Although the farmers haven‟t been happy with the recent weather, it‟s been great for us pilots! March and April have been awesome! I‟ve been able to take advantage of the weather with a number of memorable flights. The best of these was on Sunday, March 14th. At our last monthly meeting, Barry Wood had mentioned that he was interested in doing a mountain trip in his new Cessna 182 to get a feel for the plane in the Rocks. His intended destination was Invermere, BC and he planned on going the following Sunday morning. The Carstairs Contingent happened to overhear the comments, and we jumped in by inviting ourselves along.

The weather decided to cooperate and delivered a calm, sunny day with a high-pressure ridge right along our intended path. By mid-morning, the Carstairs Contingent had gathered and included Richard Schmitt and his son in the Stinson, Glenn and Alice Bishell in the Bishcaddy, Mike, Marilyn and Erin in the Cessna 170, Pat Cunningham and Brian Byl in the Cessna 120 and myself in the Christavia.

Our take-off and climb in the cool morning air proved to be quite energetic buoyed by the dense air making our climb to 10,000‟ quite easy. In fact, we had to level off a couple of times to keep from encroaching on Calgary‟s Class C airspace. By the time we could see our first waypoint, the Lake Minnewanka Pass, Barry Wood and Gerry McDonald had joined up with us in the mighty Cessna 182.

I led the way into the pass, having left first from Carstairs. The theory was that since I had the slowest airplane, I‟d leave first and arrive just behind everyone else. As it turned out, I kept my position all the way to Invermere.

Once we passed Lake Minnewanka, we turned right and headed for Castle Mountain and the Highway 93 junction. Although it‟s quicker to fly over the Sunshine ski resort and cut the corner, we weren‟t really looking for the quickest path on this glorious morning. Instead, we decided to meander through the mountains and take in the sights… and what incredible sights they were.

For me, this was only my third time flying through the mountains in a light plane. Last summer, I took a quick little jaunt up to Banff following highway 1, then out through the Lake Minnewanka Pass. On Boxing Day, I made my second trip up the Kananaskis Valley and on to Castle Mountain before returning through Lake Minnewanka. In addition, on July 21, 2007, Troy took me to Nelson in the RV-9 for my 40th birthday. As you can see, I‟ve been taking baby steps, working up to this first, true cross country through the Rocks.

Instead of following Highway 93 all the way down to Invermere and having to make an 8000‟ descent in about four miles, we cut over the last range early through a low wide pass, giving us about 15-20 miles to make that 8000‟ descent and putting us over highway 95. Even with that, we were dropping in quite quickly to make circuit height by the time we crossed the runway.

I was the first on the tarmac and was surprised to find a marshaller waiting to direct me to a parking spot. She turned out to be an instructor with Babin Air and was incredibly helpful. In addition to our squadron of six aircraft, there were two more aircraft arriving at the same time turning this sleepy little airdrome into a beehive of activity. Once the dust settled, we were directed to the Supper 8 hotel on the other side of the runway for lunch. Fortunately, Barry had the foresight to call ahead as prior permission is required.

The restaurant turned out to be a great little spot and was quite capable of handling 12 wayward aviators for lunch. After a relaxed lunch, we made our way back to the planes and into the air. Despite the denser air at the lower elevation Invermere provided, the full bellies seemed to make the climb slower than our departure in the morning. However, we were able to make our cruise altitude before reaching the pass that would take us over to highway 93 with miles to spare.

On the way back, we decided to follow Barry‟s suggestion to cut the corner by flying over the Sunshine ski resort back to Highway 1 and saving about 25 nm. This was a great idea and gave me the opportunity to finally see one of my favourite ski areas from the air.

As we came up over Lake Minnewanka, we hit the first bumps of the trip. The rough air was to stay with us until we were almost back to Carstairs. However, everyone agreed that this was only a small tax to pay for such a wonderful day.

It turned out to be an excellent learning experience for us amateur mountain aviators and did a lot to increase our confidence in taking on the formidable landscape that forms the western reaches of our flying range. I look forward to more Rocky adventures over the next few months including a trip to Oregon and maybe another visit to Nelson, this time in Chrissy… any takers?