Mountain Canopy

Jon is just one of those naturals with a video camera and You Tube. I was there with the B1 test canopy and it was a good day with lots of very solid gusts, some in the 40 to 50 mph range according to the wind gauge at Loveland Ski area (which was almost a thousand feet lower at 11,970 ft and on the lee side of the ridge). His video diary of the event is fun and tells the story. The snow was ripe corn with some pretty good skiing but, according to Jon, much better riding.  Still it was an UpSkiing kind of day and as Jon’s video shows, topped all other fun.

Notes on the B1: I had a packing inversion on start up that cleared when the wind got into the correct channel, Jon’s video shows me starting to inflate but he cut out the part where I spent a couple of minutes getting the inversion out. This was caused by starting the “safety chaining” of the lines too far from the lower canopy band.  The new grid system has worked well and the tendency to start the daisy chain down the lines a bit can be easily adjusted.  The canopy collapsed quickly, as can be seen in the video, even in the very brisks winds on top.  John Standford, Kevin Passmore and I have discussed some minor changes we will incorporate this summer but the B1 and B2 designs are pretty much good to go.  Kevin’s new carbon-fiber control centers are great.

John and Sara Stanford visited mid-May to work on the UpSki, travel to Leadville with Kristie and I for dinner at the Grill and just have fun.  We then worked on some new concepts for a lightweight Mountaineering UpSki. The best of John’s hours of work back at his shop might have been the new anti-inversion grid created from lines instead of tape. More testing needs to be done and this year we have so much snow that Indy pass did not open on Memorial Day weekend (which was early in that cycle). The smaller control center is very close to being a workable design with some work to do on the vent line retraction method.

We continue to hear from a special group of individuals who want to use the UpSki design to aide in their back country fun. Canopy Serial Number 109 was recently acquired by Kevin Passmore in Glenwood Springs. He has 5 years of snow kiting and 4 years of backcountry skiing experience. He said “I love that when I launched this the other day (for my first time), I wasn’t even slightly concerned by the 100yrd wide space & 360deg variability in wind direction-  I would have never even considered launching a kite in such conditions.”

The Stanford visit featured on snow testing on Loveland Pass and John’s photo’s from that outing will be posted soon. Over the years John and I have continued to consider new designs that would improve the sport or lower manufacturing costs. My garage and John’s attic contain a variety of canopy prototypes and venting systems. All tests to date have resulted in the same conclusion that the original UpSki design designated the “Explorer Model” is still the best design for Alpine Ascent. Now we are trying to make a lightweight version but with the same design, after all it has worked well for over 22 years.