The view / hike up to launch...
The view north and toward the peak that produced the day's rotor at launch...
Karl in the "bailout" LZ with our birds...
Ben Dunn describes Wildass as being more challenging than the Owens Valley...I couldn't agree more. The day we all flew, the conditions were expected to be good with lift predicted over 10,000 feet. Only Ben made it above 10k while the rest settled on 5k to 7k altitudes, or just a little over launch for some.
We battled a northerly headwind during our flights, so that made the day all the more challenging. There is an initial crossing called the "Valley of Doom". This is an area over an old minining town with zero landing options. You can clear the "Valley of Doom" on glide from launch, but if there is sink involved, you could be screwed, as Brian Foster discovered during his flight. Brian had a nice low save in this area and flew onward for an impressive flight to the mouth of Griswald Canyon. Wayne had the same flight. Seeing Brian sink out almost had me tossing my chute at launch out of reflex more than anything else. Personally, I was relieved the see him cranking upward in a thermal.
The launches were all really clean, but all of us got rotored significantly after a few seconds, some more than others. I was last to launch and after watching everyone else get tossed around, I was having my doubts.
Needless to say, I had to join everyone in the air...
Fortunately I was able to find a fair amount of lift soon after launching despite the turbulent conditions...enough to get above launch...the same with Karl. But, with that lift came a significant amount of sink and I was having difficulty tracking thermal drift. Karl and I had similar flight plans...right to the "bailout" LZ after about half an hour...The reason I say "bailout LZ" is because it is quite a glide to get there, and getting there in and of itself is an achievement. So, Karl and I were happy with our flights, but the heat was something else. Once we were lower than about 3500 feet, it was an inferno with regard to temperature.
But, we'll be going back to Wildass. The main reason for me is I can't resist flying a site named "Wildass" and every pilot should fly over a "Valley of Doom" at least once in his / her flying career. Thanks to Ben and Wayne for the site intro, and like I said, we'll be back.
Thank you Doug Hahn for driving my truck for us that day, too!