Beinn Toiag 15AUG20

 

I was due to help Saskia with her flat yesterday but after considerable umming and ahhing I decided the sensible thing to do was to go flying considering this may be one of the last good days of the year.

 

As a result of the giant faff, I hadn't really looked at the weather in much detail. However, I saw some activity on Telegram so I started to tune in! The inversion would mean the hills would be shrouded in cloud in the morning and rise through the afternoon, hopefully enough to make something of and crucial not to be on the highest hill. Beinn Toaig fitted this bill so I followed in the eager footsteps of Sam, Kirsty and Sergio who were keen to beat the traffic and from our recent trips up north, I could see why!

 

I really didn't have high hopes for the day. If I could get out of the murk in Linlithgow and East into some sunshine, climb a nice hill and fly down, I would be happy. That said, I would try to stay up and make something of the flight with the intention of landing within a short walk of the car. That's the plan! No XC unless I got high enough to make it back.

 

The day before Saw, Steve, Sam, Fred, Aaron (new guy.....maybe?) and I on Abington E. It was very light cycles coming through and very little met wind so finesse was key to staying up. Amazing practice especially with this year giving an all time low in hours and practice. We got lots of little flights in, each one trying to eke out every bit of lift to stay up for another beat, round we went again before slope landing, kite up and off again. Fantastic!

 

As good as the day before was, I was quite tired from running around all day and was not feeling full of beans. I saw some messages suggesting the traffic was unpleasant and the car park was full from Sergio which I was willing to believe. That said, I chilled right out in the car. All was well with the world. I was going from grey skies to sunshine and with the hope to fly knowing the day would improve as time went on, traffic was no problem. 

 

I arrived at the car park to find the most amount of cars and tents I have ever seen there. I guess all the folks who should have been abroad with Jet2 are in the highlands ;-)

 

Walking up, the sun was so warm, I was glad I had the 2 litres of water with me. I followed the track up to the S of Beinn Toaig and then went off the track and up the spine for the ascent instead of climbing Choir Odhair where the path takes you. About half way up, I saw Sam and Kirsty launch on the tandem seeming to go straight into lift which was great to see. After a few turns they seemed to push out in search for something more or perhaps to ensure the return to the car without a massive walk out. I was curious to see where Sam may find lift to see if the hill was working or the place to be would be out from the hill, over the glen. There seemed to be small bubbles of lift out over the forest but perhaps only zero's and 1/2 up. Sergio launched and found a nice climb over the south end of the hill and took a glide out. I continued up all the time feeling cycles coming through. It was so tempting to just set up there and then thinking I could just scratch up into a better position before searching for a climb as it was clearly working. The hillside is littered with rocks, not ideal for a launch so as soon as I found a suitable place to lay out I thought I would have lunch and watch how Sergio was getting on before getting ready. By this time, Sergio had pushed out and was finding lift but seemed to maintain rather than climb. My plan was to stick to the hill and explore, try to get high and see how things develop.

 

I launched in a cycle and managed to climb, flying close along the ridge to stay in lift, towards the North end of the slope, turning in stronger areas of lift and working my way up to the top. I spotted a bird climbing over the north shoulder, so aimed straight there and found a weak climb but took it and managed a few turns before heading out in search of something more substantial. The thermals were small and hard to stay in and make anything of. I had to work hard to keep the wing overhead in the surges and make best use of the weak lift with smooth turns. Base was now a bit higher, perhaps 1000ft off the top. I could still see clouds hanging onto the higher peaks in the distance. Today certainly wasn't a classic day but it was working and improving all the time. My aim was to be patient and try to stay in the air as long as possible, even if that meant sticking to the hill. Base was forecast to rise throughout the afternoon as it had done since I had arrived.

 

My vario made a short dull tone as it died and the screen blanked just after I saw a message BATT LOW! GREAT! I did check the battery on power up and it displayed 100%. Guess that was not quite true! I had recently bought a back up and hike and fly solar powered XC Tracer 3 which was saving the day. I still had my inreach which meant I could get ground speed so I had some redundancy. I really miss my averager which is great in these conditions if you're not quite sure if it's worth staying with a climb or leave in search of something better. I also didn't have Altitude but at this height, it was easy enough to monitor.

 

Black mount, just past Loch Tulla had a lovely looking Cu over it which I challenged myself to get too if conditions allowed. I managed to get to base in a lovely (probably 2 up) climb and pushed out on half bar. I found small areas of reduced sink slowing down trying to stay high but always monitoring my position to the hill conscious my plan might not work and I may need to fly back to stay up! I found plenty of sink but no lift! If I didn't mind a walk out, it would have been interesting to commit to this route and see if it worked. I was now back at hill top height and still no lift so back to the hill arriving about 2/3rds up the hill. I scratched around but couldn't find anything. The odd bubble to slow down in but nothing to get my teeth into and work up.

 

Time for plan B! I pushed out but now getting rather low, I didn't think I would make it to the car. Other than the forest, pretty much everywhere was landable so if I didn't get back up, I could afford to get quite low before I would have to set up for landing. I found big sink and then my vario started singing again :-) such a lovely sound. It wasn't a fast climb but I was going up! At this stage, I think I was more focused on taking photos than staying up. With the gain in altitude, I had options so I headed over loch Tulla for some more photos and then to find the ideal place to land near my car. I had a go at some wingovers to burn some height and then focused on the mound just up from the car park aware there were trees and possible switching winds. A few circles to determine wind direction and set up for an easy touch down.  

 

I noticed the traffic on the A82 heading N was all backed up but as I was heading south I missed it. Few!

 

Hopefully it's not the last thermic day this year......

 

Fingers crossed for some more soon :-)

 

My photos here

 

My track here