Stalking the Mountain Wave Ursula Wiese Mountain lee wave meteorology and the history of wave soaring in southern Alberta Second edition 3 April 2011 Notes to this .pdf version of Stalking the Mountain Wave As there will be no third edition of the 1997 book (as I write there are only a dozen copies still unsold from the 1000 that were printed), Ursula and I thought the content should not be lost to those pilots new to wave flying in general and Cowley in particular. There are some small differences between this and the printed book. The PageMaker files of the book had no photographs incorporated. The “historical” photographs were no longer available so I had to scan the photos off the book pages with consequent unavoidable loss of quality regardless of the PhotoShop tweaking done to perk them up. Happily though, most of the “contemporary” photos remained on hand and they are now in this pdf copy in glorious colour. Photos on pages 28, 155, 171, and 203 are not identical to the originals but come from the same sequence of photos in each case and convey the same story. The pages 8/9 Livingstone Range panorama is new. Another difference is that in converting the old PageMaker files to InDesign, there are small differences in the “font metrics”, hence lines of text are often not identical. Lastly, I took the opportunity to update the Cowley Diamond climb/records list. Enjoy the book. On screen, I recommend using ‘facing pages’. Stalking the Mountain Wave Second edition Ursula Wiese Mountain lee wave meteorology and the history of wave soaring in southern Alberta Stalking the Mountain Wave Second edition ©1997 by Ursula Wiese Published by Stellar Craftworks Box 1916, Claresholm, Alberta, Canada T0L 0T0 [email protected] Book design & layout: Tony Burton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage and retrieval system, without the permission of the publisher. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Wiese, Ursula, 1943 – Stalking the mountain wave : mountain lee wave meteorology and the history of wave soaring in southern Alberta Ed. 2. Includes index. ISBN 0-9682005-0-8 1. Mountain wave–Alberta–History. 2. Meteorology in aeronautics–Alberta–History. 3. Gliding and soaring–Alberta–History. 4. Alberta Soaring Council–History. I. Title GV765.C3W54 1997 551.51'85'0971234 C97-900499-3 Cover This magnificent lenticular cloud formed over the Cowley summer camp on the morning of 27 July 1991. photo: Sylvain Larue Dedication A host of wives, friends, pilots, and visitors — as well as the main characters in this book, have had a hand in creating “Cowley”. I wish to thank them with this book, a small contribution to honour their efforts. Table of Contents Chapter 1 The Mountains and their Winds 2 Chinook – the snow eater ............................................ Indian Mythology 3 The creator wind ......................................................................... Sid Marty 5 How did the ocean get up in the sky? 6 Naming the chinook 7 The creation of mountain lee waves ....................................... Tony Burton 8 Cowley – the heart of chinook country .... Garnet Thomas & Tony Burton 10 The frequency of wave at Cowley ........................................... Tony Burton 13 1956 Ground observations of the chinook arch .............................. Norm Bruce 19 The chinook arch – a long wave............................................. Tony Burton 21 The birth of the Chinook Arch Project ................................ Ursula Wiese 22 1985 Enter the Alcor ..................................................................... Tony Burton 25 Project progress 27 A chinook arch flight 29 Alcor checklists 32 Rotor Winds ........................................................................... Tom Schollie Chapter 2 The Early Years 34 1950 The beginning of a gliding club 37 Alvie Cook ..................................................... Harold Eley & Alan Foster 39 1955 Onset of the wave revolution ................................................ Ursula Wiese 41 The early wave camps ............................................................ Harold Eley 49 Bob Cheston’s homebuilt barograph ...................................... Harold Eley 50 1960 Perceptions from up front ............................................ Harold Townsend 52 1961 The first time through thirty thousand ............................. Julien Audette 56 1961 Advancing into the stratosphere .................................... Ed McClanahan 60 1962 Canadian Diamond #1 completed .................................... Julien Audette 62 1963 Tragedy strikes ................................................................... Julien Audette 62 Curiosity and cross–country adventure ................................. Ursula Wiese 64 1971 400 km out and return in a super wave ............................... Dick Mamini Chapter 3 Getting Cowley 68 An early history of the Cowley airfield ..................................... Ed Murphy 70 Getting the use of the Cowley airstrip ................................... Ursula Wiese 72 1970 An idea goes political 73 1971/73 A foot in the door 79 1973 We’ve got it! 81 1973 The first Cowley summer camp ........................................ George Dunbar 83 1975 Release of federal tenure to the Province of Alberta ............ Ursula Wiese 89 1982 The big 10th camp ................................................................... Derek Ryder 92 The Stachow wave trophy ..................................................... Ursula Wiese 92 1994 Handover of Cowley to ASC ................................................. Ursula Wiese vi Chapter 4 The Airspace 100 1972 Tentative agreement for a Livingstone Block reservation ..... Ursula Wiese 110 1973 The waiver is written 115 1974 Livingstone Block boundary changes 117 1993 The block is chopped a thousand 117 1996 Flight–following function passes into ASC’s hands ............... Marty Slater 119 1996 The airspace operations change from ATC’s viewpoint .......... Bram Tilroe Chapter 5 The Safety Aspects of Wave Flight 124 1992 Bailed out by a bailout bottle .................................................. Jay Poscente 128 1995 How can you talk and breathe at the same time? ................... Todd Benko 129 A trip to Cowley – worst case scenario ...................... Rick Zabrodski, MD 130 Hypoxia and the respiratory process .......................... Rick Zabrodski, MD 131 Stages of hypoxia 132 Guidelines for the prevention of hypoxia 133 A lecture on breathing ..................................................... Don Clarke, MD 137 The arithmetic of oxygen........................................................ Tony Burton 138 Other hazards of low pressure 139 Decompression sickness in high altitude glider flight ......................... Robert Weien & Peter Harmer Chapter 6 Glider Pilot’s Heaven 146 1971 The Cowley Diamond mine............................................. Garnet Thomas 150 1981 The Hallowe’en wave ........................................................... Tony Burton 154 1982 The rotor spit me into the wave .......................................... Ursula Wiese 155 1982 Centre Peak moves into your living room ............................. Ursula Wiese 156 1983 All weather and worries, tales and facts ..... Marty Slater & Tony Burton 159 1984 The east visits Cowley .............................................................. Dick Vine 160 1985 The Prime Minister goes cross-country ......................... Terry Southwood 162 1985 I reached out and touched the face of God ........................... Ursula Wiese 162 1986 My first sixty dollar tow....................................................... Rick Zabrodski 164 1986 August nuptials ...................................................................... Ursula Wiese 166 1987 The quest ........................................................................... Steve Weinhold 172 1988 An ode to Cowley towpilots ............................................. Iain Colquhoun 173 The Coyote Pilot’s Howl 174 1990 Quest II – trekking to Centre Peak.......................................... Linda Tittle 178 1992 Wave camp .............................................................................. Tony Burton 182 Flyin’ the Cowley “wave” .................................................................. Anon. 185 Addendum I The Cook Book — pilot’s log of the pioneering Cowley wave flights 204 Addendum II Record & Diamond flights achieved at Cowley 207 Index vii Preface UNDER A star-BRIGHT SKY, when the logs glow and the northern lights dance and zing, the tales of the Great Wave come alive. There is the pilot’s quest to lift its secret, the glory of achievement, the lobbying at provincial and federal governments in the name of soaring. The revival of postwar soaring in Alberta started with the survival of a club and Alvie Cook, a rancher and farmer in Pincher Creek. Mr. Cook had his private airstrip on the outskirts of Pincher Creek, and from here pilots were invited to fly to the west to explore the mountain lee waves. These adventures were kept in a diary, The Cook Book. One day, the diary fell into my hands. It prompted me to compile the history, for we all ought to know of the evolution of this special airstrip and the airspace above it. The former emergency airstrip fifteen kilometres north of the village of Cowley invited soaring pilots to land when conditions