www.FlyingMax.com – Paragliding

Posts Tagged ‘Panorama’

Pilots tasks will be dropping Easter eggs (plastic bags filled with snow) and target landings at the designated landing site (Golf driving range). And if possible race out to the valley to Lake Windermere.

Not just about flying, it is also about socialising with pilots, family and friends.
Free social and paragliding event. Pilot lift ticket is $40/day.
Pilots meeting is March 30th at 8:30 am at the day-lodge.
Let me know who is planning to come this year so we can make arrangements for the Saturday evening dinner.
Contact Max Powers at max@flyingMax.com

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Tandem flying at Panorama Resort is in full swing and the conditons for flying and skiing are superb!

Sometimes we do have some very interesting flights, one of them, was last week with Sam MacMillan.

Sam is working for “Sunrise” channel 7 in Australia (which has about 8 million live viewers) and they did a episode here at Panorama.
I did meet with the film crew the night before to discuss details and if I would be able to mount some cameras on the tandem wing.
First, I stated that the weather might be kind of challenging due the high winds and if the conditions are good, I would be able to get at least a camera mounted into my wing for filming from the top down. Then they saw the footage of my “Santa” flight with a trailing camera and asked if I would be able to add this. Again, my answer was if the conditions would be good I should be able to do it, although, the trailing camera can be very challenging. Later this evening they saw a video me flying with the Canadian flag and they asked if I could do that tomorrow as well. Again, my answer was, if the conditions are good, we might be able to pull that off. I knew that this would be my most challenging take off, as I have never had a trailing camera, wing mounted camera, selfie stick and Canadian flag at the same time.

The next day, we got up by snowmobile to get set up early as they needed the material for the live show. The conditions at the takeoff where okay, meaning we had no wind and light wind from behind (which is not the best). I decided to set up all the cameras and the Canadian flag as this seams to be a cool project and all would be worth the effort.

The only part I did forget to check more carefully was if my passenger could ski!

Once Sam was on the mountain and I found out that Sam can not ski at all, I knew I was up for a challenge. Actually it was quite entertaining to get him onto the skies and trying to get him to ski 5 feet. But being ready for takeoff in challenging conditions with all the extra cameras and gear and a passenger who does not know how to ski added a “little” spice to the project.

Everything went well and you can see the archived video of the flight and the vow to Shania Twain what was at the live breakfast show at
https://au.news.yahoo.com/…/38638…/sam-mac-goes-paragliding/

And here is my video of the takeoff and flight with the takeoff part Sam was talking about at the show. 

Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2018 from our family (Max, Penny, Katia & Erik) to everyone who knows us.
2017 has been a very good year for us and we like to thank everyone who has been a part of it. This does not only mean business, it means everyone who has been a part of our life’s.

In the mean time, here are a couple pictures and videos of the last couple days at Panorama.

The 2016/2017 ski season at Panorama resort is open and has been since Dec 9th. The flying season will be open once the Sunbird Chair is in operation. Currently Panorama is working on the ski runs to open the terrain to our landing site. Once this is in place, Panorama will open up the Sunbird chair lift which is needed to get you from the landing site back on top of the mountain.
It sounds like this should happen in the next couple of days, but until then, there is no flying at Panorama as of yet.

Once again, for this season, Panorama is very supportive of pilots with a special fly/ski ticket this year.
Please keep in mind that this special day pass is for pilots who are going to fly only! If you are at the take-off site and it is not good to fly, you can leave your wing at the launch site and ski until the conditions improve. Please do not abuse this special deal, or we will be in jeopardy of losing this privilege.

The take-off and landing is the same as the years before.

Please respect the following points:

• No flying over the bottom high-speed Chair (Mile 1 Quad) area at all (see picture below)
• No landings at the village. Only land on designated landing site or on Golf course if it gets to windy.
• No launches after 3:00 pm
• Cross lifts with at least 150 feet
• Pilots need to have skis or a snowboard to get a ride with the lift
• Contact RK Heliski before you head up the Mountain at 250 342-3889.
  This is just to let them know we are flying as they will inform their pilots of the activities.

Here is what you need to be able to fly at Panorama: 

• Novice Rating (P2 rating)
• HPAC Liability Insurance
• NO Speedwing flying, Paragliding only
• Access to launch sites only possible with skies or snowboard.
• All pilots to sign the 2016/2017 waiver
• Pilots are required to get in touch with Max Fanderl (max@flyingMax.com) to get the waiver forms
  • Send your HPAC membership number, expiry date and rating

More details at https://flyingmax.com/area/panorama/

Seasons greetings and happy landings

Max, Penny & the kids

What an incredible ski and fly season we have so far at Panorama Mountain Resort. Lots and very good snow and amazing flying conditions.
Due all the pictures and videos posted in the last month we have more and more people planning to come to Panorama to fly in winter.

To make things easier for everyone new and as a refresher I will post parts of last years post again.

All the best and happy landings

Max & Penny

===========================================

Winter in Canada, for most paragliding pilots, means to either dream about flying or going south to find warm thermals.

In Invermere however, we are a bit different, as we are very lucky to have the great Panorama Mountain Resort, which offers downhill skiing, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, amongst other great activities, and also welcomes paragliding pilots.
January and February are super smooth months to fly due the cold dense air and it lets you enjoy the extra glide you are getting with it.
At the beginning of March, when the snow starts melting off the trees, you will see the beginning of the nice, wide and smooth thermals, and start doing your first XC flights of the year. The thermals are typically wider and smoother than in the spring and early summer months, as they generate from a bigger area (the trees), in comparison to generating from dry ground (the ski runs with no snow) and are great to work slowly into XC flying for the season.

We have been flying at Panorama in the winters for about 20 years, but it seems that a lot of pilots avoid coming as they are probably thinking of the cold, harsh winters of Alberta. Sure, it can be cold here too, but remember, it is usually about 10 degrees warmer on this side of the Rockies.

I would like to share some tips here in my blog to help others who are interested, and who were not able to be here for this weekend.

Panorama offers 2 launch sites:

• First choice. and most used launch site is 2/3 up the mountain at the top of Roller Coaster, below the outhouses. (870m vertical). This is where the Cappuccino Hut used to be for those who remember it! This is an easy, but shallow launch site and accommodates up to 5 gliders facing NW.
• Summit Launch “Roy’s Run” (1200m vertical) is a steep, wide open launch (up to 4 gliders, strategically layed out) facing W to SW. This launch is only for good skiers. It can be a tricky launch site to set up your wing as the slope is steep and the wing tends to slide down while you get into your harness. As well if the wind picks up at all, it will slide down too. Do not set up your wing at the very top of Roy’s run layed out on the “easy way road”. This will be conflicting with the ski traffic.

For the two different launch sites you need to adjust your launch techniques simply due to the nature which they are.

At the Summit takeoff, overall, the wing inflates very fast and will have a tendency to overshoot due the steep terrain. The summit take-off site does not allow you to make any mistakes as things happen very fast, and you can end up in the trees beside the run very easily if you do not work with the wing at the speed required.

If you are just getting used to winter flying, I do recommend to start 2/3 up the ski hill on the shallow launch. The tricky and unusual part at this launch is to lead the canopy for much longer than you are used to. Furthermore, you also need to be more patient and allow yourself and the wing to pick up speed for take-off. The takeoff process on skis at this launch site are way slower than you would do by foot.
This is why we position our self for the launch position as close as possible to the trailing edge and be a bit offset from the centre of the wing. This way as you turn downhill to start skiing you can ski (turn) into the position where you want to inflate the wing and be in the centre of your wing. If you start with tension on the lines, you might inflate the wing sideways as you stand sideways to the hill with your skis and might not have enough momentum to inflate the wing due to being sideways to the hill and with your skis on.

See the following 2 videos. One shows you when you do not guide the wing for long enough and not being able to get airborne, and the second video shows you how much you need to charge forward and patience you need to get airborne.

I want to thank Panorama Mountain Resort again for all their support to the pilots, for the sport, and allowing us to fly for so many years.
Please respect Panorama Mountain Resort’s basic rules so we can enjoy it for many more years.

• Novice Rating (P2)
• HPAC Liability Insurance
• NO Speedwing flying, Paragliding only
• All pilots to sign the 2015/2016 waiver
• Pilots are required to get in touch with Max Fanderl (max@flyingMax.com) to get the waiver forms

Please respect the following points:

• No flying over the bottom high-speed Chair (Mile 1 Quad) area at all.
• No landings at the village. Only land on designated landing site or on Golf course if it gets to windy.
• No launches after 3:00 pm
• Stay at least 150 feet above lifts and ski runs
• Pilots need to have skis or a snowboard to get a ride with the lift
• Contact RK Heliski before you head up the Mountain at 250 342-3889.
  This is just to let them know we are flying as they will inform their pilots of the activities.

More detailed and current information about of flying at Panorama Mountain Resort is at https://flyingmax.com/area/panorama/

Here is a video of a flight from Panorama to Invermere

Winter in Canada, for most paragliding pilots, means to either dream about flying or going south to find warm thermals.

In Invermere however, we are a bit different, as we are very lucky to have the great Panorama Mountain Resort, which offers downhill skiing, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, amongst other great activities, and also welcomes paragliding pilots.
January and February are super smooth months to fly due the cold dense air and it lets you enjoy the extra glide you are getting with it.
At the beginning of March, when the snow starts melting off the trees, you will see the beginning of the nice, wide and smooth thermals, and start doing your first XC flights of the year. The thermals are typically wider and smoother than in the spring and early summer months, as they generate from a bigger area (the trees), in comparison to generating from dry ground (the ski runs with no snow) and are great to work slowly into XC flying for the season.

For 17 years we have been flying at Panorama in the winters, but it seems that a lot of pilots avoid coming as they are probably thinking of the cold, harsh winters of Alberta. Sure, it can be cold here too, but remember, it is usually about 10 degrees warmer on this side of the Rockies.

About 6 weeks ago Mark Damm, from Cochrane, asked me if I would run a Ski-launch workshop at Panorama, as he and a couple of his buddies would love to learn. We scheduled the workshop for Friday Jan 9th evening, and 2 full days of flying on Jan 10th and 11th.
Pilots came all the way from Saskatchewan, spending 11 hours getting here, and the others were from Alberta and BC. The evening session on Friday was held at the Station Pub. Thank you for the private room and the excellent meals and service.

We discussed different launch techniques with skis and reviewed XC flight planning. Saturday and Sunday brought fantastic mid winter weather conditions, and pilots had up to 6 flights a day. All in all we flew lots, had a lot of fun throughout the weekend, and watched 15 pilots flying and landing with happy faces and we all made new friends and meet some great new people.

I would like to share some tips here in my blog to help others who are interested, and who were not able to be here for this weekend.

Panorama offers 2 launch sites:

• First choice. and most used launch site is 2/3 up the mountain at the top of Roller Coaster, below the outhouses. (870m vertical). This is where the Cappuccino Hut used to be for those who remember it! This is an easy, but shallow launch site and accommodates up to 5 gliders facing NW.
• Summit Launch “Roy’s Run” (1200m vertical) is a steep, wide open launch (up to 4 gliders, strategically layed out) facing W to SW. This launch is only for good skiers. It can be a tricky launch site to set up your wing as the slope is steep and the wing tends to slide down while you get into your harness. As well if the wind picks up at all, it will slide down too. Do not set up your wing at the very top of Roy’s run layed out on the “easy way road”. This will be conflicting with the ski traffic.

For the two different launch sites you need to adjust your launch techniques simply due to the nature which they are.

At the Summit takeoff, overall, the wing inflates very fast and will have a tendency to overshoot due the steep terrain. The summit take-off site does not allow you to make any mistakes as things happen very fast, and you can end up in the trees beside the run very easily if you do not work with the wing at the speed required.

If you are just getting used to winter flying, I do recommend to start 2/3 up the ski hill on the shallow launch. The tricky and unusual part at this launch is to lead the canopy for much longer than you are used to. Furthermore, you also need to be more patient and allow yourself and the wing to pick up speed for take-off. The takeoff process on skis at this launch site are way slower than you would do by foot. You should get into your harness as close as possible to the trailing edge and be a bit offset from the centre of the wing. This way as you turn downhill to start skiing you can ski (turn) into the position where you want to inflate the wing and be in the centre of your wing. If you start with tension on the lines, you might inflate the wing sideways as you stand sideways to the hill with your skis and might not have enough momentum to inflate the wing due to being sideways to the hill and with your skis on.

See the following 2 videos. One shows you when you do not guide the wing for long enough and not being able to get airborne, and the second video shows you how much you need to charge forward and patience you need to get airborne.

I want to thank Panorama Mountain Resort again for all their support to the pilots, for the sport, and allowing us to fly for so many years.
Please respect Panorama Mountain Resort’s basic rules so we can enjoy it for many more years.

• Novice Rating
• HPAC Liability Insurance
• NO Speedwing flying, Paragliding only
• All pilots to sign the 2014/2015 waiver
• Pilots are required to get in touch with Max Fanderl (max@flyingMax.com) to get the waiver forms

Please respect the following points:

• No flying over the bottom high-speed Chair (Mile 1 Quad) area at all.
• No landings at the village. Only land on designated landing site or on Golf course if it gets to windy.
• No launches after 3:00 pm
• Stay at least 150 feet above lifts and ski runs
• Pilots need to have skis or a snowboard to get a ride with the lift
• Contact RK Heliski before you head up the Mountain at 250 342-3889.
  This is just to let them know we are flying as they will inform their pilots of the activities.

More detailed and current information about of flying at Panorama Mountain Resort is at https://flyingmax.com/area/panorama/

More pictures about the ski launch workshop at
https://plus.google.com/photos/107366320201211493303/albums/6104683265941420513 

Here is a video of a flight from Panorama to Invermere