I made it to Invermere, BC, my home away from home, and mountain soaring paradise, in both 2015 and 2016, but the trips were short, the weather iffy and I only had 3 dual flights in those years.
The first mountain tow towards the rocks could be frightful experience for flatland pilots. There is no horizon reference until you get over the rocks and optical illusions play with your mind and suggest that you are much closer to the rocks than you actually are. Eventually you get over it and your mind invents an artificial horizon and soon everything is normal again. And then you have a 2 year break and it is back to square one... I had to relinquish controls couple of times as we were bouncing around in strong thermals below the mountain tops and also insisted that my instructor flew the first few thermals to get us up high enough while I followed him on the controls desperately trying to remember where to look, what to do and what speeds to fly.
It took two more flights in the Duo and one short circuit in a much lower performance dual seater before I was comfortable enough going solo in “my” PW-5. The day was not soarable but perfect for circuits which I did 3.
My last day in Invermere, I flew PW-5 for 4.5 hrs and was amazed of how fast I remembered everything I learned there previously. And I resolved to start flying gliders in Ontario again in 2018 as I’d like to be a lot more current before I go for another week of mountain flying.