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06.09.2006
Sun Valley


Lisa Tate, the USHPA President, was so smart to get Chuck Smith,
the owner of Fly Sun Valley, to put on the Paragliding Nationals in Sun Valley.
Whether he'll ever do it again is another story.


When offered the chance to be the meet director I immediately said yes just
because I thought that it would be great to go back to Sun Valley and to Idaho.
I didn't realize at the time just how great it would be.


Sun Valley is about as close as one is going to get to Austria in the US (we can
talk about Jackson Hole and the Tetons later, and I will) when it comes to
scenery and to mountain flying. It is quite a bit drier (which is a very good
thing), but the Big Wood River valley (and the surrounding valleys) are narrow,
and the peaks are steep. There are ranges in many directions (to the north and
east) and deep wilderness.


Tegernsee in Bavaria (Germany) 20 km from Austria and in the Alps (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegernsee and
here) is Ketchum's (the town next to Sun Valley) sister city in Germany.
Tegernsee looks a bit greener.


Two things made for a great Paragliding Nationals. Great weather (as expected)
and a great town to have fun in when not flying (even though some pilots just
had to go south to Twin Falls to base jump off the bridge). Ketchum is a great
place to have fun when you are not flying.


I road my bicycle each day down one of the two single tracks from the top of
Baldy. There were many miles of road bike paths through the town, around the
town and down to Hailey and back. There are mountain bike tracks every where as
well as hiking trails.


There were great restaurants, coffee shops, rivers for fishing and swimming,
mountains to climb, and a great good time atmosphere. The Wood River is
beautiful and goes right through town next to Hemingway's old house. There mist
be five bike shops in town and it is a very small town.


And the flying was like Austria in that it was definitely mountain flying.
Fortunately for the most part we had light wind days, so that the turbulence
that one experiences in the mountains was reduced.  The turbulence that we
did experience came from the thermals that were generated off the mountain sides
in high pressure conditions.


The mountain range to the north east of Baldy is presents a steep rocky face
that collects the afternoon sun and got pilots up to 18,000'. Thousand foot per
minute is a normal climb rate here in tight punch thermals. Pilots did have to
have oxygen for their high flights.


Unfortunately hang gliding is not allowed (except in special circumstances) from
Baldy (it is from Greenhorn) and there is a law against landing a paraglider or
hang glider in Sun Valley itself (which is quite a small area). The Sun Valley
Company doesn't seem to promote summer sports activities, apparently
concentrating on bringing rich old people to Sun Valley instead.


It would be great if they had more road bike rides and races, mountain bike
races, and other activities (not just golf tournaments). Ketchum is actually
pretty quiet in the summer, which is pleasant for those of us there, but I sure
would love to see the Sun Valley Company be a major sponsor of another flying
championship there.


Hell, it's a lot more fun than Arco.



http://OzReport.com/10.180.1
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