Veintiquatro

Average 6:00 am sky. Epic day ahead. 

Today I flew tandem with Christian, a trauma specialist who directs emergency surgery at two different hospitals. We had an interesting discussion on the way up the hill today. Trauma, while urgent and serious, often is very interesting and there are usually lots of stories to be told. He had lots. 

5 people opted to hike up today with Redbull athlete Dawn, but even with extra seats folks still rode atop the Cipri. 

I paced myself with the heavy tandem wing only to see a local guy carrying two tandems at the same time. Dang!

There was no north wind today and everyone who wanted to, got up fairly easily and were able to hang out at cloudbase to meet up with the rest if thier groups. Climbs were gentle at first, but soon got stronger as the day heated up. 

Rob Milley hit some strong turbulence over the house thermal, lost control of his wing and threw his reserve parachute. It opened quickly and he landed on the steep side of the house thermal hill with no injury whatsoever. We dispatched some locals to help him get back and he was able to ride a horse back to the vehicles, get a ride down and eventually repack his reserve parachute at the hotel later that day. 

I gifted Rob some limes, Vodka and a toy parachute for his quick and decisive thinking today. Bravo!

Cristian and I had a great flight. (3:20). We flew nearly the whole "box" but opted to land short of Roldanillo just to be safe.

Rob Sporrer and Hugh over Zarsal. 

We got low, really low, once but for a low save and added another hour or more to our flight. Yesss!

Oh what a great sky we had today. 

The west wind came through just as the last pilots landed. Perfect. 

Rob Sporrer landed next on his tandem with Hugh, and we posed to celebrate. 

Brian and Phyllis landeding.     

Rob G., who was a newer pilot in Brian's group landed with us again. He is having incredible flights each day. Wow!

We were picked up by Cipri and in no time were eating roasted chicken and drinking smoothies. Everyone down safe. 

Ahhhh. Pineapple mango for me today. 

Dinner was was pork loins, served at 7 pm after Brian finished his talk that began at 5:30. After eating and reviewing he day with my group, I retreated to my room to rest and blog a bit. 

Tonight I will try to chat with my family via FaceTime if all goes well. IPhones are great, but the wifi at the hotel limits the potential at times. Fingers crossed. 

Buenos noches,

Martín

Veintitres

Ahhh, the perfect morning sky. Average is usually epic. 

Gear is prepped before going down to eat breakfast. 

I am flying tandem with Phyllis today. Her husband Lars is in my group so it should be fun to thermal together. 

It's a big grip this week so Marge and Farmer rode up top on flaco's rig.  Others rode up top on the Cipri rig as well. All seats were full. 

"Keep calm and soar on" says my shirt I bought at my youngest daughters' school. Coincidence that the school mascot is an eagle? I think not. 

The day was great, but it wasn't easy. Most of my group got up, one landed after a heck of long time being low, and finally landed. The rest of us moved north to La Union where another got low, hung on for a while but then also landed. 

The clouds were getting big at times and shading a lot. My two remaining pilots and I hung out near La Union with Brian's group for a long time, getting a low save together and finally all topping out as a group. One more of my group got low and radioed up to us that he might be landing. The rest of us flew out towards La Vitoria. In the middle of the valley we got a climb. Amazingly, Dorian who was about 200" off the deck when we left, caught a climb and reported he was at cloudbase and on his way.  Nice!

We were all together again and caught another climb over La Vitoria. I moved south towards Zarsal to the huge clouds over that way.  Brian, (also flying tandem with Johno) pushed out front with me and we connected again to base, while Dorian got low again we were all hoping he would somehow connect again but this time he did not.  After landing he reported he was safe and asked if it was okay to launch from the small hill he landed on, to fly again and hopefully get back up.  I said it was up to him, and he took that as a yes. After landing the 2nd time he radioed up that he was finally finished for the day. Awesome effort. 

Hugh staying high and close, right to the end. 

At this point Rob Sporrer came on the radio and reported strong wind at La Union out of the west. Nice to know, and we already expected this due to the length of our flight. We opted to land in Zarsal and even that far away from the mountains we landed in 10-15mph winds.  Everyone was safe. 

We had nice welcoming committee in Zarsal. 

Matt "Farmer" Beechinor giving a talk. 

The sky turned dark and rumbled with thunder into the night. 

Dinner was yummy. 

Carrot soup. Mmmmm. 

Fruity, cudtard like desert with cookie at the bottom.  Mmmm 

I fly tandem with Christian tomorrow. 

¡Hasta pronto!

Martín

Veintidos

The sky was remarkably clear this morning at 6 am. I was concerned it would be very strong and may draw in the nasty north wind. We all pulled together to get up top on time. 

The disco that is part of Casa Blanca was packed full of people even now after a night of dancing, drinking and general partying. Wow!

This is a sample of the party scene I shot on the walk home from dinner last night. It was empty until around 1:30am or 2:00 am and rages through the night. 

Flaco (I've been spelling it wrong it turns out) put air in his tires with his onboard air compressor as we readied gear to load. 

The easy way, unless you are the horse. 

Hiking up the stairs was strenuous, but even with the tandem today, I was pleased with my performance after a week away. Whew!

With such unisually sunny conditions we ushered out pilots into the air asap to get them out in the air before it got too strong. I was last off with my tandem "Rich" as the launch shaded and blew down a bit.  Meanwhile two pilots in my group landed out below launch or just beyond the bailout LZ. Eventually we got a good cycle, launched and found our first climb. Finally we got to cloud and rendezvoused with Dorian and Hugh, my remaining two, and picked up a straggler from Brian's group (Rob) to make three. 

Flying tandem with Rich. 

We made it just west of Roldanillo still high in the mountains, climbing up to cloudbase and recycling there until Rob made it over with us. Dorian 'hoovered' into the cloud, eventually popping out at over 8,000' pointed east. I had him take advantage of his mistake (and his height) by encouraging him to go on glide for the valley crossing with us just behind him, not to mention encourage him to manage his exit strategy better next time to avoid whiting out.  It happens. 

Roldanillo. 

It was sinky away from the mountains and we all Ianded together in the middle of the valley. 

Rob landing with our group at the "Airstrip LZ" just off to the side of the road to Zarsal.    

Destin and Jim were also there waiting In the shade ,having landed just before us as well. We Flagged down a bus and were sipping smoothies and eating empanadas in Roldanillo in no time. Cipriano was there to scoop us up just as we finished slurping up the local citrus, and whisked us away back to the hotel. 

The pool was the ticket for many.  My cool shower brought me back to life, that and café con leche. Mmmm.  

Everyone is accounted for and safe. A group meeting is in one hour, and there are many happy faces (and a few disappointed ones too) milling around at the end of today's flying. Strikes and gutter balls is often how it goes here, but I can't complain, it is paradise here and I know it. Grateful is all I have to say about that. 

¡Hasta mañana chavelotes!

Martín

Vientiuno

First things first. 

Sleeping in, in a familiar place, with the fan gently cooling the alreadywarming air around me was amazing. As I finished getting ready, I looked out across the pool, smiled and realized how this place, this room, this country feels like my home away from home. 

My good friend john Dudley gave me a "lesson" as he calls it, more like a session in movement, alignment, motion and relaxation. He has been a practitioner of this kind of muscle/skeletal work for some time. I feel like a million bucks (that's like a billion Colombian pesos here). 

I just got a haircut. Best $2.50 I've spent today. Much cooler. Helmet hair tomorrow? I think not. Carmen, my very capable wife, who always cuts my hair at home would approve of this one. Right?

Some pilots from the new group rolled in about 2:00pm and got settled. The rest of the group will be here around midnight. Tomorrow we will fly and acquaint the new guests to the airial playground we affectionately call the sandbox:

Matt "farmer" Beechinor, created this map of the area for our guests when they arrive. It should give everyone a sense of where we fly.  

Flying "the box" is to launch between La Union and Roldanillo at the Las Tankas launch in the mountains that run roughly north-south (or another another launch called Pico), fly south along the mountains to Roldanillo, then cross the valley to the east to the city of Zarsal then north to La Vitoria, and finally back west, to land at La Union. It's not super hard on good days, but it can be a challenge for most days. 

It's 5:30pm. 

As I write this I felt and heard a low rumbling sound and the hotel and the room began to shake. Earthquake? Yes!

I jumped up from my bed where I was typing this into my phone to check the pool from my upstairs window. The water in the kiddie pool was sloshing around and the larger pool had some waves in it. All these years living in California and I had to come all the way down here to Colombia to feel my first earthquake. 5.2 magnitude with the epicenter about 7 miles north of the hotel. Hope there wasn't any damage.  So cool. 

Saw this tiny gecko on the Walt to dinner.

Dinner was in town at an upstairs restaurant overlooking the parké or town square. The arroz con pollo was very good, but too big to finish. I went big on the pizza last night and vowed to take it easy tonight. Success. 

The tandem list is full for tomorrow as we have lots of lower time pilots this tour. 

Turns out Matt has set the site XC distance record from Medellin and I may have set the site record from La Pintada. All because we chose to fly all the way back just for fun. How about that!?  

I traded my soccer team patch (that I carry in the name window of my glider bag) to a young boy in La Pintada. He gave me a tattered green patch (with a string on it from around his neck) of the national team so I would have the "best team" patch. I offered the less popular red "America" team patch to him which was still in mint condition thinking he might not like it. He gestured with his hand over his heart and seemed deeply grateful that I would gift him my patch that he knew I liked so much. The feeling was mutual, I assure you. 

I told the police officers (see earlier blog) about this patch exchange and I think it moved them as much as it did me. 

I'm off to bed early. Maybe I'll get up to help Marge welcome the late arrivals. I tend to stay up late prepping before a big day anyway, so we'll see. 

"Live, from La Union, it's Saturday night!"

Ciao,

Martín

Viente

A slow quiet morning with intermittent rain allowed us to sip coffee, have a plentiful breakfast and decompress from the 4 days of adventure we've enjoyed. 

Dawn and I chopped up the fruit we purchased the night before and it was an impressive buffet, complete with yogurt packs with instant coffee this time around. 

Mango, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, banana and a mystery fruit (that deserves further research as to its name), and lime wedges to keep tummys happy. 

Everything is charged up and ready to go. The sun is peeking out a little more now. It would be great to fly back to La Union today and back at Casa Blanca tonight. 

Upon arriving at launch, the wind is strong over the back and rain is on the way. We snap a group photo, drive down the hill, have lunch in Ansermanuevo, and drive back to La Union in an hour and a half. 

Flacko, Boris, Dawn & Jim, Shane, Brian, Destin, Matt and Marty. (Dubin, the third driver was in town with his family). 

We unloaded, unpacked, hit the pool, did laundry, took naps, and the guides began to get ready for the next group to arrive late the next day. It was serendipitous to get back early. We are glad to be back and relax, knowing we would stay in one familiar place the next day. We flew over some amazing terrain, and yet despite the risks, we all came out it with nothing more than a few scuffs, bruises and plenty of bug bites. Bravo, team. 

The church was open, well lit and services could be heard from the speakers inside. Not many inside, but this Iglesia gets a lot of use and is packed on Saturday and Sunday nights. 

We ate at the pizza place together and I ate way too much. It was so good, thin, crispy crust with ham and pineapple. Yum.  

It's good to be "home" at Casa Blanca. 

Cheers,

Martín