Topic: North West Slopers

Thought I would try and hook up with fellow slopers in my part of the world. My local slopes are

Parlick
Pendle
Tow Scar
Barbondale
Farleton Knott
Winder

Today I'm off to Winder, near Sedbergh weathers looking good!

Tom

I get up to Parlick and also Longridge a fair bit, the 'cliffs' at Bispham near Blackpool is the nearest spot for me, though.  Never been up Farleton Knott although it's often intrigued me as I've driven by on the M6 and seen the paragliders flying there.

Hi Mark, hope to see you up Parlick sometime 

Tom

Winder was great today with enough sun to take the chill out of the wind. The wind was from SSW but we ended up using a South facing slope because it was steeper, the cross wind was OK, but no ballast today as although there was plenty of wind there wasn't too much lift. But its fun to have to work the lift once in a while 

Re-maidened the Wasabi today, flew well, still in one piece, have a new landing method 

Will put a little video up later, but here are some photos.

Tom

Twas a good day Tom!

Looking forward to visiting that spot again in a true Southerly.

Cant believe you missed 'Gargareth' of the list of sites - after our last epic visit.

Bad news letting me have a wiggle on the Wasabi sticks, yet another gets added to the list.........

You know you want one Paul, now if only we could get our hands on a Vector 3, are you listening Zim

Video here

Nice one Tom

Those Wasabi 'flicks' are impressive and highlight just how crossed the wind was....

Good evening all,

Are there any good slopes north of Ullswater, near Matterdale.

Might have a plane there next weekend.

Ta

Robert

Take a look at the North Lakes Soaring Association website under info
http://www.nlsa.me.uk

The Cumbrian Soaring Club's site is good too (for paragliders and hang-gliders)
http://www.cumbriasoaringclub.co.uk/SiteManagement/CSC_GoogleMapSites.php

As always best to check regarding permissions/restrictions etc.

SW wind looking good for Tow Scar, Paul, Pete and I will be up there Saturday afternoon.

Tom

Paul and I went in search of a DS slope in Yorkshire today, we found one near Dent called Barkin, well we were pretty mad to climb it as it is about 400M straight up vertical.

When we got to the top we were a bit disappointed that the wind was pretty weak maybe 5 -7 mph. Still there was enough slope on the front side to get our trusty M60's up and away, although without ballast  and I had my first go at DS.

I dived down the incredible steep darkside, the M60 started screaming then it shuddered and bounced through the shear layer, then it ran out of puff coming back up the slope and lamely ditched itself on the edge of the slope, two more tries later we came to the conclusion that

a) There probably wasn't enough wind on this type of slope for DS - and
b) Its a lot harder than it looks! 

So not to waste a fantastic winters sunny day we went up Ingleborough instead and sloped the West bowel near black shiver, or whatever its called. Light lift, caught a few thermals kept on sloping until the sun set behind Ingleborough massive. Fantastic days flying, although its the first time I've spent more time walking than flying.

Total time flying for the day 1h 27min
Total time walking up and down hills 3h!!!

Knackered now, think we climbed a total of 1000m between the two hills 

Tom

SE 7mph tomorrow, so looks like Gregareth (near Leck) is the slope to go for, if I can get a pass out 

Tom

Does anyone fly near Ambleside?  I am organising the family holiday for 1st week of August and hope to have enough room in the car for a Speedo and Blizzard.will prob only fly a couple of afternoons.

the main sites appear to be N of Keswick but i dont want to be based so far North.

anyone know of a good cottage?     2 adults/ 1 teenager  1 small dog!

cheers

anyone know of a good cottage?     2 adults/ 1 teenager  1 small dog!

Floydupton or Paul should know, he stayed at Ambleside over Christmas, send him a PM.

Off to Catbells tomorrow, stones throw from Keswick, going to try my hand at some DS if there are not that many walkers about 

Was up Barbon today with Paul, freezing cold, Artist F3F didn't even get air borne, broken elevator torque rod, must have banged it last time I flew. Oh well had fun with the M60, its nice that the wind has come back after all these months of zero wind   

Tried a little Mini flight Cam, but must have been too cold for it as the footage is only 17secs long, you get to see me and paul just before it switches off 

Cheers,

Tom

Going to try a new slope in the lake District tomorrow, anyone flown Wolf Crags before near Ullswater? Should be good for the Northern Winds predicted for tomorrow 

Well not much wind yesterday,    still the views were nice, maybe next time 

M60 at Wolf Crags

Can't beat the views of the lake district, considering we only got 5 min flying in 3+ hours I was glad we made the effort to find somewhere new.

Def one to visit when we get some 15+ mph winds.....

Well we always have Ingleborough for North Winds as well 

M60 Ingleborough

Hello All,
 Can anyone sugest a good slope for tomorrow  for me to fly at? I'm normally down in Cornwall but up north for the weekend?
cheers
Andy

How far North Andy. Ant.

We're flying at Tow Scar above Ingleton (Yorkshire dales) today, your quite welcome to join us. 

Nearest Street for Sat Nav is, Westhouse LA6 3 but you will need the map below

Thanks rooster but ended up in the lakes and now heading for the a69
All 5he bestandy

Well this is what we got up to yesterday 

Tow Scar 2011-02-12 RC Gliding

Cheers

Tom

Nice one Tom!

Bring on the Spring winds.  We may get some SE this week - can't wait for Gragareth with a fully ballasted compact.....

Glad you like it Paul, if only we could do somthing about that pesky sun 

I better order some lead for that wind then 

Tom

Well contrary to the weather forecast the sun is shining in Lancaster so am going to try one of our more coastal slopes, Farleton Knott, doesn't have the dreaded clag generators in front of it as our more inland slopes, plus its only 10 min blast up the M6 to get there. Fingers crossed  I'll get to fly my poor Artist F3F she's been dragged up the slopes for the last 3 months without getting a flight for various reasons, hopefully she'll break out of her present funk.

Cheers

Tom

Well had a good days flying yesterday, conditions were fantastic, got to fly the Artist quite a  lot only a few hiccups from when I re-did the flaps and had swapped out the RX (which was plugged together wrong) and the TX needed re-programming but now the flaps work a lot better and she is a pussy cat to land.

She loves ballast, I was practising my F3F laps and she was far too slow, so I landed and loaded her up and was then had her rocketing through the turns and getting on step with her distinctive mouldie low howl. Even when the lift died she could still carry a little ballast in the wing joiner and slermal up to a dot in the sky and then come down in a howling dive.

The Vector 3 is really good, so much easier to fly and land than the Wasabi, it puts the joy back into aerobatic flying, not as agile as the Wasabi but very precise. She doesn't spin as well as the Wasabi but her rudder is smaller and I could probably move the CoG back 5mm more (currently 95mm) added some differential to the ailerons to tidy up the rolls. She doesn't like ballast and if you use too much flap she starts to stall very gently. You can Slermal her, but she prefers a bit of wind, leave the light conditions to the big 3M birds.

The M60 is still a lot of fun, I practised my low inverted passes with her and she makes a strange whistle as well which some passing dogs love as they ran back and forwards along the slope chasing her. I was mindful not to lead the dogs towards me where I had two mouldies sat on the ground, and the thought started to go through my mind that I might have to sacrifice the M60 to protect my mouldies if the dogs came. Thankfully they vanished with their young owner 

Paul eventually turned up with his Wizard and Acacia 2, the Wizard was cool, the Acacia had a nasty arrival. There is a little video of the Wizard http://www.rcmf.co.uk/4um/index.php/topic,53417.msg916804.html#new

Tom 

Hi Tom,

Looking at the clag on the hills this morning I am now very gelous of your 6 hours on the slope....  Had a date with the lately unloved mountain bike.   I have to apologise for not taking my turn on the camera, you seem to be flying with renewed vigor since the Vector entered the hanger.  I managed to get home for the ruggers.

I have got the M60 and Mini Dragon charged if you fancy a trip up to Ingleborough bowl later on? WHEN the weather improves!

Cheers

Paul

Well its starting to brighten up in Lancaster, but that doesn't mean much for the Ingleborough micro climate, got the M60 and Vector 3 ready and waiting.

Tom

Well Ingleborough turned out quite good, strong winds and 'atmospheric' weather made for some interesting sloping, although the small landing spot near a wall ruled out the Vector so only flew the M60.

Going to try Winder today, no wind in Lancaster yet but blue skies and sunshine promise thermals later on, the forecast is weak winds from the south, the only real direction you can fly Winder. Was tempted to go to Parlick, but it is forecast for the SE corner which isn't a brilliant slope, plus I'll be fighting for lift with Paragliders and the occasional full size glider. Busy skies! 

Tom

Just got back from an after-work trip to the slope to try and get in some flying in the high winds.

Success! Got to fly my wizard compact with a full belly for the first time.  Didn't think it could get any better but it does, soooo much energy and the tracking was fantastic in the blustery conditions.

Forecast is looking good for Tow Scar on Sunday Tom, 20mph winds and sunshine, they must have it wrong!

Cool, at last the Wizard flies with full ballast wish I could have been there to hear it scream

Looking forward to the weekend, but we need a Westerly so we can go DSing up Catbells 

Tom

Hello north west flyers,
I am searching for spots near liverpool. Is there anywhere a map in the net or something else? I did not find anything. A video of the slope would be great as well.

Thanks in advance, kai

Great Orme, have a look here, I think it will come under the Conway Soaring, as its in Wales 

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=53.33231806860223~-3.335249922010133&lvl=10&dir=0&sty=c&eo=1&where1=Great%20Orme%2C%20United%20Kingdom&q=great%20orme&FORM=LMLTCC

Hi Kai,

Tom and I fly slopes which are approx 1.5 - 2 hours drive north of Liverpool. 

The closest slope we fly is Parlick which is near preston, plenty of video shown on Youtube.

If i was visiting Liverpool I would consider making a trip to the great orme in north wales, I haven't made it there yet but its supposedly very good in most wind directions, again there should be lots of footage on youtube and vimeo.

If you do decide to travel further north PM Tom or myself and we will send you maps of our local slopes...

wow, great minds eh Tom

Yep, any wind tomorrow? Thinking of re-maidening the M60 

Tow scar maybe on, depends how west the wind swings....

Finishing at 12 tomorrow, maybe heading to Dent for a couple of birthday real ales

Tom, check out the D60 video here http://planet-soaring.blogspot.com/

Cool