Saturday, January 17, 2009

Valle - Day 5 - Classic

Friends on Launch

Great clouds, super air and lots of sun made for a great 5th day. My goal for the day was to go for El Pinion, the big rock in all the pics, then over the back to the mesa and then down the ridge to the end, after that back to the convergence and work the line and finish with a lake lz landing.
The hard part was accomplished and the easier stuff, working the convergence, turned out to be more challenging.
I should have stopped at the wall to tank up on the way out - I would have had an easier time. I found myself stuck at the pinion for quite a while working up and down in ragged thermals.
I final caught a good one and topped out at 9900 and went to the mesa. Check the Video!

At the east end I caught a sweet ride to base and worked a cloud street to the end of the ridge.A the end of the ridge it took 10 to 15 min of no guarantee scratching to get back up and then along the front of the ridge to crazy thermal. It was!
After topping back in the clouds I went via streets to sacramacati where I dirted up on the plateau just behind la pinetas.
Believe it or not there was very little lift under this cloud.

Great place to land but a bit of a hike down to the road. - Luck was with me as a 17 year old young man came and helped with the wing and hiked it out for me. -(50 pesos) Lots of down hill trail work for my tired old legs.

After the hike I caught a cab to the lunch stop and then into town to arrive at 5:40. Cab rides total cost including one to launch: 110 p. or about 9 dollars. - Room cost 23.50$ - food and beer priceless! - AMAZING
Great flight - enjoy the pics and check out the track on Leo.
Summary: 11,010 or so. Flight time 3:02hrs.
Distance over 11 miles of flight and a sweet FAI triangle score.

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