Mt. Waddington & Glacier flying fun
After multiple test flights landing on ice, I finally did 'the trip' I was planning to Mount Waddington and its glacier valleys, one of which runs down from 13,000 feet or so to the sea (Knight's Inlet) with not interruption - an awesome sight. I just love the area around Knight's Inlet.
Low-level lacier flying is far trickier than I first thought - a lot of shaking due to thermals and temp differences, not to mention winds in the glacier valley. As to landing on a glacier, I found some hard-frozen but smooth stretches at a slight incline to help slow down quickly works best...
Per map below, the red dots depict the approach from Knight's Inlet, flying high up over the mountains to Mt. Waddington and almost hitting the service ceiling of the Icon A5...the purple dots show the route down via the glacier valley...
...leaving Knight's Inlet (lower right)
...gaining altitude (slowly)...
Mt. Waddington in the distance...
Glacier below...
Checking out the conditions for landing...
Yup...
After departing on zeroing in on the glacier run, I noticed another nice smooth ice field for landing across..
...on the way there, looking back at Mt. Waddington...
Now it's time for the low 'flight down' to Knight's Inlet...
...a lot of shaking due to thermals and wind 'tunnel'...
...almost there...
Back at the inlet, ready for a water landing