Well, sometimes you get lucky. After yesterdays cumulus clouds with streets all over the sky, I convinced Tomas to go up to Wolcott today to see if we could go somewhere. We decided to meet at 2 pm at the LZ. Conditions looked light, but straight from the west in the LZ. The forecast today was for northwest winds in the valley with the winds aloft forecast light and variable up to 18,000 feet msl.
Once we got to launch conditions looked great with light winds straight into launch, and cycles to about 12 mph. So we got our kits ready, and like on cue the winds turned north. A dust devil came through launch and Tomas had to jump on his wing so it didn't fly away. So we just sat there for a while. I did not hook in and considered packing up and bagging it. What was interesting is the valley ponds were showing southwest. So, we hoped for the winds to straighten out. Finally a cycle came through that was straight in and Tomas launched. Sticking close to the hill he ridge soared for about a minute, and then of course the winds lightened up and turned north, and he sunk out near launch.
By this time I was hooked in and watching the wind blow from the north again, and my GPS was not working. It would acquire sattellites and then friz out. It's a good thing my vario had an integrated GPS, but no detailed map of the area. Not thinking I would get up anyway, I watched as cycles straightened out a bit, but still had some north in it. I decided to launch. I guessed that there maybe a thermal out front as it was light and there really wasn't a north face to work anyway. Once out in front, I hooked a light thermal climbing at about 200 fpm so I did one 360 degree turn, still climbing, another 360, then another, and still climbing. Then it kicked in, and I was climbing at about 600 fpm, a perfect climb to 14,500 msl. It was quite turbulent to about 12,000 msl and then the thermal smoothed out. Unbelieveable! Maybe a north day would work if you get the right cycle, and thermal. What was nice about this climb was the flat bottom cumulus that was right over launch. I started toward Vail toward another cloud and found a weak climb to 15,300 msl. This is where the thermal petered out, but cloud base was still 2000 feet above me. So I continued to work toward Vail. Unfortunately I realized I had wind from the Northeast and I was trying to go east. I probably should have turned and headed toward
Aspen at this point, but I was thinking to try to make it to Copper Mountain and then on to Breckenridge. As I passed Avon, I noticed a small plane coming up the valley. I had talked to Chuck Leathers and he flew to Crested Butte today for lunch. I thought this couldn't be him, but as he got closer I recognized his plane. I was at 15,300 msl, and he was circling around me trying to get to my height. His Cessna 182 was trying. Just then I found a climb to take me to cloud base at 17,400 msl and then I lost him. What treat to have him flying around. It's kind of fun to out climb a Cessna without a motor. :-)
At this time I was torn on which way to go. The cloud street led into tiger country, and the options along the road were blue. I was not in the mood to hike so I stuck I-70 corridor. I flew to the top of Vail mountain the toward the top of Benchmark which is east of Two Elk Lodge in China Bowl. I could not believe the lack of landing options toward Copper, so I was going to try to find one climb around Benchmark and then go for Vail pass. As I approached BM I hit alot of sink and then decided once near east Vail to jump the highway to the cliffs above the Vail Mountain School. No Lift. So I hit speed bar and landed back in Ford Park. Launched at 3:30 pm and landed at 4:50 pm.
It was interesting flying into the wind where generally you would have a tail wind. An amazing flight with the colors, perfect clouds, and a friend with a Cessna. Let's hope we can have a few more days like this before the snow flies.
Cheers!
Once we got to launch conditions looked great with light winds straight into launch, and cycles to about 12 mph. So we got our kits ready, and like on cue the winds turned north. A dust devil came through launch and Tomas had to jump on his wing so it didn't fly away. So we just sat there for a while. I did not hook in and considered packing up and bagging it. What was interesting is the valley ponds were showing southwest. So, we hoped for the winds to straighten out. Finally a cycle came through that was straight in and Tomas launched. Sticking close to the hill he ridge soared for about a minute, and then of course the winds lightened up and turned north, and he sunk out near launch.
By this time I was hooked in and watching the wind blow from the north again, and my GPS was not working. It would acquire sattellites and then friz out. It's a good thing my vario had an integrated GPS, but no detailed map of the area. Not thinking I would get up anyway, I watched as cycles straightened out a bit, but still had some north in it. I decided to launch. I guessed that there maybe a thermal out front as it was light and there really wasn't a north face to work anyway. Once out in front, I hooked a light thermal climbing at about 200 fpm so I did one 360 degree turn, still climbing, another 360, then another, and still climbing. Then it kicked in, and I was climbing at about 600 fpm, a perfect climb to 14,500 msl. It was quite turbulent to about 12,000 msl and then the thermal smoothed out. Unbelieveable! Maybe a north day would work if you get the right cycle, and thermal. What was nice about this climb was the flat bottom cumulus that was right over launch. I started toward Vail toward another cloud and found a weak climb to 15,300 msl. This is where the thermal petered out, but cloud base was still 2000 feet above me. So I continued to work toward Vail. Unfortunately I realized I had wind from the Northeast and I was trying to go east. I probably should have turned and headed toward
Aspen at this point, but I was thinking to try to make it to Copper Mountain and then on to Breckenridge. As I passed Avon, I noticed a small plane coming up the valley. I had talked to Chuck Leathers and he flew to Crested Butte today for lunch. I thought this couldn't be him, but as he got closer I recognized his plane. I was at 15,300 msl, and he was circling around me trying to get to my height. His Cessna 182 was trying. Just then I found a climb to take me to cloud base at 17,400 msl and then I lost him. What treat to have him flying around. It's kind of fun to out climb a Cessna without a motor. :-)
At this time I was torn on which way to go. The cloud street led into tiger country, and the options along the road were blue. I was not in the mood to hike so I stuck I-70 corridor. I flew to the top of Vail mountain the toward the top of Benchmark which is east of Two Elk Lodge in China Bowl. I could not believe the lack of landing options toward Copper, so I was going to try to find one climb around Benchmark and then go for Vail pass. As I approached BM I hit alot of sink and then decided once near east Vail to jump the highway to the cliffs above the Vail Mountain School. No Lift. So I hit speed bar and landed back in Ford Park. Launched at 3:30 pm and landed at 4:50 pm.
It was interesting flying into the wind where generally you would have a tail wind. An amazing flight with the colors, perfect clouds, and a friend with a Cessna. Let's hope we can have a few more days like this before the snow flies.
Cheers!
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