Monday

[mcgowantk]

I have the day off Monday and I am looking at Woodstock. We will see about the weather.

Tom McGowan

[chuckok]

I'm up for Mon (weather dependant)

Looking for an observer to join.

[silverwings]

I am interested in flying then also. Wondering if the Woodstock tower road is open or if the Pulpit would be a good choice. (202) 409-2574 c

[XCanytime]

Woodstock is the Monday ticket. Hopefully the rain will melt all the snow on the road on the front side to open it up. Good luck. Bacil

[dbodner]

I'll be a lemming and follow the crowd anywhere. But, has anyone thought about HR, instead of Woodstock?

[mcgowantk]

I think all three NW sites might work Monday - but I am thinking winds aloft may favor Woodstock. I think Pete Schumann may be up for it too, but I know he is hoping to hike up the back of Woodstock. I will check again later tonight.

Tom

[Dan T]

I think it is very unlikely that the road is going to be open. We hiked up the back just last week and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. The front side is significantly deeper.

I might be up for flying if I can get a paraglider observer to come.

Dan T

[POLISH EAGLE]

Gregory and I are thinking about HR. tomorrow.

[davidtheamazing1]

Its looking like a great forecast for Woodstock if the road is open. HR looks good also. High temps above 45. I'm in

[Dan T]

Ellis and I are bringing the paragliders.

It's about 24 miles from the bridge field to the back side gate. It's 15 miles from the backside gate to the intersection of Fort Valley Rd and Hwy 55. I haven't measured the rest but I'm pretty sure it's shorter and more timely to run shuttles through the Edinburg gap than around Strasburg.

Surface winds start backing off at about 1:00 PM. Given the Woodstock effect, I suspect that 1:00-2:00 PM will probably be the ideal launch window.

Dan T

[mcgowantk]

I am thinking about Pulpit. What do others think? I may head toward woodstock and then divert around 9:30 if winds look light.

Tom McGowan
703-501-9532

[dbodner]

I'm too much of a wimp to hike into Woodstock, so I'm headed to HR. If I don't see a quorum, I could slide over to Pulpit.

[silverwings]

Will probably get on the road little before 10:30 to either Woodstock or the Pulpit. May hear from Tom as to what he is seeing on route a make a decision as to where. (202)409-2574 c

[Dan T]

Four of us hiked paragliders up the back at Woodstock. Hugh and Lazlo flew, both sleds. Ellis and I ended up hiking back down.

Winds were very light, 0-2 most of the time with occassional guests to 5 or so.

Unlike last week the road up the back was clear of snow. Still some on the front side and of course the gates were closed. If we get a fairly mild week and no more snow or sleet it might open by next weekend.

How was the Pulpit?

Dan T

[Matthew]

....occassional guests to 5 ...

****

I hate those occasional guests! Especially the occasional guests to 30-- they're real blowhards!

Matthew

[davidtheamazing1]

Conditions at High Rock were G-G-Great!! 5-10mph straight in, steady until sunset. Pete, Tom, Greg, John, Chuck, David & Myself were the geniuses that choose to go to HR today. All flew for an hour or more.

Anne Marie came out and got some nice video and pictures with my camera including a video of Chuck's great first-ever launch at High Rock. Watch this space for more on that.

At the end of the day, David Bodner had an unfortunate landing and badly broke his arm. The EMTs came out to pick him up from the field. He stayed conscious and alert although he was in alot of pain. He expects to be out of the hospital tonight, and his wife went out to Hagerstown to pick him up. He will soon be needing surgery on his arm so we are all hoping that it goes well.

David wanted me to pass along his thank you to everyone that pitched in to help him.

[mcelrah]

Turns out I broke my ankle on landing (paraglider) at Woodstock today - splinter fracture on the process (bump) of the fibula (outside) right ankle (can't drive with a cast). I was sliding in on my butt, caught a heel and buckled it under. I'll take my injury over Dave's. I got Vicodin, although I probably don't need it. Hope you get some good drugs, Dave! - Hugh

[dbodner]

I'm sitting upright because it hurts too much to sleep horizontally. The folks at Wash. Cty hospital were nice, but they couldn't bring in an orthopedist until Tue, so I decided to come back with Jodie and go to local doctors.

The x-ray tech said it was a big break, and I'm probably looking at surgery. I'll write more after things get put back in place. But for now, thanks everyone.

[kcarra]

So sorry to hear that my 2 good friends got hurt. Hoping you both heal quickly and well. David, if they think your arm will heal itself without surgery then that's best even though it's a long and frustrating process (personal experience)

Karen

[brianvh]

So Hugh has something else in common with his wife now....

both of you heal well. Not an observation, an order.

...though Hugh has had numerous opportunities to prove he does in fact heal well.

Hey Dave, welcome to the club, and hope the pain is dealt with soon. It never sucks so much in retrospect, the mind kinda blocks it out. Sort of like not remembering how totally corny Gilligan's Island was.

[markc]

The x-ray tech said it was a big break, and I'm probably looking at surgery.

If it's a complex break (or even if it's not), and you want a second opinion about the nature
of a surgical repair, I can recommend a good doctor/practice with privs at Suburban Hospital
in Bethesda.

Hope that you have a complete recovery Dave!

MarkC

PS: Hope you heal up soon too Hugh. Sheesh, yesterday was not a good day!

[chuckok]

Awesome flight ... OK, I was a little intimidated by the launch area when I arrived (ok the wind was maybe 10 to 20 at the time). But, later, after helping out on some wire crews, and waiting for folks to come back up to throw me off ... the wind dropped to around 8 or 10 and steady ... up to the ramp ... steady ... and GO. Solid mid-field landing, (after correcting for lack luster DFA) Thanks again for the help John/Tom/(all)!

David landed next ... OUCH ... Hope you're better soon!

[John Dullahan]

Dave, I am very sorry to hear about your mishap. In Sept. 2000, due to an unbelievably stupid set up and landing attempt at Ritchie’s Knob (Fisher Road), I sustained several fractures in my left arm, including the ulna at the wrist socket. This required an operation to insert six pins, which I had to keep in for six weeks. I had to sleep on my back with my pinned hand resting on my tummy. I eventually made a complete recovery, enabling me to demonstrate additional and innovative ways to make a fool of myself in the following years.

Hugh, I am also sorry to hear about your prang. Are you saying you can’t drive with the cast because you run a macho household that doesn’t tolerate a single automatic transmission vehicle in the fleet? (Enabling locomotion by tucking right/casted foot away and just using the left)

John

[CraginS]

Chuck,
Congratulations. Great to take the big first step at the Rock after all the hills and ramps you have run down to get into the sky.

David and Hugh,
Total bummer, guys. My best wishes and sympathy to you both. Only consolation I can think of is that you both got to fly before having your days ruined. May you have helpful drugs and rapid recoveries.

Everyone else,
Glad to hear there was flying. Sorry I could not join either crowd. Bad juju and some sadness for some close friends kept me occupied with them all day.

My weekends are spoken for until mid-February, but I hope to be out with the crowds soon after that.

Craig

[brianvh]

I can't believe with all that happened nobody took the chance to say

"Don't you just HATE mondays?"