Dieciséis

4;30am wake up. Breakfast fruit plate. Rolling by 5:00. 6 hrs to Medellin by car.  6am gas stop for the big drive ahead. 

Flacko is planning to fly with us it turns out, so that meant an additional driver, and of course Kita, Flacko's cute dog. 

One more quick stop at a panaderia (bakery) for a croissant and a turnover filled with pineapple, cheese and ham, like a Hawaiian pizza roll of sorts. 

Flacko, Dubin and Boris. 

The seats in both cars are adequate, but a few hours into the journey I opted to stretch out on one of the bench seats thanks to Dawn and Jim sharing the other one. 

 We stopped to take a restroom break (read: pee at the side of the road) and opened up the flaps on the sides of the jeep for a little more air circulation as the day began to warm up. It felt cool for the first hour this morning, but shorts, t-shirt and flip flops were more than adequate.  

6 hours later we rolled into Medallin. The buildings were mostly tall and the valley was immense. The early am departure and the day driving up steep grades choked with smoke from trucks, cars and motorxyclea wore me out a bit and the others too. 

We found our hostel and had lunch while they prepared our rooms. Matt, Dawn and Jim opted to stay and chill while the drivers, Shane, Deatin, Brian and I drove up to launch, overlooking the massive city. 

The launch was grassy and smooth and the wind was coming in a little cross at a steady 14 mph or so. Lift was everywhere and thought my launch was less than graceful, I did topland later with considerable effort without any problems. 

Flacko kited his wing for a while too, and the. The others came to land at sunset. 

It was so worth it to go up for the flight and the view. Launch was at over 7000 feet and getting a thousand feet over is effortless. I have a slight headache now, but that is not surprising to me. I know I'll sleep well tonight. 

A local XC pilot accosted me and said the weather looks good tomorrow and that his friends were going to fly XC to the south tomorrow and invited us to come along. How about that?  We are planning the same thing. Local company is a welcome addition to the team. Looking forward to the first leg back towards La Union. 

Goodnight from Medellin, Colombia. 

Hasta mañana,

Martín

Quince

Brad behind us dropping off his rig near the La Union soccer field LZ. 

I woke early (4:30 am) and nodded off again to capitalize on a long nights rest. Got up at 5am to pee and slept in until 6:15.  

This am was a little rushed for me. I knew it would be, and manged not to forget anything: go pro charged and downloaded, water bottles refilled, flight deck instruments recharged, snacks restocked, money replenished in wallet, sunscreen on, radio charged, pee device donned, flip flops put in glider bag, glider bag cinched up and loaded on Flacko's rig, "go bag" in hand, key left at front desk.....

The sky outside was dark (normal cloudy day) but I failed to snap a photo. 

I was a few minutes late for breakfast and everyone was already finishing up thier meals. Today is the last day, and everyone is ready to get the most out of it. I am too. Only two people opted not to fly due to illness or just a need to rest. 

The. View going up the hill. 

We got to launch on time and prepared out gear right away so we would all be teady to launch at the best time. 

The conditions were good. I launched ahead of my group today to prove the air and they all launched together right after I beamed up to base on my first thermal. 

Very soon the group was with me at base and we were all staying high, together, and flying as team.  I was so proud!

The day was a classic.  It wasn't gonna let us cross to the flats without a few casualties but we stayed high for hours to let the day mature. We crossed to Roldanillo and lost Todd who landed with Brian and Dorian. He flew really well and seemed super happy tonight back at the hotel. Todd has a stellar attitude and can keep his perspective with setbacks and seems to appreciate the positive things with ease. 

Marge and Todd getting ready on launch. 

We recycled a bit at Roldanillo though Jim pushed out to make a play for the valley crossing. The clouds disappeared for Jim as I suggested he retreat and tank up with us. He obliged and we all crossed a bit later together, losing Tim right near the middle of the valley. He was thrilled to get this far and I was impressed how well he stayed with he group today. Super sweet. 

Tim surveying the conditions on launch. 

Bradley had flown all around the valley and came to join us but was in a slow climb below us and tried to leave with us. It cost him and he landed not far from Tim. 

Chris, soft spoken, but a thermal hunter. 

 

Chris got low at this point too but held on as Jim and I topped out climb and eased over to Zarsal keeping him in my sites and offering advice as best I could. Jim and I climbed back up at the north side of Zarsal and Chris manged to get high enough for the glide to Zarsal, but was too low to catch the climb out and landed. I'm very impressed by Chris and his solid team flying skills. It was a shame  he didn't get the home run today, but I landed not far from here with him earlier this week and he flew back. He knows he  can do it. 

Jim and I glided off to the north and I saw some birds for our ride back up to base. Dave, who had landed directly below us (a while earlier) radioed to say he was fine and was going to text the driver for a ride. It was easily the best climb of the day. 

We knew we had it made back to La Union now and we were both thinking of cutting the corner to skip La Vitoria since the sky was blue that way and we were gonna be logging a solid four hours in the saddle today as it was. 

Jim leading the charge home. 

Cumulus clouds shaded the soccer field and I spiraled down to take advantage of the steady south wind on the windsock at the field. There was a men's soccer game in full swing but they allowed Jim and I to land and quickly exit the field. 

They sometimes applaud us when the kids are playing soccer but we were happy just the same when they politely asked us to hurry off the field instead. The game was a good one and from the air I wondered if anyone noticed us coming. We left at halftime for a juice then a cab back to the hotel. 

I washed my laundry for the next adventure tomorrow. 

We ate our final dinner together and said our goodbyes after reviewing everyone's personal best flights and highlights. It was really special. 

Dinner was the best yet. Potatoe like cakes with some fish/onion mixture inside with olives to start. 

Rice with grilled steak medallions, onions and bell peppers. A garlic rich sauce was available foo. Delicious!

Ali and the two other cooks received a round of applause and thanks from everyone. 

Clyde (A.K.A. Polar Bear) brought down two figurines for each week to be presented to the most improved pilot and for the pilot with the best flight. John who had only training hill flights prior to coming down got most improved, having reached cloudbase for he first time, had several hour+ long flights, gaggled and gone cross country (XC) for he first time too. Wow!

Polar Bear (Clyde)

Polar Bear got beat flight having a new personal best of 4 hours and was awarded his own eagle trophy. Nice!

Those who were leaving tonight settled up tabs, turned in phones and borrowed things and made their way to thier rooms to get their luggage ready. We said our goodbyes and now I am packing for the big adventure for the week long break for the guides. 

Tune in tomorrow for details of next weeks adventure. We are going to fly from Medallin back to La Union. Vol-Hotel. It may be infrequent posts due to the remote nature of our location(s) but we are going to be in good hands and have plenty of support for the trek with two local drivers running chase for our group of 7 pilots at last count. 

5am departure tomorrow.  7 hour drive. Should be fun 

Cheers from Colombia,

No news is good news!

Matín

Catorce

Today looked about right. I was up early and watched the sunrise, it was muted and average, just what we want for a good day of flying here. 

As the morning evolved, we were able to see a volcano in the distance that none of us have ever seen before. Usually there is too much cloud cover but today it must have been 100 mile visibility for a breif time. The middle red flagpole points up to the volcano on the horizon. 

Breakfast was a clubhouse sandwich of sorts, but I took out the middle slice of bread to make it just a sandwich with tomatoes, avos and white cheese. Yum. Pineapple smoothie and coffee too. 

Saltines and various meds, including activated charcoal were in demand today. 

For some reason, several pilots in the tour and one guide are not feeling tip top today. We hoped everyone would feel better with a day of rest as we left them behind to conveless. 

Once on launch it was nice to see my longtime friend Kari Castle down here guiding a tour of her own with some other guides as well. Richie, from Venezuela was here last week too with his group. He is a regular here as is the Eagle tour. 

The horses keep launch groomed to perfection. 

A few pilots launched early, which is a good thing here, but they were not rewarded for their efforts and after struggling to find lift, they landed out in front at Oscar's LZ. The sky clouded over and climbs became weaker and less frequent.

More pilots launched, and together they were able to map out the lift and climb up to cloud. Once all the pilots in my group were away I lunched and carefully made my way to the jumping off spot to recycle and wait with them until it looked like a good tilme to cross. One of my guys landed early after launching first. It was a hard pill to swallow for pilot and guide because he did everything right, and was merely unlucky trying to find the house thermal that is usually there, but not this time. 

My last two guys launched and were able to connect. Tim worked hard to get up and succeeded to get to cloud base, followed by Chris who climbed out with me. Tim said he was going to cross to the next ridge, and I said ok, and that we would catch up to him.  I was thinking he meant the jumping off spot, where we all wait together but he apparently was thinking to cross to Roldanillo. 

The sky shaded with clouds yet several pilots got up and established near "the jumping off spot. As I recycled with Chris, I looked for Tim who reported he was low and wanted help.  This is when I realized he had crossed without me before I could launch and catch up to him. We must have misunderstood each other. He landed soon after, trapped in the valley wind after crossing too low with other pilots who also didn't know to wait. Rats. 

Eventually Chris and I crossed with the other Eagle pilots and guides and got established after long patient climbs. I shot ahead to he south to hunt for he next good climb. It was sunnier ahead and moving on seemed like the best way to stay aloft. I found a great climb and tried to cajole Chris and the others to join me before it was over.  Most made it over, but a few arrived late, gliding into a growing cloud shadow that is often the result of a solid climb. Chris arrived last and had only scraps of lift. He would spend the next hour delaying the inevitable in depending shade as the whole sky grew dark and even those who got the climb there, were forced to hang on. Chris held on for ever it seemed and I was nearly as low as him as we neared a safe landing area at the edge of Roldanillo. He made one mre play for a small foothill and I followed for a look. I had maybe 100 feet more altitude and was able to just clear the top of the foothill. Chris was working light lift in a figure eight pattern, too close to the terrain to commit to a circle. I was able to do the same just above the small peak and soon I could circle and climb away leaving him to land and pack up with the others. Helova fight, Chris.  As I carefully climbed, the sun came out some more and soon I was back at cloud base. Only 2 other guides were still in the air, and Dawn, who is here training for the Red-Bull X-Alps with Eagle guide Matt Beechinoor. Matt was among the other sick pilots today so Bradley was with she and her husband Jim today. Jim landed farther south and texted me he was on a bus back. Dawn flew to La Vitoria and Bradley, Brian and I headed home to La Union. 

Lunch at Grijales was excellent, if not a little expensive for what we are used to. This plate was 14,000 Colombian pesos ($7.00 U.S.). 

Across the street from the restaurant...

Grapes are plentiful here.  

Dinner was a giant tamale wrapped in banana leaves. Yum. People seemed to be feeling better that were sick today. I went to bed early and slept well.  I hadn't charged my stuff or reset for the day as I normally do. It will be busy for me tomorrow am. 

I'm finishing this a day late.  Happy Valentine's Day my love, besos!

Smooch!

Ciao,

Marín