Brr!

Finally (after over a month of miserable, snowy weather) four loads went up today to give us all our fix of sky.

When I got out to the DZ after work (or rather... after I convinced my manager to let me leave work 6 hours early), my car thermometer said it was 31 degrees on the ground. The first load didn't go up until about an hour after that, so I figure we probably gained a few degrees. Because of the cold temperatures, we stuck with hop and pops.

Jump #33

On the way to altitude, I was struck by how pretty the valley looked, still sprinkled with snow. Everything was in shades of gray. I ended up a little far out with my landing pattern. Although my flare was still not quite right, I think I could have stood it up if the ground hadn't been so slippery. My feet touched down and slid out from under me, and I gently plopped down on my butt and slid to a stop in the mud. Kevin had to sweep me off with a broom so I wouldn't track a mess into the building.

Jump #34

Another hop and pop from 5k. I did a poised exit, watched the plane long enough to see the pilot start to dive down for his descent, and was under canopy just below 4k. I ended up landing in almost the same spot as on my first jump of the day. I slipped and slid in on the mud again, but before my canopy had even finished floating to the ground I was back up and trying to wipe the mess off of my backside.

Next weekend I'm headed down to Mesquite, NV for their Blue Skies Boogie. I'm both excited and nervous for the trip. It will be fun to jump out of some new planes, and of course it will be great to meet some more new people. Several people from my DZ are going as well, so there will also be familiar faces around if I start to feel too out of my element.