The Whaleback, located just north of Mt. Shasta on the Klamath
National Forest, is an out-of-the-way flying site known for excellent evening
flying and cross-country potential.

Donald Andrews<<Donald.Andrews>>
writes:

Good news! We have successfully completed the complete
reconstruction of
The Whalebacklaunch, the last of the heavy equipment is being removed this morning, and
the launch is open for flying!

Rick Ray just called me from the launch this morning and had this to say: "The
slope is amazing. In my eleven years of flying, this is one of the better
launches I've ever been to."

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen, both in effort and money.
Yesterday's last minute contributions helped carry us across the finish line and
pull off a large project that was, at times, difficult and complex. Significant
funding came from RVHPA, individual RVHPA members, the Foundation for Free
Flight, and dozens of individual pilots from Portland to Pasadena. The Klamath
National Forest contributed a significant amount of rounded gravel to coat the
launch slopes and offered strong overall support of this project on the land
they manage. Additional club support came from the Bay Area Paragliding
Association and the San Luis Obispo Soaring Association. Tim Louie Construction
and his crew did an awesome job, going far above what was required.

In the coming days, we will be doing finishing touches like placing new
windsocks and raking gravel into hard-to-reach corners of the parking and layout
areas. The flight information board is in the process of being replaced and
there is currently no flight info on the launch. It is
available
online, however.

Stay tuned for an announcement of a site re-opening BBQ planned for this
weekend.

Additional site improvements are already in the works to add some parking spaces
at the landing zone and remove hazard trees on the final approach and should be
completed later this summer. Since RVHPA began improvement projects at The
Whaleback in October 2009, we have fundamentally rebuilt both the LZ and launch.
The Klamath National Forest has been very impressed with our club's
organization, volunteerism, and the quality of work we have completed and they
have told us they are happy to have us as their partner at this amazing and
unique recreational resource on the national forest. By the way, the LZ is green
and grassy now that we planted native bunch grasses two years in a row.

The photo is from the final day of work on the launch.
Here are some photos of the work in progress and the grassy LZ.