The 2010 Twisp Encampment

Brad Hill

Several ESI members descended upon the Twisp airport for the Labor Day weekend. We had planned 3 trips to Twisp for the 2010 soaring season, but rainy weather intervened for Twisp 1, then the threat of airport construction kept us all guessing as to when, if at all we would be able to go back later in the summer. Finally we had confirmation that the runway improvement construction would start after Labor Day, and once that was known the 2^nd annual pilgrimage to Twisp was underway.

Scheduled for Friday thru Monday, a few of us planned on leaving Thursday so we could scout out the area for trailer parking/glider rigging and tie-down locations. The trip over highway 20 was quite fun; Ron, Dan and I, with trailers in tow blew over the pass with hardly any traffic to deal with at all, Brian was a little behind us and we all made it there in about 3.5 hours with no problems at all.

When we got there King Cub 74D was tied down and the courtesy car was gone, a sure sign that our tow pilot Angus was out and about. A few hours later we were all rigged, trailers strung out somewhat haphazardly and gliders neatly tied down. Dan headed out to his Dad’s cabin; the rest of us checked in to our rooms and then went out for dinner.

Friday morning a few more private guys showed up and the field was busy rigging gliders and preparing for the day. The weather was hard to call: would it be or not be soarable? By the end of the day several of us had logged a few hours of ridge and thermal soaring. The conditions were challenging and I was the only one to really “get away”, and that meant a trip to Gardner Mountain and a nice climb over 10K. I was glad I had my O2 system in the plane. Last years trip proved that when flying in Twisp, O2 is handy to have. The locals had their weekly Friday BBQ and we were invited. I heard it was a great time……….we headed to Winthrop and had Mexican food at the local cantina.

Saturday morning saw the rest of the gang show up: The L-33, the Club Astir and the Club Apis rolled in and soon were getting rigged. The weather was a bit different than what we’ve seen in the past. Winds from the west kept us guessing if they would switch to the east as usual or if they would stay west and require us to tow out over town. Not only that, there was a fair bit of twitchiness and turbulence as well. A few pilots, cleverly attempting to get a jump on the line towed to wrong end of the airport, expecting the winds to change…………….of course they didn’t and once the rest of us started pushing to the right end of the runway a big race ensued………..I ended up taking pole position again since everyone said the Apis makes a good sniffer……….well, once again it worked out for me and soon I was climbing thru 13K, breathing O2 and heading towards the Canadian border. The rest of the gang launched and by the sound of the radio chatter gliders were spread out all over the Methow Valley. It was a great day for Thermal flying, both blue and under Q, ridge soaring and even wave to almost 15K! Landings at the end of the day demanded skill and attention, as the winds were quite strong with a slight crosswind.

Sunday morning dawned with a high overcast and the threat of OD and rain coming from the west. During the pilots meeting we weren’t sure if there would be any flying or not due to the strong wind, which was quite cross at times and turbulent. The guys flying the club ships were eager to fly since they hadn’t flown yet and the plan was to get them up early and first, hoping to take advantage of the “calm” early air…………well that didn’t happen even though they were all queued up at the departure end. The crosswind had become more manageable but there was still a bit of turbulence and the guys decided to let the rest of us fly and then see if things looked ok for a later departure.

Well, the day turned out to be quite fantastic. Climbs over 10k were had, a few of us made it out East to the flats and into better conditions. The Methow valley had somewhat overdeveloped and although still soarable had become very difficult to decipher. The wind was strong from the West and blowing downwind and onto the flats was quite a thrill! Ron took the full advantage of the conditions and made a heck of a nice flight deep onto the flats, and made it all the way back at the end of the day to Twisp.

That was the end of the sailplane flying part of the trip. Monday we all rolled out of town and headed home to the West side.

All in all it was a very successful trip. Some personal bests were flown and I am pretty sure everyone had a pretty good time judging from the bits of conversation I heard.

Next year the runway construction will be over with and we should be able to have at least 2 or 3 or more trips over there!