East to Duncan

On a sunny morning, Chris and Bill headed east to view the slide at Johnsons Landing then circle over the Lake of the Hanging Glacier and Jumbo Glacier.  As is often the case, clouds changed plans.  This did not deter our intrepid explorers.  "Let's go find another dam or two!"
 

Duncan Dam, spilling

Duncan Dam was the first of the three constructed for the Columbia River Treaty.  Unlike Mica and Keenleyside, Duncan does not generate power.
For a virtual flyover, click on the Duncan Dam option in here:
http://www.cbt.org/crt/resources-DamsAndReservoirs.html

Turning north towards Trout Lake, the plane got a free wash as it passed Tenderfoot Glacier.  This is a popular site for heli-skiing out of Nakusp. 

Oh look, there's Revelstoke Dam!  Do you know that it was constructed in 1984, and is BC Hydro's newest dam?  You be the judge of whether BC needs Site C.
http://www.bchydro.com/energy_in_bc/projects/site_c/site_c_an_option.html 
  

Tenderfoot Glacier in shower

Revelstoke Dam

Son Jay arrives tomorrow and his passion is Railroads.  Next we will likely be tracking coal trains from 9,000 feet!

North to Mica

Bill's first destination - with two hours on the new engine - was Mica Dam. This spectacular, 800 ft long earth-filled dam was completed in 1973 as part of the Columbia River Treaty, negotiated by Canada and the United States to provide power and flood control to both countries. NOT a popular outcome here, as land along Arrow Lakes was expropriated, and communities flooded.
Son Chris collects pictures of BC Hydro sites, and we are always glad to have an excuse to fly! Here are his choices from the images of that flight:

upstream of Mica Dam at 5,000 ft

Mica Dam, downstream, closer view

Mica Dam reservoir (Kinbasket Lake)

If you feel you are flying into wilderness on that route, how comfortable do you suppose the drive would be?
http://www.onsitereview.ca/miscellanea/2012/3/22/the-big-bend-highway.html
Mica Dam is located near the apex of the Big Bend highway.  Constructed in 1940, this was the road link between Revelstoke and Golden. Bill was on the highway crew in 1962 that completed the TransCanada highway through Roger's Pass. The next time you are stopped on that route for avalanche control, consider that you could be adding 160 km and 7 hours to your trip!

Force of Nature

While earthquakes and hurricanes wreak havoc elsewhere, avalanches and landslides are the concern of mountain dwellers.  Massive landslides this week in the Kootenay communities of Johnsons Landing and Fairmont Hot Springs are reminders that these dangers lurk close to home.  Lazy mountain streams become torrents with the lethal combination of snowmelts and rainfall. When unsteady slopes become saturated, earth moves.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJUTNR6_fnk

Mudslides are not the only consequence of liquid sunshine. Five inches of rain within a one hour period yesterday caused a flash flood in Nelson, reminiscent of Bangkok monsoons.  
http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/78039/Nelson-and-Castlegar-flood 

Revelstoke airport, October 8, 2011

Revelstoke airport July 5, 2012

June was the wettest month on record in Castlegar, our nearest met centre.  In Revelstoke, our nearest fuel centrre, 146 mm of rain was recorded - 2 1/2 times the June average of 68 mm.  See what a difference this made in the height of the Columbia River at Revelstoke.  These photos were taken nine months apart, at opposite approaches to the runway. 


All this water will run 'downhill' to the U.S., but in the meantime our usual terrain looks a little off-kilter.

New Beginnings

Few things in life appreciate over time.  Blue chip stocks in a bull market.  Friendships.  Weeds.
Add to the short list a single-engine airplane.  Our Cessna 172 has given us great pleasure over six years, but the original 1972 engine was on borrowed time, for its age, not hours of use.  Bill's solution was to order a new one - a hot little number from PennYan that boosts the horsepower from 150 hp to 180 hp.

Does this look like the cost of a secondhand car?

Old Faithful; new engine; new prop.

Getting the engine from New York to New Denver is a saga, as was its installation by our AME over 3 weeks, and Bill's potentially harrowing test flight circling over Castlegar airport.  All good stories, but in this blog I want to look forward to adventures ahead.
I hope that sharing our flights over some of the most spectacular countryside in the world will ease my disappointment at having to cancel our Century of Flight Yellowknife excursion.  See http://www.crosscanadaflight.com/  I broke a bone in my right foot at the end of May, and it has not healed enough to navigate the ankle-twisting terrain of isolated airports.
As some of you know, Bill and I joined the Century of Flight excursion two years ago, and had the trip of a lifetime to Whitehorse.  I blogged it at http://www.flighttotheyukon.blogspot.ca/ 
That provides background on us and the plane, which I will not repeat here.