Alpine Xtreme Adventure 2003
by Rick Allison
Overview
One of the things I like best about this hobby/sport of ours is that there is always something exciting and new around the bend, under the sun, or over the next hill—and all three of these clichés apply to the Alpine Xtreme Adventure 2003, held July 16–21 in Oregon’s Wallowa Valley country.
The road up the mountain to the site had plenty of bends (not to mention dust, rocks, and a full crop of potholes), the sun was baking us like a pie, and although there was no “over,” the top of the hill held plenty of new radio-control thrills backed by an incredible view. We felt as if we were standing on top of the world—and looking down at the bottom!
This fly-for-fun event, formerly known as the Alpine Soaring Odyssey, is the brainchild and baby of Wil Byers—former Model Aviation columnist and current editor and owner of Quiet Flyer magazine. Wil “discovered” the site many years ago while on a family vacation. He went back the next year with a sailplane, then back again with a few friends, and then back with still more friends until the informal gathering became formal five years ago.
Like most five-year-olds, Alpine Xtreme is growing, changing, and scraping the occasional organizational knee, but this event’s national potential is huge, and the main attraction—Memaloose Ridge—is unique. Because of Memaloose alone, the Alpine Xtreme gathering has already become something of a destination event for soaring pilots.
The Site
Memaloose overlooks Hells Canyon, which is the deepest in North America. Awesome thermals are born 6,000 feet below, where the glistening ribbon of the Snake River bubbles and winds through the rocky canyon bottom.
The top of the ridge—at 6,800 feet elevation—is a rolling mountain meadow full of wildflowers and occupied by Memaloose Airstrip, a 3,300-foot grass Oregon Airport Authority field. This flying site is not generally open to the public; special use permits are required.
Approximately 50 miles from Memaloose is the town of Joseph, Oregon, which served as headquarters for the event. Just outside of town, Joseph Airport (elevation 4,100 feet), with its 5,800-foot paved surface, offers a great site for aerotowing and generates its own crop of thermals. Roughly five miles away, on the other side of town, Mt. Howard rises another 4,100 feet from the southern end of Wallowa Lake to a total elevation of nearly 8,300 feet. This venue is normally accessible to pilots and spectators by a cable-car tramway, but it was unavailable this year because the tramway was down for repairs.
Alpine Soaring and Thermals
Alpine soaring isn’t just a catchy name; it’s a different beast altogether. In slope soaring, lift comes from wind rising as it encounters a terrain obstruction, such as a hill. If the incoming wind is reasonably perpendicular to the hill or ridge and the topography in front is fairly flat, the lift is relatively stable and models can be flown back and forth along the ridge. In thermal-duration soaring, models are launched from the ground by some means (by hand launch, hi-start, winch, or aerotow), and then the pilot uses the altitude gained from the launch to hunt for lift in thermals.
Thermals are the mainstay of nonpowered flight. The sun heats the ground, which warms the air near it by convection. Warm air then rises into a thermal. The ground isn't uniform; it varies in topography and color (rocks soak up and release more heat than vegetation), so all thermals are not created equal. They come in a variety of strengths and sizes and, depending on atmospheric conditions, wind, and terrain, may be plume- or bubble-like in shape.
Since what goes up must come down, thermals are accompanied by sink—cooled air detraining from the thermal edges and descending to fill the void left by the warmer rising air. In general, the bigger and more active a thermal is, the stronger the accompanying sink and the more turbulent the boundary between them. Neither thermals nor sink are stationary; both move and drift with the motion of the greater air mass containing them.
Thermals tend to be small and tight near the ground and increase in diameter and strength as they rise, until the rising air is cooled by altitude and the thermal fades out. In alpine soaring, elements of slope flying and thermal flying are combined. You still chuck the airplane off the mountain and (hopefully) into the wind, and if you stay close to the ridge top, some slope lift is still present, although it's usually far from stable.
However, providing you pick the right day, time, and air, and you can summon the nerve to fly away from the relative safety of the ridge, you can tap into the warm belly of a fully developed thermal, many thousands of feet higher than the best winches can take you. When you really hit it, the lift can feel like you drove the airplane onto an Otis elevator equipped with a JATO (jet-assisted takeoff) pack.
There is a considerable adrenaline component because you are heaving an expensive model off a mountaintop, thereby betting the thermal gods that you can find lift before the canyon eats your airplane. (Mountaineering down 5,000–6,000 feet and hiking back up with your model is close to impossible.) Event Director Wil Byers sunk out and lost his 1/5-scale SZD-55 while flying a video photo-op mission for the Outdoor Channel's "Inside RC" television crew at this event.
To put a cherry on the sundae, consider that the density altitude on a 95° day at 7,000 feet easily exceeds 10,000 feet. Models fly differently; there just isn't much air in that air.
All of this combines to put the extreme in Alpine Xtreme, and it can put a grin on your face that won't wear off until your teeth are dusty.
Event and Activities
Calling this gathering a national event in the making isn't stretching the truth. Pilots came from as far away as:
- Florida
- Texas
- Illinois
- New York
A vacationing couple from Ireland also dropped by just to watch and take pictures.
When you consider that no cash prizes or trophies are awarded—other than the usual "pilots' choice" awards—it's apparent that the flying is the draw. The most coveted collectible this year was an "I Mastered Memaloose" bumper sticker!
There were 52 pilots registered, although the number at any one venue at one time was far less. As with any group, flying (and building) skills ran the gamut from expert to novice. Those who ventured up the mountain path to Memaloose Ridge tended toward the highly skilled end of the spectrum.
The event is designed in the Olympic style, with activities at different venues spread out for almost a week. However, that wasn’t the way it worked out this year. The aerotowing for bigger sailplanes at Joseph Airport was cut short Thursday with the unfortunate demise of the only available large-scale towing model, and with the tramway down, Mt. Howard wasn’t even open for business. That was okay with many of us; we had really come to see and experience the alpine soaring at the Memaloose Ridge/Hells Canyon site.
Memaloose may have been the main attraction, but it certainly wasn't the only one. Joseph Airport is a great facility where the lift is plentiful and easy to find, and activity continued there all weekend, including aerotowing on a smaller scale. An F5J (limited motor run) contest was scheduled to start as we departed Sunday, with a thermal-duration event to cap off the week on Monday.
Pilots and Aircraft
Peter Goldsmith, who is Horizon Hobby Distributors' field marketing manager, attended the meet. Pete is a many-time Tournament of Champions competitor and former F3A World Championships team member from Australia whose "other" hobby is sailplanes.
He drove all the way from his home in Monticello, Illinois, bringing the big Horizon towplane and two of the largest scale gliders I've ever seen: a 6-meter-wingspan DG-800 and an 8.4-meter ASH-25. Watching these graceful giants fly was like watching butter being spread on the heavens. Unfortunately, his big 1/3-scale DA-100-powered Super Cub towplane met with misadventure Thursday because of a frequency conflict.
Pete also brought his wife Caroline, who is an accomplished glider pilot in her own right; she beat Peter for the "Best Scale Glider Flight" pilots' choice award.
Joseph and Surroundings
The area surrounding the tiny town of Joseph and nearby Wallowa Lake is astoundingly postcard perfect. Resort-style family favorites such as boating, swimming, hiking, camping, golf, and ice cream are everywhere.
Major modeling activities are often held in places with little besides the event to draw visitors to them, but that was not the case here as evidenced by the high percentage of wives and families in attendance. The Friday-night barbecue and the Sunday-night Brew House dinner looked like typical family affairs.
Joseph is named for the famous Nez Perce Chief Joseph, whose quote "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever" is emblazoned in American history. Chief Joseph's tribe once called this land "of winding waters" home, and Joseph's father is buried here. When you take in the scenery, it's easy to see why he and his people fought so hard to keep the place.
Notes and Suggestions
Not all was perfect, of course. The drive up to Memaloose Ridge takes more than an hour, and 22 miles of it are on a rough, dusty, one-lane Forest Service road. You definitely need industrial-strength insect repellent in your flight box.
Several activities could have been better organized; others might have been eliminated altogether. More help could have been provided for novice pilots by way of clinics and mentoring.
These are minor drawbacks; most, if not all, will likely be fixed at next year's edition.
Conclusion
I'll be there next year, and I'm bringing some friends to share it. Go on and make your plans to attend and measure yourself and your models against Memaloose. Get Xtreme!
Rick Allison 26405 S.E. 160th St. Issaquah, WA 98027
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
