Kevin, Don, and I went in yesterday and there was a pretty good NW out in the gulf. Sad to say it blows right over the back, setting the ridge in rotor. I expected the valleys heading north to Qualicum to funnel the winds onto the face, but they seem to swing in from the gulf and come over the back.

Down in the valley, the winds do flow straight down from the north as I thought. Standing down at the LZ with a day long cummi above, the breeze seemed thermal driven and swept from us up the southern face to the cummi above, which was being pushed off to the south west. So there seemed to be a lot going on.

Standing up at launch, looking out over the valley towards DeCosmos and Hooker, the breeze swept right by us from our backs. It was like standing in a blizzard as the fireweed dander was pouring past us and down the slope.

IT has started logging again right at launch with those machines that cut the trees off at ground level, strips the branches, and then stacks the logs. The tracks on the machine has ground up the road, so it is quite bumpy getting in the last 1/4 mile. They have taken very small trees (around 9" dia) and cut down into a gulley just to the left of launch. Maybe they're getting ready to push a road along to take the bigger timber on that face, which will be nice for us as the ground gets higher there.

We found a launch above Blackjack Lake that had the NW coming up the face from the valley below. There is an old gravelled yard area and an adjacent planted area suitable for an LZ (doesn't really show up in GE).

So a truly NW site (other than Saltspring) seems to be elusive as ever, the search continues.......