May to October
Earlier is somewhat radical and launches inaccessible due to snow. Later launches get inaccessible due to ice and snow; only sledders (snowmobiles) can go.
Local paragliders rides snowmobiles in the winter. In April, they also drive to the 7 km point, which melts early because of the sun exposure, and walk a trail to the lower launch.
Note that the Kicking Horse Resort will allow access to experienced paragliders (winter and summer). Contact the appropriate local pilots beforehand.

CONDITIONS (in very general)

April starts nicely. Harder to climb high and go cross-country.
Late May is awsome, if radically cold.
June can be really nice
July is arsekicking
August goes from arsekicking to glassoffs to pretty quiet, we can float about all afternoon.
September is more cloudy and windy but can be very nice. Daylight get shorter. Smoke may damper thermals.
This is a thermal site, an afternoon site, and a cross-country site. 1000 fpm (5 m/s) is quite normal, up to 2500 fpm (13 m/s) is perfectly common. PGs did get all sorts of collapses at these times. Evenings can be very smooth, and glass-offs often happen. Cross country flights - to the south most common. 100 km flights relatively common. Good LZs, though there are some restrictions and rules. Locals will fill you in. Return is straightforward as there is only one highway; very basic hitchhiking if you do not have retrieval arranged (the bus comes from Radium after 8:30pm). To the north is more challenging, from route finding to LZs to what happens if it goes wrong. Days are long mid-summer - daylight 5:00 am to 11:00 pm. August closes in fast. 7:00 am to 8:00 pm by last week of August. If you are over 7 at say 9500 ft (3000 m) ASL in glass-off at 8:00 pm August 23, it will be DARK by the time you have struggled down to the valley bottom at 2600 ft (800 m) ASL to land.

MEETS

Western Canadian Hang Gliding Championship in August
Contact: Karen & Doug Keller: skyward@shaw.ca
This is the Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding League's (Calgary based club) annual event that has been going as long as anyone can remember.

Willi Muller cross-country meet (HG and PG)
Contact:
Fun relax meet with many categories to encourage cross-country flights. Prizes. It is basically on the annual "to be there list" of a lot of good folks and good pilots.
It runs during the week preceding the RMHGL comp. Usually end of July beginning of August. So, the week before through the week following this week is peak activity time. We always have fun.

PEAK TIME

Mid-July to mid-August is the peak time, especially the last week of July to first week of August. There are lots of pilots here, flying at all times of the day, rides up to launch are quite easy to arrange, advice for new visitors is plentiful.

GENERAL HANG OUTS & MEETING PLACES

The municipal camground ~ The Nicholson LZ ~ The bird watcher shelter at Reflection Lake.

IMPORTANT SMALL PRINT

To fly the site you must be have pilot insurance.
For Canadian pilots, this means full HPAC membership
For US pilots, USHGA insurance covers it, but HPAC temp membership would be better if it ever came to it
For everyone else, this means HPAC temporary, Out-of-Country membership ($25 for 3 months, and available in Golden)
Waivers are becoming a norm - be prepared to be asked to read and sign one.
We have an emergency fund known as the Contingency Fund. It is principally setup to cover helicopter rescue costs. You can join in for $20. (Know that rescue charges in BC have been from $2000 to $5000.)
Memberships & C-Fund can be arranged by:
Serge: serge_lamarche@hotmail.com
Serge is a HG (and PG). He has all the necessary forms and knows the whole scene thoroughly. He also speaks both French and English.
or find me (Peter Bowle-Evans) if and when you can/I am free, which is becoming less and less.

NICE SMALL PRINT

It costs money to run and maintain the site. We sell T-shirts and the like, the profits going to the site. We like it when you buy these things!

PLACES TO STAY 3 categories:

Camping
Hostel
Lodging

Camping

The municipal campground
This is where many pilots stay, to the point that reservations are recommended for mid-July to mid-August. Unless it has been raining very hard for a long time, there are always pilots there. It is adjacent to the swimming pool, and within walking distance of town, which means restaurants and so on. Bicycles are handy.

Sander Lake Campground
Probably a nicer campground, located above the Nicholson LZ, but you definitely need a vehicle. It is much quieter than than the municipal campground.
Bernie Sander: bsander@rockies.net

Hostel

Kicking Horse Hostel on Station Avenue
You cook for yourself, but get to live in a house.
Trevor Lawrence, Brad Powell kicking@rockies.net

Lodging

Range is from 4-Star hotels - the Prestige Inn and Best Western Hotel, to some very motelly sort of motels and some very pleasant and more personal bed and breakfast places.

Cozy spots

Timber Inn
European style country inn at Parson, 25 miles downrange Rooms, cabins
Landing possible close by
Marianne Jaeger: timber@rockies.net

Mt 7 Adventure Co
Bed & breakfast house in Parson, about 20 miles downrange. You can land really close by!
Nice quiet spot
Mark Fraser
Mark is a PG, so he understand exactly what you are about!

Columbia Valley Lodge
Located 15 miles downrange
Another European style inn
Located adjacent to the sloughs (like lakes) with private beach/dock Rooms
Erwin Perzinger: info@columbiavalleylodge.com

Country Comfort Bed & Breakfast
Located right in town
Wendell & Shari Lu Johnston: countrycomfort@redshift.bc.ca

McLaren Lodge Bed & Breakfast
Located on the hill above town - excellent view of Mt 7 and launch
George McLaren: info@wetnwild.com
Also owns Wet & Wild Rafting

Alpine Meadows Lodge
Located across from town on the West side of the valley, tucked away in the woods.
Beautiful views, including Mt 7
Irv & Maria Graham: alpmeadow@redshift.bc.ca

Every one of these is the sort of place I am very comfortable recommending anyone to go to. All these people just love being hosts, and seem to vie with one another to be the best cooks. Simply spending a week eating one day at each would be a week well spent!

Motels

There are dozens, so I just mention 3 in the central area of town that I know pilots have used. They have the convenience of being easy walking distance of everything that you need. All the others can be searched for on any yellow pages search engine.

Arl Inn Towner Motel
arl.motel@cablerocket.com

Mary's Motel
Amarjit Dhadwal: info@marysmotel.com

Rondo Motel
Aaron Fu

GOLDEN

Golden is a town of about 3500 persons, with another 3500 living in the surrounding rural area that relate to Golden. All kinds of outdoor activities abound: climbing, hiking, mountain biking, motor cross, white water rafting and kyaking, motorcycling, hunting in seasons, fishing, archery range, shooting range, canoeing, bird watching, and all kinds of skiing and snow-machining in winter. Not forgetting hang gliding and paragliding! There are lakes and sloughs to go swimming in or just relax at. If you have not seen mountains before, you are going to see them here.
If your vehicle breaks down, you can get it fixed, or, as some residents can tell you for themselves, just give up and stay here !
Another good source of information is:
Chamber of Commerce Tourist Information Office - www.goldenchamber.bc.ca

Facilities

Swimming pool
Hockey arena
Curling arena
18 hole golf course
Ski area
Mountain bike trails
Movie theatre
Video/movie rentals
General sporting goods store
Internet Cafe Services
Massage therapists
Acupressure
Chiropractor
Medical clinic
Dental clinics (2)
Ambulance service
Hospital
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
BC Central Credit Union (Columbia Valley Credit Union)
Cell phone coverage - good in town, but spotty down range
There are several places that can help you deal with your radios and silicon wizardry - download, fix etc. and someone who makes backpacks has the sort of sewing machine that can sew your harnesses and webbing etc.

Notes on Hospital

This is a small one with not too many resources, although there are some excellent doctors, who, as we are on the Trans-Canada highway, are well practiced at ghastly emergencies. With anything serious, what happens is the patient is transferred to Foothills Hospital in Calgary - by road, helicopter, or Lear jet, as needed. They have the best of everything there. If you need it, this is the place to be.
There is also a good hospital in Banff (an hour and a half from Golden) with some excellent doctors and surgeons.

Flying Equipment

Muller Windsports
Chris & Vincene Muller
Cochrane, Alberta
www.mullerwindsports.com
They deal Wills Wing and Apco, but have a lot of stock of all sorts of things. What they can not help you with, they can direct you to the best place to go. Cochrane is 30 min. west of Calgary, so is 2.5 hours from Golden.

ACCESS ROAD

was upgraded to 2wd in 2000.

NEAREST CITY

Calgary, Alberta, 3 hours East on Highway 1, International airport

TRANSPORTATION ROUTES

Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) East - West Highway 95 South to Cranbrook, and across the border to the US at Kingsgate
Greyhound operates on both routes
Local depot

LINKS

Here are some links to more info and details:
http://www.rockies.net
http://www.redshift.bc.ca These are the 2 local ISPs
http://www.hpac.ca
http://www.homestead.com/mount7/index.html (Garth's website)

See you in the air!

Peter Bowle-Evans
Site Development Manager, Golden Flying Site - Mt 7
Box 2035, Golden, B.C., V0A 1H0
Tel: 250-348-2227 Fax: 250-344-5260
Email: kapristo@redshift.bc.ca
Original text January 2000 (many updates by Serge, August 2002)