by Chris G » Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:32 pm
Ahhhhh-sum! Alexei G met me at the HS and we were on the trail by 10:30. We already had clouds popping to the West and a few wisps were starting to form over the NH ridge. I was a little concerned about the moisture coming up from Ventura and shutting us down but cycles were good on launch, if a little long between big ones. Alexei was off first in a perfect cycle and he nearly hit ridge level straight up from launch. This was his first flight at the NH so he didn't get to experience the scratch-fest. He was transitioning to Pyramid by the time I got off in shadier cycles but the climb was still relatively easy. We could tell it was going to be a bit edgy but lift was plentiful and by now we had nearly solid 4200ft cloud base all the way across Nordhoff. We had a definite East aloft with West lower which made transitioning to Stooges and Twin peaks tricky but lift upon arrival was fat and predictable and cloud base over Chief's was closer to 5k. We made one pass up the spine before Alexei opted for heading back to the HS. Fillmore looked doable but I wasn't keen on pushing East solo so we took the glide home.
The air was definitely textured to an extreme but the prospect of cloud base made it worthwhile. Base got considerably higher the further East you went and texture seemed to mellow some as well. At Chief launch level it was really pleasant.