A really good day with my wife

Spent the afternoon with my partner (wife) ski flying and ski touring. I’m lucky!

She is not a big flier but I think if we have more days like this she may get hooked. What more can you ask for? Blue skies, no wind and your lady in the middle of nowhere with a big smile on her face.
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And she was off. Our mission was to do laps off the high point here above her. Its about a 40 minute climb and just under 1500′ of vert.
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Temps are holding and the snow was good!
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Half way up
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False summit for a photo..cool view. We still had about 500′ to go from here
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Someone asked how we get up. Here I am pulling off my skins. Fur with stickem on the other side is the best way to describe it. The heel piece on the binding allows you to walk and not be locked down. When your ready to go down you lockem down. Simple
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And there she goes…40 minutes up and 3 minutes down… :D
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Back to the plane for some lunch
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ski tracks on and off the lake and ski tracks to and from the mountain…all left turns
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Good times…she wont let go of the O shit bar… :)
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Almost back to the airport. This is Donner Lake. Home to the famous “Donner party”.
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Back at it in the am. Taking a few buddies skiing tomorrow. We have a big project in mind… #-o

AKT

More ski plane skiing

All of these lakes allow float planes… :lol: Most of it is in the NF but controlled by Bureau of Rec.

Going in an hour. Feels like the Arctic today. Negative 17 an hour ago here.

Back to the plane
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There is now two of us in Kalifornia with skis on… =D>” /> Anyone else gonna join?<br />
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More on the hand propping
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My start rely circuit keeps popping for some reason. Thinking Solenoid now but…Here is whats happening. Press the start button and circuit pops every time. Put jumper cables on it from car battery to plane battery and it starts without circuit popping. Amps show 12.7 and that should but sufficient to start plane. Nope…Connect it to another battery and it shows 14.7. Fires up. Was thinking battery but in flight it does not indicate a discharge. Shows good volts and amps. Fly for an hour, advice turn plane off and try to restart, prescription start relay pops. Have replaces all wires, new starter, new voltage reg. Putting in new battery and solenoid to see what happens…weird. I am terrible when it comes to electrical but this is not rocket science. Any ponders?

AKT

Ski plane skiing today

Went skiing with the plane today and did laps on both sides of the lake today. It was negative 8F at the airport this am. COLD!!! The day warmed up fairly quick like and we ended up getting in about 3500′ skied vertical on our feet.
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My airplane and ski track… 8)
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We had the place all to ourselves until some sled heads arrived and did donuts all around the plane… #-o
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Days end…a few ski runs in the background. Went to the highest point here 3 times on this side of the lake. Pretty easy once the skin track was in.
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Ended up having to hand prop the 520/MT Prop… #-o That was a first… [-o< Think I need a new solenoid… :?:
I have some great pics of the hand propping to post in a bit. They are just not on my camera.

Stay tuned…

It was a good day!

AKT

Ski flying has been real good

Just updating here. These are some posts on the Backcountrypilot.org site I have up.

Have been putting some hours in ski flying the past days.

Spent this morning flying around with one of our own here that emailed and asked if he could go. AKA -cozmicharlie on here met me at the hanger and we ended up putting in a couple hours. The snow is so good now for ski flying. Guessing its about 2-3′ in most places and the lakes are about 8-10 inches thick. I like the clear ice better than the snow in these parts as you can really get an idea of how thick it is. In the photos below here, the clear, snow free ice froze after the last storm. Its not insulated and you can know for certain how thick it is just by looking at it. Not to mention, its always nice to see another plane already there. This guy goes by “iceman” around here. He loves to ice fish and always has good beta on the ice thickness.

This is about 1500′ or so and could easily land a 206…Lowrider…or Rob or any of you that dont have skis… :lol:
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Iceman down on the ice fishing…he doesnt have skis either…notice the wind waves on the snow in this one. More on that in a bit.
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Landing here offers great ski touring
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This one looks good but man its full of wind waves on the snow. You can find a smooth spot to set down but it gets real bumpy quick. The long east west lakes are not protected and you can sure see it when you get down low.
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This one is a favorite. From the approach in low and slow while on a long left base to a nice slow turn over the water to final down the lake. It also offers superb ski touring options… :lol:
Left base
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I am high here as I wanted a photo but this is final only you would be 500′ or so lower and then park up at the end
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It was a good day! :D

Weather looks to be clear and cold tomorrow….again… #-o
Thanks for all the replys. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is actually reading this. Today was ALL TIME!!!! Bluebird, cold and stellar conditons. Heck, even the ice fishing was good! :lol: I am claiming this one… I WIN!!!! :lol:
Had a buddy put skis on his cub for the first time who is based in Carson…(yep, I am still the only one in Kalifornia with skis on). Here he is on the way out.
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Anyhow, I think he is hooked. Here is his first ever landing on skis. He wanted an easy spot so we went to what I thought was very straight forward and basic. Big huge meadow, long, flat and not much to worry about except for an occasional fence. He had landed here in the summer with me prior so he knew the area. Here is is first landing on skis…
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So after 3 or 4 landings at the “meadow” we were off to the higher lakes and meadows. This one is a fun little one…You need to slip in over the trees to land short and then taxi back. If you dont slip it in you end up way down the lake and then need taxi a long way back…
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Sitting at 7300′
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Dropped into this gem…I had never landed here before. Pretty cool little spot at 8300′. Next time I will have my skis. Nice little 1500′ shots in the background… :lol:
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Dark ice is generally good in these parts…This one spooks me however…chose to NOT land here…Betting its good to go however… #-o ….maybe… [-X
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And then left my buddy as he need to get back. Ended up seeing NVflyer in the air and we were going to the same place…the place I posted about yesterday were skis are not needed….
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Even the ice fishing was good! The ice is 8-10 inches thick!
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A very good day!!!

We now have a cold front coming in tomorrow with high winds and very little precip and… very cold temps forecasted.
The next couple of days will be down…but thats ok. I need to catch up on my work that actually pays the bills. Talks of Zane coming next week for some ski flying, it looks to be a very good week ahead….stay tuned… 8)

A couple more pics. These just came from our own NVFlyer. Many of you met him in Reno this year at the races…blowing hard here now. A little snow tonight.

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A good day!

Today gave another example of why I love being a pilot. Its an obsession actually… #-o

Ski flying is another element of what we love doing as a backcountry type pilot. It throughs in all sorts of new things to think about. What gear, left turns only, ski cool down maneuver, depth of snow or ice thickness and list goes on.

Anyway, enough of my trying to be a writer, here are some photos from today.

Had to add some gear
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Had to touch down on a favorite landing at the island
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Chose to go without my tail ski for awhile. Slows ya down quicker in powder type snow, maybe.
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Leaves a good track
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As said, it was a good day. Temps are cold and the snow is soft by the most part.

AKT

Out under the ceiling…and the last flight of the year

 

I spent a good portion of the late morning, early afternoon yesterday flying around under the ceiling. I received a message that flying was off on the west side due to winds and fog so I decided to burn an hour anyway. After all I spent the first hour digging out of my hanger. Check out the deadly ice hanging. Makes for a great sound when you open the hanger door.

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Once it was cleared off she was ready to go.
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And I was off…Check out down town Truckee and the holiday traffic.
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Departing toward Squaw Valley VOR
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Thread drift…just saw this photo of 260driver coming in for landing… :lol: One of our favorites…
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Back to my stormy day with nowhere to land (except for the airport… #-o ) (Skis will go on this week)
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Here is a good one. Who has the better parking.
Squaw Valley? They have a lot of cars.
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Alpine Meadows? They also have a lot of cars and are very strategic in placing.
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Or maybe Boreal?
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Regardless, it sure was a beautiful flight…Thats what its all about… :D
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AKT

Not a fan of “cracks”….on the ice

Have not been flying a ton as of late due to the weather we have had and my other passion, skiing. Spent yesterday pondering about putting my skis on the plane this weekend. We have a huge storm barreling down on us with over 5 plus feet of snow expected. That means ski flying is just around the corner! The lakes around here that we like to land on are all around 8,000′ or so. Cold temps have been good to us but we still need a few more days. I am not a fan of shooting cracks in the ice! Check out these photos from yesterday….oh yeah, made the AVWeb picture of the week…again!!!

 

 

Around Lake Tahoe

Just a quick flight around Tahoe yesterday. The weather has been stellar to say the least. Here is a couple pics from yesterday.

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