Eastern Washington Going Off

Thunder with all the clouds to match. - 360 degrees, building all day and now letting loose. Big Exciting Storm!

None-the-less:

Two days ago, looking for tandem sledders, Bob and I went to Bill and Nancy's new place.

Bill is a PG & Hang pilot who has not been flying all that much of late but is getting back in the game.

Their house on the hill sits right in the middle of the Needle in Yakima. High on the hill behind Bob's it has always tempted, but rotor worries and access has kept us from flying, though lots of flying was done round-about in the past by others - here? Don't know.

The face is classic ridge with a rounded top, a cross between Eagle and Kiona. Textured topography out front including a gauntlet gap make for some touchy exploration issues. It is generally a bowl with great SW heating and stands as the highest wind break ridge of the Yakima Ridge.

This morning before all the heat broke loose I made the calls and arrived at what we will now call "Nancy's."

Bill has been thinking lots about the best launch but I figured I would just use the hill in front of his porch. Sweet stuff - launching from you own "lawn." Not me yet but soon for Bill.

The flight, starting at 11:30 was increasingly thermic - flow speed was 5-7. Lift in the low 100's - defined house in SSE to S winds. Clearly a launch site on big Thermal days for those who live close. - where to go? West to 410 - North to Baldy and around. - ESE to Sunnyside(not often from S facing launch. And top landing sweetness. Pure ridge days will be a whole new story.

I flew for maybe 15 minutes and then slid down the gauntlet and learned some stuff. All in all a neat new site. It will take some careful exploration due to the topography, but slowly worked it may prove a very fun place to fly.

P.

Wenatchee take 4 - kinda.

1hr 45 minutes of battle at Baldy left three pilots on the ground and one lucky bugger still flying. - It happened that I was the bugger. Many times I have been on the other end of this crap shoot but today - well after the battle, not clearly won but ready to stop fighting I gave in and left on a frizbee at 5,000ft.

I have never left the butte that low, but there was lift, strong in places we just couldn't break through the inversion. I knew that if I kept fighting the butte had a better than average chance of ending my day as well so I figured take the frizbee and roll the dice at exit 11.

There are a couple of tricks that I know on the way to 11 and they were working and the low trigger just South West of the exit worked as expected. The problem with that lift trigger is that the thermal goes right into the firing range airspace.

Thanks to Wheelers maps I could track how close I was and play the corner. - I took the low trigger up till I had enough to push deeper. The second lift step really took me close to the corner but it worked and I scooted around and up. This gave enough altitude to push back to the ridge to the primary house. This took me up to well over 6,000 but I decided to wait until it developed more or I got to at least 7,500ft before leaving for the pocket glide.

This came sooner than expected and the glide cross the pocket had a nice surprise, a thermal mid pocket. Up and out with now easy glide to the Boylstons. A couple of sniffs and then I hit it. - What a Rocker. This was the first mega lift stream of the day. Entry into this thermal was the most dynamic and frightening I can imagine.

My inside wing lifted so high that I pendulumed way inside then swung back to the outside as I entered with a big pushback of my wing behind me then a surge forward as I snagged it. And add 50% to that description. I had at least 3 events like this during the flight from that point forward. The lift was so sharp and strong that it just gave me the willys.

Cloud streets set up at this point and they drew me back over the dreaded tiger country. Lift was so big I had to stay to the West of the clouds and it was a real battle of will between going deeper onto the Clockum(sp?) which meant going back into battle with the lift and clouds or giving in and sliding into Eburg. Each lift and cloud made me more committed. Mer was on the radio and kept track of my progress as she headed first toward Quincy then on the Wenatchee.

At one point I had an easy glide cross the Columbia NW of Crescent Bar but a cloud street was setting up back up into the hills just south of the Wenatchee air space. The line was lifty and I pushed back into it but it wasn't strong enough to grant me the clouds so I had to abort but that killed my slide to the easy retrieve side of the river.

I made it back to roads but way south of Wenatchee on the West side requires a bit of a drive for retrieve. Landed nice and had a quick pickup. Good fun but lots of work.

As a child I dreamed of climbing “My” mountain. We lived in Federal Way with a wonderful view of Mt. Rainier. My great grandfather’s proudest achievements was climbing that mass of rock, snow and ice.

In 1982 I created an opportunity to make a go of my childhood dream. I trained all winter, hiking the hills of Berkeley CA, I was completely wired to the task when our little team of three started out of Sherman on the Eastern flank at 11:00 p.m.

Eight hours later at 12,500ft. we were passed and became the last rope heading up the mountain. As a result of our slow pace, not because of me, but our leader, we had to go back down. I was heart broken. My despondency led to 30 minutes of unbroken tears in the tent at base camp. – That day I learned a lot about disappointment.

On Wednesday I experience disappointment, nearly the level of that day on Rainier but having many more opportunities for disappointment over my life I have grown a bit and Wednesday I smiled all day long. While I wanted to fly big on the biggest day and was in the air at the right place and right time, that I didn’t go big didn’t result in tears.

I have had so much joy flying the past 10 days and with two yet to come I just couldn’t get upset. The cause of my poor flight was the loss of my vario due to a software glitch. – I will be flying with a back up from now on.

The day was as massive as expected. Steve P. went 90 miles off Baldy South. The 90 mile task much of which was into the wind was completed by 4 pilots one of whom did it within the time window, validating the task. – Amazing, the biggest task in US history.

After my short 10k flight with quick retrieve I did another tandem, number 10 of the required 25.

Thursday was called due to winds and today should be very nice though not as big as Tuesday and Wednesday.

Below I inserted a bunch of photos from Tuesday for your viewing pleasure. – Top for me on Tuesday was over 12,000ft – very high.

P.

Monday

Wheeler and Me late in the Day

Monday was fantastic. Weather says that today and tomorrow may be even better.

Yesterday we had the same task, almost, as the last day of the Nats two years ago. A very big triangle from the Butte to Farmer and Leahy and home.

Lift was the best I have seen in EW. I launched near last do to standings. Prior to launch some of my fellow end of the liners pulled off our kits and helped fluff.

It worked fine except for a double riser twist that the dismount and mount caused. Launch was fine and climb was strong and I was at the top of the stack with 8 minutes to go to start.

Great start – and early climbs. On the way out from Farmer I took a West line aiming for a few clouds. Did not get under the clouds but did find a dusty that was just forming.

It was a big one and I was in the light dust when I got close, easily 2,000 agl and dust. I gently worked edge lift until I was about 2/3rds the way around it with lift getting stronger, then, kaboom – I was weightless my wing was down and I was falling with my instruments hitting me in the chest.

My wing had exited the thermal with such violence that the move is called by some going over the waterfall. – Wow first one for that. – Nothing to do but hang on.

Once things settled down I had a great climb to the clouds which had returned and topped over 12,000 feet.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and I flew until Glass, landing West of Mansfield after tagging Leahy.

P

Keep reading - More from last night about yesterday.

Just a quick update - I finished 87th today - boy would you all feel so sorry for me because it also was a personal best x 2 - Longest flight ever in terms of time and longest flight XC with doglegs. - total Distance by Leo method 58.7 miles and 141.90 leo points - 34 seconds under 5 hours.

The amazing thing is that tomorrow will be 10 - 15% bigger and the 21st 10% more than that with top of usable nearing 14,000. Now that is a day for ya.

'

More tomorrow

PWC Day One

PWC Day One

For my blog readers who don’t have all the skinny, the PWC is the Paragliding World Cup. There are two major international events the PWC and the Worlds. In the Worlds each country is allowed a team of 4 PG pilots. The best of each country comes to the Worlds which makes for both very good and very bad pilots in the air at the same time.

In the PWC you have to be in the top rankings,world wide regardless of your country so PWC events have much higher quality pilots on average. The Worlds is a one up event and the PWC is a tour of a number of events culminating in a final. The total number of pilots per event is cut off around 115. If enough international pilots do not come then local pilots will get in – again depending on rank or in my case because of exemptions from organizers, aka Aerial Paragliding. (Thanks guys)

The first day seemed windy in Chelan but once on top it was quite nice. We had an extensive pilots meeting with the “start time” held untill the very end to keep pilots at the briefing.

The task was very similar to the first task of the Nats. – A down wind run to Almira about 100k East past Coulee City. The start cylinder was 15k at farmer which is about 18 miles down wind so it was gong to be important to get an early start so I suited up even before the meeting was over.

Wind tecs including Doc and Doug H. were already skying so getting up wasn’t going to be an issue.

As expected the launch was opened 10 minutes after the meeting ended. It must have been quite a scramble at and prior to the gate because I went out on launch 3 minutes before launch and by the time the window was open for 4 minutes we had already launched 15 pilots.

I took lower launch green monster which was fine but there wasn’t a flow when the bell rang. I had to wait and Doug called down with the – “you going to go" call. - I needed a little puff. – then it came on nice. – I pulled up and caught a twister and couldn’t stay under my wing as it ran West. – I had to put it down – First botched launch this season if you don’t count one tandem.

While resetting, wing after wing launched / jumped over me. – Finally clear, launch was fine as was the climb out.

Top of lift at that point was around 7,000 feet which is just at the edge for an early day crossing. Very few of these pilots were on low end wings like mine so I expected to be by myself on the rim and knew I needed every foot of advantage, but at the same time wanted to stay with the crowd.

With the lead gaggle I headed out from about 6,800 and around 1/3 the way across it was clear I wasn’t going to make the rim with certainty. The lead gaggle was going to be the most difficult to stay with so I retreated back to launch and teamed up with, by that time, the third gaggle.

This crew was solid but anxious. Again we headed out at about 7,000 which is marginal for me and a little bubble got me circling 1/3rd the way across, though it only gave me a bit. By the time we were cross the river none of the leaders of the gaggle had found anything and I knew I would dust if I had to glide as far as they had already.

There is a field I call the cauliflower field because of its shape. A regular thermal pops out of the canyon just South of it and I saw no problem making that field so I left the pack and went for it. Unfortunately the lift I found was too small and too light to sustain and I ended up rimming the first day.

Retrieve included an hour hike and a 45 minute wait. Not a bad day all in all, but I would like to nail one when it counts.

Next Three Days look to be amazing for lift. – Get back up here soon Doc and throw one down.
P.

Rest Day

Friday was the day in between and Saturday was official practice for the PWC.

Friday we got up early and did some tandem training. - I got two more flights thanks to Sam C and friends. Then I went home to visit Gail for the day and returned in time for practice launch.

Saturday was one of those days you want to go forever - but we had a meeting at 7:00. The task was set - Butte to Mansfield to Soccer. This out and back about 55k total giving about 100leo points. The day was easy if the timing was right.

I launched late and had no problem skying the Butte in smooth thermals. - We broke for the rim as a crew of 6 and had no problem climbing up to over 8 on the rim. Our crew stayed together and picked up Chris A, who had waited for us, as a leader.

Four or five climbs with wings as markers made Mansfield a cake walk. We tagged the cylinder and headed back. Hear I hit my first sink/down. I got just a little worried till a dusty arrived to save the day. - Back to cloud base which was about 10,000 - 10,500 was top for the day. I had a buddy for that climb and the next glide.

On glide I saw two small dusties disappear and then 45 seconds later one BIG dusty appear. - Hmm. Well that one took me to over 10 again at the power lines and then I picked up the rim thermal to boost again to 8,500.

The soccer field was way down there so I figured I try a top landing at the Butte. I wasn't sure if my truck had been brought down so I hit three trees with 400 to spare and worked easily over launch. Yep the truck was there and I thrashed around in lift from all sides trying to fined a way to set up for landing.

Patricia called up that they had a driver (her) so I didn't have to land. But I wanted to see how it would go and it went fine. My final move was a bit lea side and Thibault called me to push out front which was the right call. - a little side slipping and I set down gently less than 6 inches from where I launched. - Right on launch just below a prepping pilot.

Thank you CJ b

The final day of the comp was a challenging day to fly. Similar to other moderate to high wind days in high pressure conditions the launch cycle produced a cramped sky. That is, lots of gliders in a small space.

Some who worked the tight quarters got up but I don’t feel fighting tight conditions when the air is bubbly is worth the effort. I would rather go to an alternate lift point and hope, than to fight and risk a big cost loss. Mid-airs are not fun.

I launched a bit too early and the slog fest was on. Leaving the gaggle I went lea side a bit and worked reasonable lift at three-trees. The wind was just a bit too strong west for me to feel happy working trees for long and once I was 400 over I pushed back to the west face.

That push didn’t pay off and I ended up sliding down the ridge and eventually landed river side a quarter mile west of the LZ. No worries though it was not a great day to fly and only a few pilots made goal.

The wonderful thing was, however, that CJ B was in the LZ and took me up on my offer of a tandem. I had to admit that it would be my first full on, off the training hill, tandem flight. ( I need 25 or so to get my T3 ). CJ is a rated pilot and I am allowed to fly such folk. The interesting thing is that Pilots understand the challenges of tandem and are rightfully wary of being a passenger with a new T1. Landings and takeoffs have a bit more risk.

On the way up to launch we met Frew on the way down in my truck. Thanks Frewzy – He said he didn’t fly due to the winds which were “Nuken.”

We got to launch and sure enough winds easily 25mph were blowing through. But on launch there were very clear cycles. The wind would blow for 2 minutes then go calm to light for 40 seconds then back to blowing again.

We watch and waited until the pattern was clear, with the intent to launch in the lulls. The plan worked great and we had a lovely flight. The landing was sweet with a strong wind making touch down as simple as pie.

Thanks for trusting me CJ you’re the cats pajamas.
P.

Blue Sky - No Photo - Day 5

Day 5

Wonderful day of flying on Wednesday.

The task was essentially an out and back from the Butte to Leahy and back via Withrow. Making it to Leahy was a challenge but not as hard as making it back. While the wind was light, it was out of the West/Northwest making the return trip a “slugfest” as a friend called it.

The conditions on launch were very nice, though we were capped at 5,000 until just before start.

I decided that I would take my chance with the launch line yesterday. In the past I have launched first or near the first in order to avoid waiting in line, but I figured 15 minutes on the ground wouldn’t hurt and as long as the line wasn’t huge. As it turned out that line forms real fast when it starts forming and I was lucky to be 20th or so.

The launch crew was doing a bang up job getting folk off between the rocks. They were offering Ants as an option. No one in line wanted Ants because Rocks was working so well there was no need to risk the rotor. By the time I was second up Rocks began to get light and I switched to Ants which worked great. The launch cycle was light but a strong run to the bottom of the launch hill worked fine.

I was in the air by 20 after noon and start was an hour and 10 minutes down the road. We went up and down in good thermals but didn’t get high until just before start. Often there are multiple thermal cores on the Butte and they can alternate. I happened to be further South when the main gaggle boosted up and just before start I caught the cycle to make top of the stack even though the stack was 400 meters North of me.

It is quite a site when 100 gliders all turn to start as a flotilla. I joined in a bit higher and 200 meters back. This was perfect position, giving me the ability to watch other gliders for lift lines and the rim thermal. At the rim the big gaggle North found lift quite far up Farnum and we found it in the next draw to the South.

This lift eventually took us to 7,000 feet and began the trek east. There were plenty of partners helping find lift on an all blue-sky day. On an out and back the line stays quite busy until you turn to head home. After the turn the number of gliders in your area drops off fast.

When I got to Leahy we were in light lift and I took it up to around 6,000ft. I should have milked it to 7,500 or so but with only 3k to go I figured I could tage out and back and regain my thermal without problem. BUT it was a problem. As usual two mistakes back to back usually ends a flight.

Heading to the turn point on the South ridge that defines the Leahy draw I saw an Orange wing on the North ridge and he seemed to be doing better than me in my mega sink. I headed more toward tat wing but that just pushed me further down into the valley and the sink. By the time I wised up I was very low, but just then I tagged and bugged out.

I did get back to the location of my previous lift but fairly low.

I flew through it looking for the strongest point of lift but missed it. I had a visual on the lift trigger but the thermal was leaning more when I got back so I ended up sinking on the windward side of the lift. Eventually I figured it out and returned to the bubbles but it was too little too late.

I couldn’t work the light stuff with the winds building and my flight ended right there.

The cool thing was that a retrieve crew from Colorado was following there own and waited for me. We had a great afternoon chasing Greg Kelly back to near the rim for a sweet retrieve.

Today is the last day – Should be great flying and a party to go.

Totals – Time in air 4hours, 34 XC miles and max altitude just under 9,000ft.`

Camera – I messed up my SD chip and lost two days photos.

Nats Day 4

Day 4 was a great day of flying. The conditions were some of the strongest I have flown and by far the strongest for me at Chelan. The cloud streets and lift were very big although not over developed.

I launched second or third - Thanks to Doug Hoffman for being a wind tec for us - great pilot and he showed us it was safe to launch.

Climbing above the Butte with a bunch of R 10.2s is quite exciting. - They are so fast you just have to get out of the way. The lift on the Butte was a bit challenging because of the strong lake side flow but the start cylinder was 10K so you didn't have to worry about getting blown too far down wind.

My start was ok - maybe 5-7 min late but I was just worrying about staying high, staying warm and staying out of the clouds.

I was with the second gaggle until it dispursed or headed down wind and by the time we were 20 minutes into the race I was very lonely. - Lift was everywhere with lots of cloud markers and dusties. I left my last lift at about 7,500 or so and had a long way to go to the next cloud.

About half way through my glide I noted a couple of wings catching light lift to my right and I turned to join them but by the time I got there they were gone and so was the lift.

Two trys for lift is all I got and my slide to the ground continued until its completion.

No compaints - I think I flew well and made ok decissions - got unlucky as far as timing and clouds but that happens. - All in all if I have a similar mental and performance day today it should pay off. We will see. - Today likely a triangle.

P.

Day 3 -

Day three, a Recap

Comps take so much energy and there is so much yackn with friends the blog is often an afterthought.

Today is an off day due to winds so I figured I would give a bit more robust report for the wondering eyes of this posting place.

Day one was very good flying however as I mentioned before I decided to forgo a great flight and make a stupid decision and cut my flight short.

The start cylinder on day one was 5k. This is about 2 k from the house thermal on the rim that I am use to flying. I figured that a big lift on the rim say to 8k would put me in great shape, maybe even above the flock when we met in the center at start time. The problem was that the Butte was giving 8,000 and the rim was only granting 6,000ft.

The result was that when I finally returned to tag the start and bug back for the rim I was too low to sustain the rim and I landed down by the river. –

Lesson learned: stay with the gaggle – Well that’s the lesson, I just can’t seem to learn it. This is at least the 4th time my arrogance and stupidity have ganged up on me.

Carnage report for day one: One R10.2 balled up and the pilot hucked with no injury. One asymmetric in front of the rocks resulted in a trip to the hospital for observation – injuries appear minor if any.

Day two – that is yesterday – was held down by inversion/ high pressure and west winds right at the max. Mer, Doc and I flew the very same day at Chelan two weeks ago and the results were just the same. For most of the launch cycle, from Green Monster, there was a ridge/thermic soaring fest right out in front. Very crowded, once or twice Doug called a hold on launch for safety to clear space in the air. Very hard to get high.

I didn’t think I would fly at all and spent most of the hour before start walking round and taking pictures. Most every one else was at least in line.

Finally a cycle of reduced wind with good lift flipped my decision matrix and I launched. After about 35 minutes of fighting I got to 5,000 ft but was drifting back fast and had no hope of staying with the comp wings. I pushed forward to get back to lift but it was fruitless. I just stayed safe and ended in the LZ.

Carnage report day two: – One hard impact near Sims with possible serious internal injuries. More info as released.

Day three called due to winds – I assume – I came home for a night in Air Conditioned bliss. – My bungalow in Chelan was one hot place Saturday night.

A VISIT TO DUMB Land

Today was a simple task - Follow the Leader 88 k out to Almira.
I made it hard by trying to be the leader. - This is the best way to get to dumb land and I got there fast.
Launching early because of my distain for lines I was at the top of the stack at 8,000 feet with 55 minutes to go to start - Not fun but doable. -
Rather than wait I crossed the river figuring I could return and tag rather than glide and time it. - Amazingly stupid.
I got across and was well esablished at 6,000 MSL over the rim but that wasn't enough to glide back to the 5k cylindar and then back to the rim lift so I dusted at the LONE PINE cafe and had a beer. -
The rest of the day was spent mopeing with a fellow competitor who also was unhappy with their day.

tomorrow - fly with the pack.
Dave

Day One

Winds look to be up a bit but we will likely still fly. Thanks to Karen for use of her bungalo. My fellow pilots don't want to talk with me about lodging. - It is expensive round here or crowded at Bee Bee campground.

Sign in went fine and it looks like we will be having lots of fun.

Friday's flight was short - inversion cap at 4,500 to 5,000 - Doc made exit 11.

Wednesday at Baldy

Wednesday shaped up to be a wonderful day to fly. Winds were just a bit out of the North but generally quite light and variable. Baldy at 1:00 was flowing up on all sides. As we were waiting for the South cycles to kick in a number of small dusties ran right up the spine from the West. This condition can make launch quite challenging - at least launching to the South on the main launch. What happens is that the main house thermal to the West of launch just cranks straight up and spins off the dusties up the ridge line. They run right through launch but a cycle flow never gets established from the South.

I continue to be a proponent for the West launch in all but strong South and SSE conditions. While it is a bit lower and less conducive the communal aspects of gear prep the cycles on light and switching days come right out of the house thermal. I will keep encouraging West launches on light days and hope it catches on.
When we got to launch the flow was North but it was getting lighter and we knew it would clock around to the West if not full SW by launch time. On South launch we got ready an the small black bag from the convenience store that held my water and candy bar was grabbed while we weren't looking. The water and candy were on the ground but the Bag was at 300 ft AGL and climbing - We watched it until we couldn't see it any more. - Obviously it was working.

I went down to West launch, set up and after about 5 minutes caught a cycle that worked just fine. The lift was very solid in the ridge house and after a simple slide down the ridge to the West in 300 up, back again I was in the core and easily 300 over before my first full circle. The house was strong and smooth, it was big and I only hit an edge once or twice and they were not sharp. We launched late, almost 1:45 if I am correct, so the thermal was full on and with almost no overcast I didn't top out until almost 8,000 ft. This was the highest house thermal at Baldy this year.

By the time I topped out the rest of the crew were still frustrating there selves on the South launch and I wanted to fly team. I knew it would take at least 15 to 20 minutes before they either caught a South cycle or gave up and went West. I didn't want to hang around at the top of Baldy, not a nice place to fly so with no prevailing direction I pushed out for West Selah Butte figuring I could get there, top off from the Selah lift and then return to Baldy to team up when the rest of the crew was in the air. - In the process I could get some extra LEO points for a short leg.

The plan worked just perfect. The Selah lift was as strong and located spot on expected. I topped it out at 8,000 again and turning around I saw a couple wings in the air and at least one on West launch.

By the time I got back to the hill two of three were above me and my flying buddy was at eye level. We climbed out well and headed for Menastash together.

Cloud dynamics were in play most of the day, not marking thermals but casting shadows over lift triggers and collectors. There was a fairly thick, transient overcast that played with us all day. When we headed East the North end of Menastash was shaded and there was just a bit of sun on the South end of the ridge's collector.

The South end worked very well and the boomer that we caught near the firing center boundary was nutso. Ralph was scratching both sides of the hill and eventually got higher than me. Mer also got up high and headed out before me into a sink fest in the pocket. The middle of the pocket is usually a good line but not Wednesday. Both Mer and Ralph lost a ton as I was dottling on the South end of the ridge. Mer realized the sink was going to make the Boylstons tough and returned to the thermal I was in and cranked it up with me. Ralph continued on and ended up scratching on the Boylstons and I think his day ended near there.

Mer and I continued deep into the pocket. Thanks to Wheelers maps on my 76S I was able to take the biggest thermal of the day right up to the airspace boundary without breaking it. We had 7 m/s lift, at one point the pitch and frequency was just crazy and when I looked at my 5030 it was stuck at 6739 and not moving the altimeter couldn't keep up with the rapid change in altitude - never seen that before.

After topping the Boylston lift I headed due North 500 ft or so outside the airspace line for better part of a mile and when I cleared Golf I headed over Hotel and overflew it's 5,500 ft cap on the way to the Black Spot.

Lift was plentiful and strong transitioning to the Windmills but heading East didn't seem in the cards as a very large N/S cloud had set up over the Columbia. It was easily a mile wide, and looked like the Morning Glory convergence. It was too high to catch lift at it and I figured once near it and crossing the shaddowed ground would result in certain dusting just over the East rim of the river.

The other options include going South toward Saddle but the cloud really made that option unlikely as well so North by North West it was and work round the hills North of Kititas and Eburg.

The last of the windmills are quite far North and at the top of the hill marked nice lift. The lift kept pushing me deeper and deeper up the Colockum. But by that time, almost 5:00 or so I was certain that the plateau wouldn't sustain a run to Wenatchee. I skirted the lovely fingers about 10 miles North of the farm/hill transition At the top of each canyon was a lift zone, each encouraging me to go deeper and farther but I needed to stay South for a glide out to retrieve.

Uuugh one more lift and, can I make the next ridge? - yep made it but too low - this isn't good - the last ridge I got to was too high or I was too low and I slid all the way down the back side of the lift till I was maybe 300 over. To the South was a West facing ridge I could work down but it was steep and more trees than I wanted.

A quick decision was needed. - Either land on top of the ridge right there or roll the dice and see if I could slide down the ridge catching lift to keep me out to the trees. Last time I faced that call was at Woodrat and I didn't like the sliding into the trees option. So I decide to land way up in the hills. The flow was upslope and as I set up I found myself too high as the hill dropped away precipitously. 180 back up the hill and down wind. - Now the hill was approaching so quickly that I couldn't turn back for a up wind landing.

Down wind and upslope - dam - well a little road rash on my right forearm and hip are a simple reminder to make those calls a little sooner.

At least cell coverage was good until I got lower in the canyon, but it was still an hour hike down to the road and then a three mile ride in a helpful neighbor's Miata to the gate that was keeping Dr. K from and Jill from getting to me. Boy they had a long retrieve, and Jill missed her daughters birthday - what a sweetheart. Thanks for the mega retrieve.