reminded Bill and me of our drive from Islamabad to Kabul in 1979.  On the sides of the highway were prim fields of grain.  But we knew from our UN Development Programme friends that just over the hillside were miles of riotously-coloured poppies, maturing for the opium harvest.

These photos were taken during our flight last week:

countryside patches in Adams Lake area

fresh clearcut

 


It seems that most replanting efforts are haphazard.  The spiral pattern of new growth on this hillside stands out: 

neat and tidy!

Opinions on forestry practices abound in our Valley.  The gamut ranges from lawn signs proclaiming "Forestry Feeds My Family" to tree police who come running whenever they hear a chainsaw starting up.
Here is one view, from a professional in the field:
http://www.greenbccommunities.com/2012/02/clear-cutting-in-bc-silvicultural.html

Saturday Sightseeing

We had hoped to attend Fairmont Hot Spring's first ever Fly-In this weekend.  Getting there would not be a problem.  With thunderstorms forecast Sunday, getting home would be a challenge.  So we flew west, not east, to a destination long on our list:  Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Helmcken Falls from above

Helmcken Falls and canyon

Not very impressive, eh?  But then Bill swung around for a face-on view, and the majesty of the drop was apparent.
http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/waterfall/Helmcken-Falls-2303/
Websites talk about Helmcken being one of the "best waterfalls in all of North America".  With headsets and engine noise, we felt strangely insulated from the view out the windscreen.  We had no sense of the roar at the drop, or the height of the spray.  Here is one geological attraction best seen on foot!
Part of the 3 hours in the air covered new territory for us.  This unnamed lake stood out for its stiking colours around the perimeter:

florescent lake!

Our route took us through the northern portion of the Monashee Range.  The first tinge of Fall is evident on this knoll:

peaks and valleys in Monashee Range

SPOT did a good job of plotting this circle tour.  For routing and more photos, see:
https://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=314757

The Slow Lane

Twin Lakes.  Photo credit:  Skip Young

Isn't this a tranquil scene?  Our friend Skip took the photo on his annual fishing weekend north of Invermere, and shared it and his adventures with us on his way home. 
This idyllic site, nestled in the Purcell Range, is rich in cutthroat trout.
http://www.adventurevalley.com/category.html?cat=Fishing/Hunting 
Hoping to find out more, I googled Twin Lakes, Invermere, and discovered another sports pastime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTOZKYq8Mto&feature=related
Skip assures me that 'his' Twin Lakes have neither the elevation nor the depth for cliff diving.  It got me thinking about the lack of imagination in BC place names.  We have a Bear Lake and a Fish Lake near us, and even the locals disagree on which is which.  Cedar Creek is another ubiquitous place name.  What examples can you contribute, dear readers?

Lake of the Hanging Glaciers

For aerial glacier viewing, you can't beat the chunk of Purcells surrounding the much-discussed Jumbo Mountain, near Invermere.

One of the most glorious sites is Lake of the Hanging Glaciers. It is accessible by foot. 

http://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Lake-of-the-Hanging-Glaciers-near-Invermere-BC-3021 

The 3 hour, 16 km round trip from trail head has rave reviews in the hiking community, and why not, considering the reward?

Lake of the Hanging Glaciers, August 25, 2012

This beautiful video puts you in the scene:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvjX8nOk6nk

Just looking at all that nimble trudging makes my healing foot ache. Much easier to view it from 10,000 feet.

MacBeth Icefield

Spokane Glacier on Mt. Cooper

 
















While in the area, Bill scooted around other glaciers and icefields. You can see from the horizon that he likes to get a mountain goat's view of the glacier toes! They remind me of elephant feet.

Where's my gun?

bear in our yard

Living in the mountains of BC means living with wildlife, even in the Village, it seems.
This little fellow, likely his first year on his own, appears to have adopted us. The other morning, on early departure for Calgary, Bill heard him snorting in a hollow near our compost.  Bear was none too cheered to be chased into the north woods.  That night he feasted in our crabapple tree.  The next morning he cruised the raspberry canes.  One day he ambled along the beach shoreline, in full view of swimmers, including our kiddies on the diving pole.  Another day he chased Bill and me up the cabin path from the beach and into the safety of the truck. 

bear at the beach

bear at the cabin

 http://www.bearaware.bc.ca/
Alas, things will not end well for Bear.  Despite best efforts from Bear Aware and Harvest Share (a program where volunteers pick your fruit and keep half), this fellow has become habituated to village life.  When the harried Conservation Officer out of Grand Forks catches up with his workload, Bear will be trapped and shot.  In the meantime, we carry bear bangers.

Flying at its best!

At last a trip!  
It was time for the grandkiddies to return home after 3 weeks of idyllic summer activities. The choice?  8 hours on the road with ferry line-ups and camper traffic on the TransCanada, OR 2 hours in the air. Yes, that was the flying time, actually 1 hour 50 minutes direct Nakusp to Calgary/Springbank.  
We did a one day round trip, circle route. With the drive to and from Nakusp, the walkaround and loading, the fuel and lunch stop in Springbank, the shutdown and hangaring, the grocery shopping on the way home, we were gone from the house for 9 hours.

Supervising the walkaround

It was a glorious, perfect blue sky day! We started and finished early to beat the thermals and bumpy air that build up during daytime heating. Our route and accompanying photos are displayed in this Spot Adventure link:
http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=313656
As well as functioning as an emergency beacon, SPOT takes GPS readings every 10 minutes, and records these as tracking points. The route that you see is actual, not drawn. If you are following the blog, please motor around in the Spot Adventure site and become familiar with its features - the zoom and drag; map vs. satellite background; larger view of photos by clicking on the photo strip. I like this format, and couldn't possibly do a better job of trip summary.

Castle Mountain, 8,500 feet

Photo of the day is Castle Mountain, a site that never fails to impress. Imposing by road, it is majestic by air.
http://www.peakfinder.com/peakfinder.ASP?PeakName=castle+mountain+%28alberta%29
This amazing structure was a fine tribute to General Eisenhower during the 33 years it bore his name, but let's face it, "castle" fits!

Speed train in Albert Canyon

Finally, a train photo for Jay, along with the observation that it is a good time to hold CP shares. For the first time in years the rail yard in Field was empty, which means the rolling stock is hauling freight.  Hunter Harrison is not wasting any time turning around our national railway.

Tracking

Airplanes are like All Terrain Vehicles: point in any direction and go. Literally, the sky is the limit!
Of course, there are some rules, for example maintaining a cruising altitude determined by whether you are flying east or west. The more congested the airspace, the longer the rule book. You can't fly into the Lower Mainland or major cities unless your plane is equipped with a transponder. This allows you to be identified by a blip on a radar screen. You fly very prescriptive approaches and departures, and are yelled at by Air Traffic Controllers if you deviate.
Before we take off - anywhere - Bill files a flight plan with Nav Canada. His flight path to the Coast goes like this: "Nakusp departure, overhead Kelowna, GPS direct to overhead the Coquihalla Toll Booth, overhead Hope, overhead Chilliwack to Kilgard check point, direct Boundary Bay." He estimates an arrival time, must close the flight plan on landing, and has 30 minutes grace before Search and Rescue goes into action.
Although little information has been released about the recent crash out of Penticton, two facts have been: the Piper deviated from its filed flight plan; activation of the plane's ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) directed SAR to the accident site almost immediately.

ELT easily accessible

Most Canadian aircraft are required to carry a functioning ELT. We fly to Creston every second year to have ours checked and certified by a specialized technician.  Our ELT is mounted beside the left rear seat, and that passenger is instructed not to play with it, as we don't want a SAR Buffalo suddenly appearing on our wing tip! It can be activated by hand, and theoretically emits a signal when the plane crashes. In practice, it fails to activate more than half the time - appalling in this age of technology. Controversy abounds on how planes can be better tracked:
http://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/Time_To_Replace_ELTs_203244-1.html
For redundancy, we carry a Personal Locator Beacon in the form of a SPOT device. It has a 911 button that broadcasts our GPS coordinates, providing it sees the satellite.

handy SPOT

In the case of the Piper - miles off its flight plan, in wooded terrain - the ELT worked, and people are alive as result.

Crashes

Yes, planes crash.  So do cars, snowmobiles and bikes, often with deadly results.  Although we have a greater chance of being flattened by a chiptruck on the way to the airstrip than flying into a rock wall, facts are no match for irrational fears.  The media feeds fears with a wonderful job of reporting each and every air accident.
A Piper crashed out of Penticton yesterday on a route that we take each time we fly to the Coast.  We know the Brenda Mine site well. It sits at about 5,000 ft elevation, just east of the summit of the Connector.  It's a stunning distraction in a boring landscape that I usually knit through.

Brenda Mine site, July 6, 2012

Although we normally overfly Kelowna at 8,500 feet and notify the Tower that we are in the airspace as courtesy only, a take-off from Kelowna or Penticton requires considerable climbing to maintain a safe altitude over the central plateau.  The hotter the day, the thinner the air, and the longer it takes to gain altitude.  The more passengers or cargo, the heavier the plane, and the longer it takes to gain altitude.  It's pretty basic physics:  if the terrain rises up at you faster than you can climb, you crash.
It will be months before this accident investigation is made public, but when it is, every private pilot in Canada will receive the results.  Education is a huge key to pilot safety.  We learn from mistakes, and thankfully, in this case, so may three of the four people in that Piper.  Our prayers are with them, and the pilot's family.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/08/13/bc-kelowna-plane-crash.html 

New Denver Glacier

Bill slipped away from the family hub-bub last week to put more time on his new engine.  With the extra horsepower, our favourite wow-the-visitor sightseeing jaunt is easily doable in hot weather.  On takeoff from Nakusp, Bill follows Upper Arrow Lake to Burton, then hops over the back of the Valhallas to emerge on top of 'our' glacier.  Breathtaking!

New Denver Glacier from bedroom deck

New Denver Glacier, up close and personal

If I could find and scan a similar photo taken when I first saw New Denver (1964), there would be far more ice and snow.  Global Warming or natural ebb and flow?  No doubt in this valley.  The receding glacier has been well-tracked:
http://www.slocanlake.net/glacier_.html 

The climber in this video has a pessimistic opinion of its demise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0_q1AK8TT0 

Here's the view of New Denver that his camera could not capture, thanks to Chris who snapped this on a similar flight path in July 2009:

Overtop New Denver Glacier with Village beyond

Above New Denver

One of our favourite flights is very close to home - 5,000 ft above the house!

New Denver, population 556

Carpenter Creek bisects the Village, with the Orchard, Health Centre, Campground, and Marina on the south side.  To the north are Main Street and the school.  Our house is at S-curve at the far north of town.  Our cabin is on Bigelow Bay, a two minute walk down the forested hillside.

Distances are small in our tiny, perfect Village!

A different kind of flying: Jay on the Laser, Bigelow Bay

Today there was an excursion to Idaho Peak lookout.  It's a 12 km drive from Sandon on a bumpy mostly one-vehicle-wide forestry road, followed by a 40 minute hike along a ridge.  At more than 5,000 ft above New Denver, it is almost like being in the plane!

Alamo Basin, on climb to Idaho Peak

Slocan Lake and New Denver from Idaho Peak

The spectacular views make it our most popular tourist destination.  With the snow at that elevation (7,400 ft), Idaho Peak is accessible only briefly mid-summer. If you miss the window of opportunity on your visit here, catch this 360 degree view from the old Forestry Lookout:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgQ18laviO0