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Abbotsford Airshow - August 9th to 11th, 2008
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Leave Rossland Thursday morning for five glorious days in Abbotsford at the Air Show with McBain. I've always been an aviation buff, having grown up next door to YVR and, more recently, spotting with CASARA but I'd never been to the Airshow before. Both McBain and I had our cameras and plenty of bolt on glass to capture all the action (I took over 3000 pictures!) Suffice to say we were both in our glory. It was Robs seventh Airshow so he knew all the tricks and hot spots to hit and it started as soon as we hit the main gate to buy our tickets and camping. He knew the guys on the gate from years past and before you know it, we've got rock star parking and are camping front row center in front of the north field entrance. No immediate neighbors, shitter nearby on one side and a semi tanker full of clean water on the other. We set up camp and set off for town to supply up. Groceries, Cambodian Tire for a few sundries, the Liquor Store for the main essentials, 8 bags of ice and we were ready to go... CONTACT!
Friday dawned clear & sunny. PERFECT. We rolled out of bed and right through the gate. There were still a couple of hours before the show started, what to do? Check out the static displays of the various aircraft that weren't directly involved in the show.
FYI Abbotsford Airport is laid out with three runways in a roughly triangular arrangement with the longest (east 25-west 07) being the active for the Airshow. Heavy Static is on the north end of the north-south (01-19) with the south end reserved as the "Hot Ramp" where the performing aircraft are staged. The third leg of the triad is where light static live. Parking for the event, the concessions and viewing areas are all in the center of this triangle.
Our first stop was Heavy Static, so called for the large multi-engined transports, airtankers and bombers that populate the flight line. KC-135, KC-10, C-130, C-17, not to mention the B-52. Nice numbers, wicked planes. Wander around, under and inside said aircraft, check out the B-25 Mitchell on our way over to Light Static on the adjacent runway. A few helis, light aircraft, an F-15 & F-18 round out the fare here. One cool thing that happened was, as we were checking out the CAF Sea King heli, the pilot, George Beattie, noticed my Baldface T-shirt and stuck up a conversation. Turned out he had been riding up at the Lodge the year before with JP and Wade Simmons. McBain and I immediately suggested that we meet at Hangar 13 for a beer after the show, set a time and said "see ya there!". WTF is Hangar 13 you ask? All will be revealed... Anyway, the Airshow proper begins, we grab runway seating for an extra 10 bucks (well worth it) and spend the next 7 hours squinting into the sky, taking pictures of anything in the air with wings and getting thoroughly baked by the hot August sun.
Back to camp for steak & prawns, gin & tonic, Crown & Coke, vodka & juice, you get the picture. Which brings us to Hangar 13... This is the place, the spot on the airfield not really open to the public where the pilots, aircrew and volunteers get to kick back and relax over a few bevvies after the show. It's little more than a tent tucked into a back corner of the airfield with a wee beer garden and stage for some live entertainment but it does the trick nicely. McBain had been raving about Hangar 13 for weeks so it was our stated mission to get in. We'd tried the night before bet were denied because the door guy didn't buy our line of BS. Tonight though, we had a PLAN! Remember George, the Sea King pilot. he was going to be our ticket in. He hit the door, spread the BS on real thick all the while scanning the crowd for our ol' buddy, George. Couldn't spot him but the door guy finally relented and let us in anyway. Good Times. Many trips to the bar. Many conversations with random folks from far off places. The band was from the Maritimes somewhere and had a fine repertoire of East coast drinking songs to entertain the boys. All too soon, closing time. Back to camp. Never did see George... Friday pictures HERE
I awoke around six with an overwhelming urge to piss. Stepping outside and scanning the sky I determined that the forecast rain was about to arrive. No sooner had I returned to my sleeping bag that the skies opened and the first showers of the day commenced. Thankfully, after this initial taste, the rains stayed away most of the day as we wandered around all the displays once again and took in the sights and sounds of the Airshow. At the end of the day, while the parking lot was dispersing, we rolled over to Heavy Static to see if we could get into any trouble. Soon we found ourselves on the flight deck of the KC-135 Stratotanker, hoisting drinks with the crew. "Hey, can we check out the refuelling bay?" I ask "Sure" came the reply. Next thing you know, I'm lying in the refuelling station of this enormous flying gas can, checking out the controls and imagining what it must be like to look out he window at a thirsty B-2. Freakin awesome! On the way back to camp the first drops fell in what would turn into a full blown torrent of biblical proportions. Puddles formed, rivers flowed along roads, puddles grew into small lakes. tents became deserted islands in said lakes (not ours). We were in the midst of cooking dinner, BBQ'd Salmon & cob corn, during the worst of it and eventually had to park the back of the truck under the shelterini to keep the coolers from floating away.
Eventually the rains abated and the skies began to clear. What to do now. Well, back to Hangar 13 of course! I was somewhat oblivious to the soggy conditions as I'd spent the entire time in sandals but McBain was decidedly bitter having changed into dry socks and shoes only to step right in an ankle deep puddle two paces from our tent door. Oh well... Walking down the road to the bar we marveled at the size of the newly formed lakes and the many drowned campsites they contained. One had at least a foot of water climbing up its walls, not a soul to be found nearby. McBain found every hidden pool & ditch (as in stepped in) on the way. As we approached the entrance a group of army dudes converged on our track, raving about the water all around. We raved along with them as we turned the corner into the bar, blew past the door guy and, holy shit, we're in again! It was a lot busier than the night before as Sunday is the last day of the show and many would be leaving right after. There was one huge puddle right in front of the bar, the novel solution to which consisted of plastic table tops laid out like water lillies for everyone to hop between. Shot the shit with a few more interesting people from far away lands and sploshed around getting sloshed listening to the band. Eventually, the novelty wore off and we wandered back to camp, another fine day in the books. Saturday pictures HERE
Sunday, the operative word being Sun! We awake keen and motivated. Gates opened at 8:00, guess who's third in line. Driving in to park we blow past 1 & 2, first on site. 125.000 follow us in... A record, they announced later in fact. Yesterday afternoon we had approached one of the runway seating ticket sellers looking to get plum seats for Sundays show. No dice but we arranged for one of the ladies to hold a couple for us until 8:30. She was as good as gold as we tucked front row tix into our pockets. More wandering about the exhibits to kill some time (don't put your coffee on MY gun sir!), grab a bite, gear up for a day in the sun, premix some appropriate beverages and off we go. Having seen the show twice before, we now knew what to expect and having downloaded & looked at my photos from the previous 2 days, knew what I wanted to shoot. Throughly enjoyed the spectacle again with nothing standing between us and the action than a single piece of poly. Awesome! Sunday shots HERE and HERE
Then, it's over... Huge traffic snarl for everyone leaving. Not us, we loiter, watching as the static aircraft come back to life and are rolled out for departure. The smaller helis hover and fly out from where they sat, fixed wings are pushed to where it's safe to flash up and taxi, the big iron wait patiently for the decks to be cleared. We're finished too, no energy left to party we retire to hot dogs and the remnants of our bar to chill for one more night.
Up at dawn, pack up the tent, grab a coffee & a muffin in town, gas up the truck and we're out. What a blast. Can't wait 'till next year!
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Monday 01 September 02:49:33PM
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 comments: 0
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Holy Crap, Mountain Biking is FUN
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This website is both a burden and a blessing. It's a burden because I occasionally feel obligated to keep it updated even though I generally don't. I'm not an especially social person, I enjoy life with a certain amount of privacy and anonymity, which is countered by this public expression that thankfully few read. It's a blessing in that, when I'm inspired to create or share something special, I have a ready forum to spread the word. Well today I got truly inspired.
I had an epiphany of sorts while riding down a mountain trail on an amazing piece of engineering called a Santa Cruz Bullit. I went up to Baldface with Heather to hang out with Paul Neuman, recently returned from Mexico (where he presently lives). As I am supposed to be shooting the Cherry Tops Challenge at the Lodge this coming weekend, I figured it would be best if I went up and scoped out the course ahead of time.
Jeff has kindly lent me this sweet machine which I have been riding on and off all summer. Mostly riding home from work up past Red Mtn at Creekside with a couple of other minor variations. Nothing fancy mind you but a good 1 1/2 hours in the saddle after work to get the heart pumping. Over this time, I've had a crack at a couple of steeper pitches here and there but, up until today, hadn't done a true downhill run with a car drop or pick up. I just couldn't get it together.
Cut to today. Up at the Lodge, decked out & geared up to ride. Truck staged at Shannon Pass junction for the ride back. Neuman and I, pushing up the trail to Cherrytops with packs and cameras to catch the action. 40 minutes later we're on top and the reality of my situation hit me. Now I have to ride. It's been a long time...
It was an ideal opportunity to work out a routine for shooting MTB, while riding for a change. We started out setting up a couple of shots along the trail and things started feeling familiar, the winter routine of 'guerilla photography' easily translating to summer. As the terrain steepened and the riding became more commiting, I found myself a bit distracted thinking about photography. I caught myself before I ate it, survival mode kicking in. "Give your head a shake & start thinking about the riding, dumbass..."
Shooting in snow is a lot more forgiving on the old bod if you bite it. Eating shit on dirt is a whole different animal, one that has significantly bigger teeth. I let the bike roll and started to feel the flow of the trail, letting the suspension absorb the hits. I found myself giggling away with a shit eating grin plastered across my face. Damn, that's Fun! It was at this point I decided that this is going to be my next career change. An epiphany as I said. It became crystal clear that THIS is what I want to do for a living. The potential is there and the opportunity awaits, it's just a matter of making it happen.
Anyway, it was awesome riding with Paul today. It was eye opening experience in a number of respects and definitely helped me formulate a plan of attack for next weekend. Mainly I think I'm going to shoot the downhill section on foot rather than on wheels as It is pretty full on dealing with a camera on a bike in that situation, even without throwing 60 or 70 compeditors into the mix. As I move down the trail it'll be much easier to hear riders approaching without my own bike rattling away, not to mention while wearing a full face helmet.
I'll be back up at Baldface on Friday to walk one of Alpines excavators up the mountain to start work on the new Cat Shop(!) and I'm looking forward to getting in a couple more rides, while I'm up there in the coming days.
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Sunday 20 July 06:20:53PM
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comments: 0
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Baldface Blog - Sunday March 9th
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A couple of days off and what am I doing? That's right, driving to Nelson to drop off the key to the radio tower. It's not all that bad, the roads are good, the sun is out and the skiing at Red sucks (comparatively). Guess I'm a bit spoiled. Well OK, a lot spoiled! Had a good chat with Henry while in Nelson about the plan he's devised. We're going to build a parallel radio link with some newish radios that he bought online (gotta love E-Bay).
Until then, do some laundry, buy some groceries, pay some bills and go to the dump. Carolyn and the girls are off to Vancouver Wednesday to visit my Mum, her brother Murray and her sister Val. I get to stay here and ski so I can pay for the muffler that fell off the car Saturday afternoon...
Arrived at the Lodge Sunday afternoon, back and ready to go. No sooner had I pulled in, I was gearing up to go back out to the tower with Henry. He had pre-programmed the radios, had the new cable on the reel and was keen to get 'er done. Upon arrival at the tower the first order of business was to replace the Southtower link. Up the mast with the new radio I went with fresh cable trailing behind. Nearing the top, the weight of 300+ feet of cat5 cable dangling off my ass definitely slowed me down some but, after a few rests, I topped out, secured the line and set to work. Once the new radio was installed and working I descended to the old radio, removed it and started down. On the way, I was to secure the new wire to the ladder with zap straps. No big deal except I managed to drop one of my gloves at some point so I spent the next half hour alternating my one glove from left to right as my hands got cold. Luckily, I could see where the glove had landed and Henry was able to retrieve it for me once I hit the hard deck. One radio down, two to go...
Next up was to create a new link to town with a second radio part way up the tower pointed at Fraps' house, further up the hill in Nelson. I only had to climb half way up the tower to get line of sight this time and, soon enough, I was on my way back to the bottom. Last call was to mount a second dish pointing at the Lodge, just above the existing one to complete the second parallel link, just as darkness fell. A quick sled ride back to dinner brought the day to a close. Mission accomplished (for real this time).
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Monday 10 March 03:35:49AM
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comments: 0
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Baldface Blog - Wednesday March 5th
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Woke up a bit stiff but after a good hot shower and appropriate medication I felt moblie enough to go out on the mountain again. While the conditions were good yesterday, today they were absoloutely perfect. Bright sunshine with nary a cloud in the sky and still cold snow! Sweeet! Stability had improved overnight and after a couple of warmup runs we got right into it. Cherry Bowl, Blairs Scare and right down the middle of Great Escape all classics and all for the first time this season (for me anyway). Tons of good shots in the can and it's time to switch cats again. Over to Buffs group I jump, totally stoked as they are heading for Confirmation, my favorite run and another I haven't ridden this year. Wicked.
As I've started a new paragraph, I think you know where this is going... sideways. At the drop, instructions are given to the group, "Stay on top of the ridge, do not drop off either side, bad bad things lurk down there. OK?" "OK", all reply. All it takes is one guy to deviate from the designated route and the rest tend to follow like lemmings to a cliff. Suffice it to say that the guides do their best to lead by providing provide clear and succinct instruction and a safe track to follow. Unfortunately, some people can't seem to follow a track or tell the difference between a ridge and a cliff. As soon as we realized what had happened Buff gathered everyone back safely on the ridge and after a long talk we continued down the run. We were all a bit rattled from our near miss, I was feeling worked from the days exertions and the mornings meds had, by this time, worn off. I was starting to ski tentatively and began bailing more than I normally do, culminating in a good crash sliding face first down the hill fo twenty or so feet. Time to call it a day I think. I get down to the regroup and over the radio comes news that the internet is down again. I go to call back but where my hand held should be is only an empty pocket...
On the way back to the top, buff says he'll go back later to look for it. I get one more run down Ghost Bowl then back to the Lodge. Jeff has been out shooting with Matt Scholl and calls Buff looking to go do a free run somewhere. Buff sends him to Confirmation with a side mission. I describe to Jeff where I think the radio is and amazingly they find it under two feet of snow!
The day ends with the usual slideshow, everone is stoked on the pictures again. During dinner I rip out to the tower on a sled to see if there is a quick fix for the internet, no such luck with the southridge radio completely dark. Back to the Lodge to sell some pictures, sales are good and I go to bed sore but happy.
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:30:25AM
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comments: 0
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Baldface Blog - Tuesday March 4th
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Out with the crew to shoot in the sunshine. With yesterdays new snow the reset button has finally been fully pushed. Joel and Buff are the guides for this trip and their focus has, once again, swung from finding fresh lines between the tracks to dealing with stability issues reopening terrain. I rode the morning with Buffs group, moving around the area, workig our way into then terrain. It was one of those magical mornings when it all comes together - sun and powder with cold temps to preserve the snow. As the day warmed, the clouds in the valley rose and began to hang around the ridgetops, but there were still plenty of big blue patches of mixed in. Skiing down to Triple creek a small snaggy branch reached out and tried to take out my left eye. Luckily it glanced off my sunglasses and punched me in the cheek instead, drawing blood. "It's only a fleshwound..."
I switched groups in the afternoon and eventually headed for Krustofskis. True to its name, there was a distinct crust under the new snow which had yet to break down under the new snow, which made for fast turns. I dropped in behind Joel, jetting down to set up to shoot the group which was hot on our heels. Ripping through the trees, my tails washed out on the crust exposed by Joels tracks and I found myself in a flat spin, flying backwards into a treewell. I stopped abruptly. F**K that hurt. Fingers and toes work as do my legs. Once the initial shock wore off I determined that my back was uninjured and my breathing was not impaired (ribs) either. The pain was brutal though and as I got to my feet and gathered myself up a couple of the guests stopped to see if I was OK. I told them to wait a sec while I skied down to take their pictures! Thankfully it didn't hurt to ski and I felt not too bad as long as I kept moving. I felt like I'd been tackled by a 300lb lineman of crushed into the boards by big ass winger, bent but unbroken. Bloody lucky...
I figured my day was over but, as we were not close to the Lodge, I had to stay with the group until we were. Back up Krustofskis we went and upon arrival at the top I decided, what the hell, I might as well ski. I don't get many pictures riding dow in the cat. I took it easy, got some more shots and made it back to the cat in one piece. It looks like I'll live.
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:28:38AM
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comments: 0
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Baldface Blog - Monday March 3rd
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Back to the tower for me today. It snowed 15cm overnight and is still pounding as the day gets going. The visibility is marginal due to the storm and, while I'm sure it would be great riding, I'm determined to forgo shooting in order to get the network back up. To that end I spend a few hours getting my act together - organizing tools, climbing gear and practicing making plug ends for the cable. I've never had much luck making network cables in the past but Henry has hooked me up with his whizzy cable tester and plug end tool. After a couple of failed attempts I figure out what I'm doing wrong and succeed in creating a working cable. Now to duplicate this feat 300' up a tower in a snowstorm...
Off I go in good old Eyeball as I didn't relish the thought of getting stuck half way out there on a sled with my laptop lashed to the rail and no one to help me, and this was to be another solo mission. Slow and steady wins the race, not to mention considerably more comfortable and warm. An hour later I'm on site and gearing up for the ascent. Last time out to the tower I had noticed a large surplus of coiled cable at the bottom of the Southridge run in the com shack and I figured it would serve a more useful purpose at the top of the tower than down here. I spooled it out and found an extra twenty feet. As I climbed the tower I worked this loop up through the zap straps securing it to the ladder until I arrived at the radio, 300' off the deck. One more small task to perform before tackling the plug, changing a burnt out bulb on the big flashing navigational light on the tower top. Luckily, there was a spare in the com shack which I'd brought up with me. After a few minutes dealing with the frozen fixture the bulb was in and I descended back down to the radio. I took my time prepping the connection as it involved lining up eight small wires in a specific order then jamming them into a tiny plastic plug, all in a howling snowstorm. Thankfully, the mornings practice paid off and I got a working connection first try. Shortly thereafter I was back on terra firma confirming that everything worked, mission accomplished.
Back at the Lodge, no sooner had I stepped through the door, people started hounding me to get the Lodge wireless back online. Yeah, whatever... Mind if I get changed and have a bowl of soup first? I did finally get it working around dinner time, using my personal wireless router that I'd brought up for my room but by this time I was pretty well done playing the Cable Guy. Tomorrow, I ski... For now, I sleep...
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:27:21AM
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comments: 0
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Baldface Blog - Friday Feb 29th
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The hits just keep on coming. Ryan and Homie A had fired up Eyeball with the intention of mounting the spare passenger cabin just in case the replacement hose for BobaFett didn't arrive. On their way to the cabin lift the machine lurched and slowed and started to bleed profusely. Blown drive hose. These are 5000psi drive lines that have 50mm fittings and are as just about as thick which power the tracks so when they leak they really leak. We might have a spare line on hand but it is a huge pain to change so they swapped the hose off that was needed on Boba so he's up and running again instead.
Started off the morning with Terrys group in BobaFett with a short one down BB Bowl. It had snowed a little bit overnight, taking some more of the edge off of the crust so the turns were better than expected. Third guy in on the first run tagged my tips for todays close encounter, funny, they always laugh when I ask them not to hit me... Next run, one of our crew had an equipment malfunction half way down Cherry Bowl so we had to return to the Lodge to get a replacement part for his binding. Double bonus for me as I had forgotten to bring a hand held and as I hate being out of the loop, was glad to have coms again. Out we went again heading for the Grohman side via Goobs Gully to the Hockey Stick. Loaded up, next stop was the Great Escape. The sun was starting to poke through at this point and the light was getting better by the minute. Nice turns down under Nates brought us back to the GE Pickup when bad news crackled across the airwaves once again.
The old Edge, Zoidberg, had blown a driveline on the Elevator. Not only had we blown two main drive hoses on two machines in one day, they were the same damn hose on both machines. We are well and truly f**ked now. The solution, hot lapping three groups with two machines. I decided to jump in with Heaths group in Gretchen who were on their way to Kubin with the intention of hiking to free up their machine to pick up another group. I blasted down from Blazing Saddles to meet them on the road and we were off. The other groups had dropped into the same zone so we'd all hit a common pickup, Triple Creek. Kristy pushed the road up Kubin almost to the top so it was a pretty short hike. Even so, a couple of the guys were wheezing pretty hard by the time we topped out. After a short break, we dropped in and I shot the Heaths group from the bottom of the big path we call Kuhiba. Lees group was right behind so I opted to stay where I was and shot his gang as they licked up the rest of the run. The rest of the run was a bit of a slog and we were cooking by the time we hit the pickup. Andy took an air temp and asked what we all guessed it was. No one was even close to the +7.5C (shaded) he was reading. By this time, Ryan and Homie A had repaired the blown driveline on BobaFett with the part we had ordered for Eyeball so we had all the buses back in service. I was done shooting with 1200 shots in the can so I blasted back to the Lodge to do my thing. Slideshow was great, it's always nice when I can shoot all three groups in a single day.
A huge bonfire with lard bombs and fireworks in front of the Lodge after dinner capped off a wicked day.
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:24:38AM
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comments: 0
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Taking a moment... or Two...
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The epic storm cycle is over and temps have climbed to near or above freezing in the sunshine, no more blower pow until the next cycle I guess. I've been out for a few days rest before the last big push to end the season. Six shifts in out of the next seven, should be fun!
I brought my skis & boots home but have had no desire whatsoever to go up to Red. They have been having a hell of a time keeping the mountain running having suffered multiple mechanical and electrical failures throughout the season and, to top it all off, have been sucking the hind tit for snow too. Hard to believe after what Baldface has had fall its way in the last month but thems the breaks I guess. The Paradise Lift has been especially cursed and is presently running as a double chair to keep loads down. In the Ski Hills defence, it's not all their fault, Fortis had it's main feed transformer blow at the base which has cascaded into multiple issues on the Hill. The Trail Times even dubbed it "Brokedown Mountain" in a recent article. I wish them better luck to finish the season.
I've been experiencing some issues myself with the website, most notably the failure of the photo gallery. For some reason I was unable to upload new images and, in a failed attempt to fix the problem, screwed it up completely. (go figure...) Anyway, after f**king around with it for a couple of weeks I have finally abandoned ship and started fresh. I tried installing Gallery2 but couldn't get it to run properly, so I'm going to continue with Coppermine Gallery but as a separate installation running parallel to the existing site, not embedded in the e-107 CMS. Huh? you say. All that matters is that it WORKS! I'll be re-uploading content shortly but for now I'm done.
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Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 22 February 08:58:00AM
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comments: 0
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 Deepness (Tue Feb 12 2008, 03:34PM) (Baldface Stuff Dept.) |
All trademarks are ? their respective owners, all other content is ? Dave Thomas / Redline Graphics. e107 is ? e107.org 2002/2003 and is released under the GNU GPL license. fiblack3d theme by jalist ported from original theme by xtreme, 6ig.com, released with permission. |
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