You probably thought that we weren't flying anymore as we have been waiting for Wolcott to finally give up another day. Well today was the day. With winds forecast to be from the Southwest 12,000 feet and below, we decided (Mike Wiman, Alex Hintz, Chuck Leathers, Garret, and myself), to meet around 1:15 pm and give it a whirl. Chuck and I feeling fat and out of shape decided to hike up to launch, while Alex drove Chucks vehicle with our gliders in it. I can't imagine hiking two and half miles with a 55 pound kit. It felt good to breathe hard, and the ski season is not very far away.
Once at launch the winds were showing light and variable with some cycles up the face, but nothing very convincing. At about 2:30 pm there was finally some texture on the lake and we began to get some nice steady cycles. Finally it filled in about 2:45 pm and we got ready. There were some strong cycles which had us wondering if it was going to get stronger, but it didn't and we launched around 3:15 pm.
Conditions were definitely high pressure and the thermals felt like you were climbing through an inversion the whole flight. Alot of broken lift with sharp edges to the thermals. I managed to work myself up to 9,700 msl and boated around that height for about 15 minutes. Then another thermal came through and got me up to about 10,900 msl. It was definitely hard to get up as the other pilots couldn't climb above 10,300 msl. The conditions were a little choppy up to about 10,300 msl, but smoothed out above that height. I finally got to 11,300 msl at about 5:00 pm. It seemed it was beginning to glass off at that time and there was light lift everywhere. We all flew to about 5:30 pm. Alex Hintz got to fly his new glider. I hope to get pics soon.
It felt good to get some late season flying. It may not be much longer for soaring conditions, so we are going to try to get up as much as possible until the snow really flies. Stay tuned for more late season blogging. Cheers
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