After attending numerous balloon events this spring that were plagued by bad weather, it was great to get back into the mountains and great weather. Trish, Nicholas, and I had been on the road for over a month having traveled to Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and finally to Colorado.
June 27-30 we flew at the Annual Snowmass Balloon Festival at Snowmass Village. Thursday evening is registration and Friday morning is the first scheduled flight. A long distance flight called the Colorado Rat Race had to be canceled, but the weather allowed most of the balloons a nice flight around the Snowmass valley. The evening activity was a cocktail reception for the pilots, crews, and sponsors.
Saturday morning the weather was almost to good, with the only noticeable winds being several thousand feet above the launch field, which is at 7,850 feet above sea level. We flew a total distance of under two miles in 90 minutes. We did enough hops that we were able to get our sponsors and all of our crew up for a ride. We didn’t score in the race, but did land back at our launch site which always makes the chase crew happy. There were no planned activities for the rest of the day, so we went exploring and shopping in Aspen. Saturday evening we had a BBQ for our crew at the condo that the Crestwood gave us for the weekend.
Sunday morning was just like Saturday with beautiful blue skies and light winds. This flight we didn’t quite make it back to our launch site. Our crew had to walk us a hundred yards back to the truck so that we could say that we didn’t have to move the chase truck from our launch site all weekend. This was a great way to finish off a five week road trip.
We had a two week break till our next balloon event, so we caught up on photo assignments for some of our regular clients and were able to sleep in our own beds for a change.
July 18th we loaded up the truck and trailer and headed out for the Steamboat Springs Annual Hot Air Balloon Rodeo. We made it to Breckenridge, Colorado (where we attend our favorite winter balloon event during Thanksgiving) that night. After breakfast at the Blue Moose cafe we drove the final leg of our trip to Steamboat Springs, with a short shopping stop-over at the Silverstone Outlet Mall. We arrived early enough to get checked into our Storm Meadows condo, grab a shower, and head over to registration and the pilot briefing. A cocktail party followed the briefing so that the pilots could meet their sponsors and assigned crew.
Saturday morning our flights were short because the winds were all blowing into town or into the mountains where there are few roads. After we refueled we headed for downtown Steamboat Springs to take part in some of the other Rainbow Weekend activities. They have an arts and crafts fair, a pro rodeo, as well as the balloon event. Saturday evening we headed over to the launch site and set up our cameras in a prime spot for the Steamboat Springs Balloon Shine.
Sunday morning I headed out to the parking lot to hook up the trailer and was surprised to see a moose walking up the ski run behind our condo. Trish, Nicholas, and our crew came out just in time to get a good view. We watched as long as we could before we had to leave for the morning briefing. Our flight Sunday morning was better than Saturday’s. We had box winds that allowed us to the maneuverability to fly all over the valley. After the morning flight we all went back to the launch site to tailgate, enjoy a BBQ provided by the organizers, and watch the awards. Another successful balloon event in the Colorado mountains.
Two of our crew came up to Steamboat from Phoenix, Arizona and my father came down from Cheyenne, Wyoming. We had five days off until our next balloon event in Crested Butte, Colorado so we all decided to go camping up in the Snowy Range, Wyoming. After three days of relaxation, fishing, and hiking, it was time for us to head for Crested Butte. We drove down to Glenwood Springs, up through Carbondale, and finally over Kebler Pass (dirt road for 30 mile, but incredible scenery) and finally down into Crested Butte.
Crested Butte Accommodations provided us with a condo at the Three Seasons for four nights. This gave us a couple of days to explore the area before the event started. Crested Butte isn’t as glitzty as some of the other old mining towns turned resort, like Aspen, Breckenridge, Vail, but its quaintness is the charm. With the extra days we were able to check out all of the galleries and shops in town and tried out numerous excellent eating establishments
Friday evening the pilot registration was held at The Avalanche pub in Mt. Crested Butte (the resort area). A parking lot in Mt. Crested Butte serves as the launch site for the Annual Crested Butte Aerial Weekend ballooning activities during the weekend. The altitude at Mt. Crested Butte is 9,300 feet above sea level which makes mountain and high altitude flying experience a necessity.
Saturday mornings pilot briefing was at 5:45 AM, TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING. At the briefing we were told that the winds would take us just about any place we wanted to go. The launch went smoothly and we all chased the Hare balloon. We ended up with a third place throw before we landed to change out passengers. We made the passenger exchange and I flew the balloon back to the launch field, landing by our trailer. Saturday afternoon there were many other activities held down in Crested Butte. Sky divers, para-gliders, and old war planes filled the sky. On the ground there were art and activity booths, softball games, a children’s fun festival, river rafting, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking, and other activities to keep the balloonists busy until the evening “Aerial Glow”.
Sunday mornings weather was a bit marginal. The balloonists waited for the weather to improve, which it did an hour later. About half of the pilots decided not to fly. The pilots that did fly had fairly good flights, although a few had to be walked out to areas to be retrieved. The Crested Butte Aerial Weekend is one of those events the you can have a great time at, even if you don’t fly. It was hard to pack up and head back to Albuquerque.
The races at the resorts in Colorado are small invitational events because of the limited space in the high mountain valleys and the flying experience needed to fly in these areas. The small size of these events is what makes them very special. All of the pilots and crews get to know each other, rather than getting lost in the sea of pilots at the large events. After several years of attending one of these events, the return becomes a reunion.