August 9, 2002: Crossing Loup Loup Pass
Photos by Dr. Bruce Tracy. Flight story follows below.

Paul Klemond on glide over Buzzard Lake, ~7 miles east of Loup Loup Pass

Paul over Reed Mountain. In the background: Leader Lake, and Highway 20 east of Loup Loup Pass.

On glide into Omak...

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Klemond
Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002 7:13 AM
To: 'nwpglide@kurious.org'
Subject: Loup de do

Yesterday (Friday) at 2pm, Bruce Tracy, Dave Verbois and I flew Bowen, near Winthrop in Washington's North Cascades. First flight Bruce sank out, I got to 5k then sank out, and Dave got to 5,800 before landing near the Winthrop pub. I take Bruce up to his car. It's looking blue and strong, but somehow Bruce talks me into another flight instead of retrieving Dave.

This time we get up to 7k, drifting east-southeast. Bruce leads southeast, where we work scraps before pushing on to Pipestone Canyon and goes deeper towards Lightning Creek Ridge. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up -- Bruce has a fast Omega-5, has flown this route a dozen times, and has "fire in his belly."

I stay west of Bruce and find a nice thermal. He gets up to 6-7k before hitting the inversion and heading for South Ridge, sinking and grovelling low there a fair while. I stay in mine and happen to punch through the inversion up to 9,500. That's more like it!

Bruce is radioing good advice. I glide over Bruce to Coyote Ridge. By now I can see Loup Loup Pass and ski area. A giant blue zone over Twisp is pushing the clouds eastward away from us so I sacrifice a little altitude to get back under clouds. I stay above the inversion, yo-yo'ing between 6,500 and 9,500 as I hop peaks eastward right over the Loup, "This is the best flight I've had in North America!" I tell Bruce.

By now Bruce is back up to 8,200 and climbing. We converge on Buck Mountain where he comes shooting by 1,700 over my head at 11.2k. The terrain ahead looks grim: lots of forest, no clearings, long hike out. Clouds are broad and no sun hits the land for the next 5 miles. Bruce and I glide together and work spotty stuff. His GPS says 33-40 mph, nice west tailwind. His Advance Omega-5 has a 2-3 mph speed advantage, but my Windtech Quarx has a comparable glide so no vertical separation.

We fly right over Buzzard Lake. Omak is now visible, and we're getting back to sunshine. As we cross Salmon Creek, the warm southerly flow up the Okanogan hits us. We're below 5k now so we spread out to find some lift on Pogue Mountain. Bruce is on his home turf and smartly stays a bit farther north. I head for the nearest sunny knob but am denied. Bruce gets one near Hunsinger Lake. I'm 200 AGL by the time I get there, and am getting worked over the rocks so I head out over Pogue Flats where I land west of Duck Lake, 26 miles from Bowen, due North of Omak. I touch down and just stand there, my wing kiting itself, no input. I'm completely intoxicated just being there.

Bruce heads SE and lands on his airstrip at his house and in no time he and Marie fetch me and puts a beer in my hand. Apparently I'm only the third person to ever fly over the Loup. (Steve Roti was the first.) I hope a lot of pilots get over here and take in this magnificent route!