GO NORTH OLD MAN

Last Saturday, June 13, Karl Sommer flew 352 miles from Crystal to Austin, NV while Peter Kovari and Barry McGarraugh flew 313 to Gabbs, NV.  And on his first ever sortie with the Squadron Niv Levy at least got out of town, and probably learned a ton.  Here are their versions of the day. Karl’s report:  What would we do without Blipmap?  It was pretty much on the money again, it showed less OD up the Sierras than the previous day that is why the consensus was heading N, 01Q, C3 and PK.  We left in that order close one after the other thanks to Chris around 11:00.  I got up to 12.2K easy and left with 01Q close behind.  Found lift at the SW corner Rosamond dry lake to 9.4K, the low point was 6.4K short of Mojave, found enough to chase to the black cloud over the Barren ridge but it started to rain so I veered N got to 10K.  Found a thermal short of Walker pass to 13K, cruised the ridge to Olancha looking at some nasty OD up there, got a report “Inyos look clear all OD is on the Sierras” sure enough crossing over (14K) it looked good.  Abeam Manzanar up to 15K, 16K at Westgard Pass, left White Mtn Peak 16.6K heading for clouds at Mina.  Turned out not as good as expected, managed to get enough to glide into Gabbs, arrived with 8.5 at the mine and worked a lazy thermal up to 12K with PK.  Peter then headed E for a lonely cloud, I opted for Austin and found a wisp of a cloud to 14.3K, enough for Austin.  While circling to call PK to join me I see him chasing for Gabbs thru the pass with a few feet to spare, oops.  No need to call.  My glide to Austin was all blue sky, nice looking clouds out of reach to the E looked like they were laughing while I flew thru sink 600’ to 800’ that did not wanted to stop.  The computer insisted I had it made but it looked flat, passing the last hills into the farmland I found lift again, relaxed and enjoyed the scenery waiting for Rose to get closer.There is construction at the Airport.  Looks they are building a transient area, could not push the glider close to the Hangars for disassembling via the taxiway (gate number still the same).  We needed some gas so we went up to the town and called the Pony Canyon Motel, got the last room.  That was a mistake:  bad bed and a fan that sounded like a B-17 taking off.  Not much sleep.Gas Station open 7AM--10 PM.  Nice Day, good Outing, flight on OLC 7:39 hrs.  Peter’s report: Saturday, June the 13th turned out to be like predicted;   very interesting and strong but a dicey cross country day.  It certainly was not June-like but more like July or August with lots of moisture and over development, a strong day with very high thermal tops. I launched number three after ( 01Q) Barry and (C3) Karl right about 11AM.  Releasing at the second ridge I climbed very slowly and after moving near Mt. Lewis I managed to struggle up to about 11K, more or less cloud base and get on my way north toward Rosamond Dry Lake.  Carl and Barry, now well on their way, reported good climb at the south west corner of the dry lake bed which I did connect with, taking me back up to 9k.  Heading toward the Three Sisters/ Barren Ridge area I saw a large cloud formation over the high ground, stretching out eastward over the ridge lines and beyond.  Despite the early hour there were lots of virga visible by Cache Peak and Kelso.  After hearing Karl report poor conditions over the hills I opted to stay at the east edge of the cloud streets, more or less over the flats.  Although the lift was not very strong here either, it was nice and steady and took me toward Boomer Ridge.  Just south of Boomer, over Walker Pass I connected with very strong lift, taking me above 14k and well under way toward Olancha.  The clouds north of Owen’s Peak started to thicken and I ran very fast under cloud base at 14-15k in very turbulent lift, just barely managing to stay clear of clouds and under the rough air limit for my glider.  Finally I moved out to the east edge right over the ridgeline in order to have an escape route and less thrashing.Near Olancha Peak things started to OD in a bad way on the Sierras just west of me.  Lots of virga and lightning caused me to cross the valley a bit early at 14k to the Inyos.  Arrived low on the Inyos just below 10k.  Unfortunately due to a southwesterly flow the shear line was setting up on the east side of the ridge line.  I had a heck of a time finding some bug f...t thermal on side of the hill near the rocks, but eventually it got me on top of the ridge under nice cu’s where finally things got really good.  Easy run to the White Mountain range now.  Once I connected with the first thermal at Schulmann Grove, although it started slow it eventually turned 7-8kt average to 17999’.  A quick run to Boundary Peak, leaving the Whites just under 17999’, well under way to Mina.  (The thought passed my mind to go for the Kingston Valley area instead but among the clouds that I could see there were plenty of OD visible there as well.  Later I learned that some guys going through there were making huge flights - Oh well!)  A good long glide had Gabbs made even before reaching Mina.  Unfortunately just about the same time the cu’s disappeared I entered the blue hole; little lift but more sink.  Arrived just east of Gabbs over the hills and mine, joined Karl in a very light slow thermal, trying to continue.  Saw some nice looking clouds further northeast near the Ione Valley and mountain ranges and decided to go for it since I had a little spare altitude. As I got closer, I kept an eye on my glide computer as I was careful not to let my safety margin (1500’agl) back to Gabbs disappear. Sure enough I could not reach this cloud so as planned I did a 180 and then I had the “OH S..T” moment!The “glide over terrain” feature on the glide computer showed minus 500 feet back to Gabbs now as I was pointing in the opposite direction, and I was likely be trapped in the Ione Valley!  The pucker factor 0-10 on a Richter scale went to about 6 ( should have been a 10 but there were a couple of very landable road sections nearby that we deemed ok a couple of years ago, however they were a long retrieve).  I made a straight line for the mountain pass / road between Gabbs and Ione and managed to glide safely but low over the pass back to Gabbs where I landed gladly and joined Barry who already was on the ground.Karl managed to scratch his way to Austin. Barry’s report: Karl, Sean, Niv Levy, and I headed up the Owens Valley Saturday.  Niv is new to the group and I believe that this was his first straight out.  Welcome Niv!  There were concerns with over development on the Sierras and around the Clark Mtn area, but the lower predicted thermal heights in the Vegas area (~11K) cinched our decision to head north.  Dr Jack’s prediction showed dryer conditions east of the Sierras, so it looked like the trick would be to get past the Olancha area before it over developed and got shut down.  Cu’s were starting to form up on Baden Powell and Mt Lewis at 10AM, so we all decided it was time to get going.  I was off tow at ~10:45 and up to cloud base at 12K over Baden Powell at 11:30.  I chased Karl across the desert in smooth blue air until we got to the SW corner of Edwards restricted airspace where we found moderate lift to ~9K in the vicinity of the water treatment facility.  Another good thermal over Mojave got us connected to the clouds forming on the Barren Ridge and on our way north.  I could see heavy cloud development to the north, so it was time to pick up the pace and get moving.  Karl and I were cruising between 10-13K between the Cal City area and Walker pass where we got a good climb and connected with Boomer ridge.  Dark clouds and Virga were forming to the west of the ridge in the Sierra interior, but a nice flat bottom cloud street got us quickly past Olancha and up to the switchbacks.  It was really black and raining around Mt Langley and Mt Whitney so it was time to cross over to the Inyos which were clearly much drier with nice cu’s.  A nice climb south of New York Butte got me back up to 13K and cruising between 14-17.5K along the Inyos and White Mtns to Boundry Peak.  Somewhere along here, Sue and I developed radio issues, so I declared Gabbs via relay through Peter and headed into a big blue hole toward Mina.  A little after 4PM I arrived over Gabbs in the blue at 9K, but there were dozens of dust devils drifting to the east across the Gabbs valley and wispy clouds forming about 10 miles north of the airport.  I encountered nice lift and could have climbed back up, but I was getting really fatigued and since I had already told Sue that I was going to be at Gabbs, I burned off altitude put it on the ground around 4:25.  Karl and Peter got to the Gabbs area about 20 minutes later and worked the mtns to the east of the airport.  Peter nearly got trapped in the Ione valley but managed to slip back into Gabbs and landed around 5:30.  Karl got a good climb and on glide to Austin where he landed around 6:30.  Sue and Sean got to the airport a little while later, and we got both of the Gabbs gliders back in the trailers and ready to hit the road to Hawthorne ~6:30 or so.As I was pushing my last wing into the trailer, officer Stark (the local sheriff) showed up and was quite interested in what was going on.  He had seen us at the field several times in the past, but had always gotten there too late to see what was going on. I guess gliders landing on the airport in Gabbs is big news!  We got to Hawthorne around 7:45 and checked into our motel.  We decided to walk down to the only restaurant in town and discovered that they now close at 8PM on Saturday.  Bummer.  So now its time to hike back to the only other restaurant in town at the El Capitan casino where we enjoyed the gastronomical delights offered there - and survived!  After breakfast the next morning we split up and Peter and Sean headed back south, while Sue and I headed back home through Lee Vining and June Lake.  All in all it was a great weekend of soaring topped with a nice drive home the next day. Niv’s report: Sadly, I expect the ratio of words to distance is much worse than others. We got to crystal on the late side (10:30 am), to find PK assembled, and launching soon - Peter told me they would be going north (I found out later that C3 and O1Q were already airborne).  Managed to get to the line by 11:15 but then the tow needed fuel, so I wasn’t on tow until noon.  Climbed to 11K around second ridge, not bothering to get more height on the mountains, and headed out.  Promptly managed to get lowish (~4000 agl) north of Palmdale.  After climbing, I kept going along the edge of the Edwards restricted zone and tried to continue north - northwest - I wasn’t sure what to do about the airspace, which biased directions.  There were well (and in retrospect, over-) developed clouds a bit to the west so I headed there, only to find myself rained on, and then it got worse.  Hightailed it back to Lloyd’s landing, just barely holding; first over LL landing, but I then backtracked to a nice cloud over Little Butte - that worked and I climbed back up to 12+, looking at the pouring rain over the airport a few miles away.  At some point Peter asked my intentions - thought for a second of heading back, but once I was up at cloud base I decided that since the point was to get some distance, and clouds again looked good NW, I’m continuing.  Headed north (really NW) again, keeping Tehachapi and then PSK R in range. managed to get to the ridge above the PSK valley, and was looking to climb to go to flying S about 15m away.  However, some nice wisps never gave good climbs (maybe 500ft) and just dissipated - I was 300 ft above 20:1 to flying S, but seeing a range between us, haze and good clouds that looked to be overdeveloping (and not knowing of strips there), I headed back to PSK R - from this point, I was just getting lower and lower, trapped in the valley. Eventually landed at PSK R - which is pretty much an abandoned airport. Only the first 6-700 ft is really clear, but it’s actually a much nicer surface than Crystal.