‘Despite only flying one task this week so far it will undoubtedly be THE most amazing task I have ever flown,’ says Craig Morgan from Sun Valley, Idaho
Russell Ogden, interviewed by PWCTV
Day 5 Task 4.
Oh boy. Mikey Pfau pulled out all the stops today to make it happen. We bailed outta Sun Valley at 11am and headed for King as the wind was forecast to be too strong at Baldy.
At Arco, the town beneath King, the wind seemed to have abated and we inserted new turn points and prepared for a task in the ‘Glass off’ (evening calm conditions.)
It howled on take off all afternoon and as shit or bust o’clock approached (5.30 pm) the wind eased and the window as opened. A few leapt off and were hoovered up to base, then the wind surged again. A few of us tried to get off again and were twatted about the take-off. Conditions were clearly unsafe and the honest pilots in the air reported level 3 in front of take-off. Those at base chirped in smooth calm level 1s.
So, despite their best efforts the organisation pulled the pin and a huge sigh of relief was heard from all except those at 14,000 feet !
Now, moving on – there have been a few disgruntled pilots complaining about the size and risk of flying massive distances over such ‘fend for yourself’ country. I know the American boys have our safety at the forefront of their minds, however, they are trying to expose us (and you guys through our experiences) to the phenomenal terrain available to be flown here in Idaho. This place is truly epic.
I don’t know how you look at it by my thoughts are this : when I go to a club I like to use ALL the dance floor. The same goes for flying a new venue. First of all I head over to the base bins sprinkle some talc on the dance floor and start shuffling my feet around sampling the groovy conditions.
Then, when I start warming up, I’ll shimmy over in front of the DJ and show him what I can do – you know the first couple of tasks – make your statement and establish a dominant position on the floor – then I make my move.
From there I’ll boogie down the side, out the back and make some private investigations. I’ll take a good sniff in the ‘attractive’ areas and obviously get loose in the demanding conditions when the beat really starts pumping.
I’d fully expect like-minded funketeers to ‘pump it’ and get high with me before peaking, grabbing a granny for the final waltzes and reaching orgasm in the landing field. The analogy being that when there is a wicked big arena to play in you don’t stick in the corner sipping fizzy pop with your girlfriend (Mark Watts).
I’ve been all for it this week and despite only flying one task this week so far it will undoubtedly be THE most amazing task I have ever flown.
Brett Hazlett’s film of the big task at the PWC, Sun Valley
If you wanna properly ‘get some’ – come out here.
Finally – it has to be said, the vibe here at this comp in the North West States is fantastic. Whilst being immersed in mind bendingly awesome countryside tonight on our two hour drive home we had a right ‘craic’ in the car.
To the commercial free, nonstop banging radio tunes of Tom Petty and The Heart Breakers, Nirvana, The Eagles, Sheryl Crow and that stompin toon about when the Devil went down to Georgia challenging Jonny on his Fiddle (tum tiddly tum) we howled with laughter all the way back. The only blemish being the uncouthed South African’s car who insisted on drag racing us and taking every opportunity to crack a moony out the window during haphazard over taking manoeuvres.
The only other car I would rather have been in at the time was the Colombians’. They oozed into the gas station in Arco loaded to the Gunwales with Rum, Whiskey, odd smells and exotic Russian chicks plus no doubt some other recreational stimuli.
Anyway – it’s early to bed for us lot now as we gotta get ready to go big on our last day.
Toodle Pip.
Live Tracking throughout the comp: www.livetrack24.com
Info: PWC Sun Valley
Craig Morgan: Craig Morgan’s blog posts
Results and info: www.paraglidingworldcup.org
Discussion: PGforum thread
Flying map of the area
View Fly Far in Idaho’s Event Map in a larger map
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