Beechy to the Fort
After a few weeks of soggy weather in the Gold Coast hinterland, the forecast for Sunday looked promising for a flight from Beechmont. We arrived at Beechy to see blue skies with a few small clouds starting to pop above the mountains to the south. Even better than forecast!
After a few small climbs, I caught a nice thermal with Rowan, a hangie and a couple of other wings to 1300m. Unfortunately Rowan and I got separated and decided to reorganise for the next thermal. That didn’t work out well and Rowan flew off on his own as I slowly worked my way up to 1000m. In a rush to catch up to Rowan and seeing some promising clouds over the Beechy plateau I decided to leave the hill without topping up.
Everyone seemed to be heading north towards Canungra but the sky looked great towards the west with low clouds marking thermals all along the route. It looked like I had a decent shot at flying to the Fort, a small but striking fort-like mountain at the head of the Christmas Creek valley. I had flown in the opposite direction before so I was familiar with the route that skirts the rainforest covered ranges on the outside of the Mt Warning caldera.
The flying was pretty easy with cloud shadows on every ridge marking predictable climbs along the route. The emerald valleys after the recent rains meant the mellow thermals were a far car from the rowdy wing collapsers of only a couple of months ago. Wind played nice as well and wasn’t threatening to blow me into tiger country to the south like it usually does.
I could see ‘the Fort’ across the wide valley as I approached a ridge low from the east. This mountain is aptly named. Vertical rock walls rise majestically from grassy slopes below on two sides giving it the look of a medieval castle. The best thermal of the day gave me a good climb but it was not enough to cross the valley, flying against wind which was now from the NW. So I followed the ridge south.
A pair of towering cliffs stand guard at the head of the mysteriously named Lost World valley, protecting dark ancient rain forest beyond. These imposing sentinels provide almost guaranteed lift but sometimes you have to be patient while the thermal brews. The thermal wasn’t ready when I arrived and instead I found wind swirling around from different directions. Flying next to the sheer walls of the cliff, the wing jerking erratically above very inhospitable trees, I lost my nerve and didn’t stick around long enough to catch a climb.
A low ridge curves tantalisingly towards the Fort from the cliffs and I followed it gingerly knowing that I was low in the lee of the Fort now. Not finding any thermals along this ridge I had a choice to make. Turn right and descend down a nice grassy slope to the East of the Fort or left down a steeper, heavily wooded slope into the head of the Christmas Creek Valley. Indecision causes lost altitude so I picked a clearing in the trees and turned left.
[GoPro battery dead]
I expected that there might be sinking air on this side of the valley. Thankfully that wasn’t the case as I set up a landing pattern to drop into the small clearing. A few S turns above the tall trees at the edge of the clearing and I was set up for a nice landing in tall grass. It was a miracle that I didn’t step in all the fresh cow pies that littered the field like bovine land mines.
I enjoyed the views of Fort looking down on me while I packed. Top landing the Fort will have to be a mission for another day.
