Its pretty easy flying from Sarangkot. There's a big grassy take-off, multiple landing options down the lake, an ultra-reliable house thermal and lots of birds: big Himalayan Griffon vultures, a real pleasure to fly with. There can also be lots of gliders, with a conveyor belt of tandem flights filling the air, but compared to recent years it was still relatively quiet.
As the fuel crisis set in, the cost of a taxi to take-off went up from about $5 to $40 so getting a lift up became something of a scramble. It was often possible to get a ride with the tandem boys but if they had a van full, you were on your own: 2 feet can always be relied on!
Although hot and sweaty the hike up wasn't too bad, following steps up through the trees for most of it for about an hour and a half. There was a bonus to be had too: hazelnuts littered the forest floor so there was plenty of foraging for snacks on the way up!
You get a great view over the lake and Pokhara and if you're really lucky to the Annapurna range behind. Chances are though, if you can see the mountains the flying will be inverted and crap! Take-off is at 1450m, cloud base was generally not much higher than about 2000m and the 2 m/s thermals were normally pretty smooth.
At this time of year the cross country potential is fairly limited but I had a few nice runs down the ridge (and sometimes back) and good fun playing in the clouds. The ridge is complex enough to offer a few challenges, so even if you couldn't go anywhere I didn't get bored. The local XC route to tick off is to fly to the "green wall", the big ridge north of Sarangkot, but the conditions never really got going until my last flight and it was finally on... it was so good there's a separate post for it.
As soon as your away from the main take-off, no matter how high you are, kids go mental to get your attention below, with screams of hello, bye bye and all manner of other screeched noises. And there's nearly always a welcome party when you land out.
 |
| Sarangkot. The main take-off is back right on the hill. |
As the fuel crisis set in, the cost of a taxi to take-off went up from about $5 to $40 so getting a lift up became something of a scramble. It was often possible to get a ride with the tandem boys but if they had a van full, you were on your own: 2 feet can always be relied on!
Although hot and sweaty the hike up wasn't too bad, following steps up through the trees for most of it for about an hour and a half. There was a bonus to be had too: hazelnuts littered the forest floor so there was plenty of foraging for snacks on the way up!
You get a great view over the lake and Pokhara and if you're really lucky to the Annapurna range behind. Chances are though, if you can see the mountains the flying will be inverted and crap! Take-off is at 1450m, cloud base was generally not much higher than about 2000m and the 2 m/s thermals were normally pretty smooth.
At this time of year the cross country potential is fairly limited but I had a few nice runs down the ridge (and sometimes back) and good fun playing in the clouds. The ridge is complex enough to offer a few challenges, so even if you couldn't go anywhere I didn't get bored. The local XC route to tick off is to fly to the "green wall", the big ridge north of Sarangkot, but the conditions never really got going until my last flight and it was finally on... it was so good there's a separate post for it.
 |
| Heading up the ridge |
As soon as your away from the main take-off, no matter how high you are, kids go mental to get your attention below, with screams of hello, bye bye and all manner of other screeched noises. And there's nearly always a welcome party when you land out.
 |
| flying friends |
No comments:
Post a Comment