Launching at about 1 pm, the start time was the usual 1:30 pm. The start was the Burnt mtn again. I decided today to go to Burnt to get high for the start. I get there and Burnt was not working as well as Woodrat was. Most of the pilots decided to stay at Woodrat. Go figure, the day I go to Burnt it's not working great.
Getting the start, all of us had to get to Rabies Ridge go west toward the Murphy turnpoint. Good climb out on Rabies, and then looking for the convergence followed the ridge toward the turnpoint. It worked well. What was interesting about this task was you had to go into the valley to hit the turnpoint, come back to terrain to climb out. After getting back to the terrain, it was not easy. There were about 4 of us working broken bubbles and trying to find a core. In and out of the bubbles gave us a net climb, but it was hardly substantial. As we worked together we got enough altitude to make a move to the big valley crossing for the second turnpoint. On the way there I got to hook up with about 3 other pilots and we got a great climb before making the go ahead across the valley. It was fun to see glide and performance on the gliders as we made the crossing. It was smooth and all the pilots were pushing full bar.
Once on the other side, working up the ridge to the turnpoint broken climbs got me to the top of the turnpoint Tallowbox (sp?), and then a Bald Eagle comes over to check us out. I got excited hoping he would show us the way, but he just checked in and checked out. After climbing out with pilots, I decided to follow my friend Luis, and Brian decided to head straight to Rabies. This was another valley crossing. Getting to the terrain on the other side, Luis found a bubble and began to get a little climb, but the air turned out trashy. This bowl and area is called China Gulch and is famous for rotor and reserve tosses. Luis got enough of a bubble to head to higher terrain, I got the trash and rotor and got the big flush. Trying to find something I headed into the bowl of Rabies Ridge, and finally found a bubble to sustain me to the ridge. I then got the best climb of the day and my highest altitude to 8400 feet msl. Could not have come at a better time.
In China Gulch two pilots I was flying with ended up on the dirt. I was the lucky one that got out of there. I remembered the words of Nick Greece. Never give up. Boy I was close, though.
Finally on glide to the last turn point, I had hooked up with my friend Chris on an Icepeak 6 and we glided towards Johns. Close to being there we found a slow climb to guarantee making the turnpoint and then heading back into the headwind which wasn't that strong, it seemed like we hit the seam. With an easy return, made goal with 1500 feet agl to spare. Goal finally. Results will be in the next post.
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