Nuthouse 11/27

[Chris G]

Wasn't sure where I wanted to go today. I did the Nuthouse yesterday and thought I'd give my legs a break but with a 22º spread in SB and a 26º spread in Ojai I couldn't justify driving to SB. Andy "heat seeker" Dainsberg was on the ball and quickly joined, bringing Ron Faoro along as well. We called an 11:00 meet time just because it was going to take longer for things to heat up under the scuds. Started up the hill at 15 past and hit the top right at noon. Cycles were good, stronger than they had been the last few days I've been up there but quickly lulled, making us hesitate. Ron finally got out around 12:45 and climbed out without much drama. I followed and Andy was right behind me. Climb to the ridgeline was straight-forward, topped at 3k and continued East with Andy catching up fast. Connections were simple and lift was plentiful and strong with 1k/min on occasion. A very light West wind helped us along, a welcome change from the East. Ron was leading the charge when we hit Nordhoff and was working his way up to the tower. Andy and I found a stellar climb on the West end which boosted us to 4600 where he peeled off for Bruce's. I stuck with it and picked nearly another 1k feet out of it. It smoothed out considerably above 4600 with a slight drift toward the tower. Ron was lingering low near the tower and Andy was hard-charging for Twin Peaks already. I followed with 5500 even with the tower and skipped stooges. Andy and I arrived at about the same time at Twin Peaks, Andy opting for a deeper but very successful point while I went out front. We met at the top and struggled for 15 minutes, making unsuccessful attempts to run up the spine. Ron came across super low and we were sure he was going to end up at Thacher. I finally got a half decent cycle to 4k and rather than trying to push up the spine, decided to run for repeater. Arrived at the top just as Ron was making his epic save from Twin Peaks, and scratched in vain for 10 minutes. By the time I'd had enough Ron was at 4800 over TP and heading back to the HS. Andy quickly followed and it looked like I was either following, or pushing East on my own. I made a very low run back to TP, inspired by Ron's epic save, and had no problem getting back up. Andy and Ron were connecting to Nordhoff as I hit 4800 at TP and pushed across to Stooges. Ron and Andy had considerable drift in strong lift at Stooges which isn't my favorite connection point. I usually skip it if I can but arriving at 3300 just wasn't going to cut it for the jump to Bruce's. Strong, sharp, and drifty but it got me to 3900 making the glide to Bruce's relatively uneventful. I've probably done that glide from that altitude 100 times but it still puckers me up when I hit the downwind sink-hole. Bruce's was working low and Ron and Andy were at the West end just above ridgetop. I wasn't able to get much above 3700 so pushed on across the front spines low, arriving at the West end with 3000 as Ron and Andy took the glide back to the HS. Fortunately the West end was working, though I'd had my worries now being 2.5 hours before sunset, with significant cloudcover. Made 3900 and took the easy glide to the HS, landing on the 50 yard line with Ron and Andy.

Fantastic day especially considering the cloud-cover. It didn't seem to mellow things out at all, nor did conditions later in the day. It was sharp, fast and small right to the end. Just after we landed the whole ridge shaded under a huge scud. Our timing couldn't have been better. It was great to finally have a crew to team-fly with.

We have a permit for Chief's this weekend. I'm pretty sure I have a driver for Sunday so if we make the call for Cheif's Saturday, and you happen to have a driver, call me or OJ and let us know! All you P2s that I turned away from the Nuthouse, now is your chance to fly Ojai. Gotta make sure we know you're coming so we can save seats...If we make the Ojai call.

[faoro]

That was the biggest s*#!-eating grin I've ever seen on Taliban Chris' face when we landed!

Strong, manly lift; excellent, two hour adventure in the sky above Ojai.

[Chris G]

Seems manlier now that we're on the ground. Some of that lift had me wondering if I'd need new shorts.

[Chris G]

Video du-jour. http://vholdr.com/node/53529

[andy dainsberg]

after coring the west end boomer w/chris i thought we'd all make Fillmore before sunset so i was off from there like a missile eastbound. ~ ~ ~ the low path chris took to w repeater got him there great but then the lift was sketched. getting large over cpeak and taking the highridge would be necessary for me. i tried hard to scale chief spine but couldn't quite nail the road. so i round tripped. chris had the altitude and distance of the day and ron learned that he has bionic legs and will be doing the nuthouse w/us forever more.

the "getting something for nothing" factor of todays nhouse flight was spec.