Pine Mountain to Crestline San Bernandino 109 miles

[Tony Deleo]

Saturday looked good on paper Bob Hurlbett, Ron Faro and I headed to takeoff. Ron and I were flying around even with takeoff in "'uneven" air. I was questioning the viability of this and was wondering how Ron was handling the whole thing. With Ron above me we climbed to near cloud base and went on glide to Lockwood Valley in a 10 mph northeast headwind. I tanked up on the west side of Frazier and went on glide to Booster Junction and the Liebre Mountains with a little cloud start to form on the southside of same. There appeared to be a strong inversion as far as the eye could see, with the exception of The San Gabriel Mountains east of Frazier Arriving at the cloud at 6k I fished around with my bailout being the west side of Highway 5 near the access road to Pyramid Lake. It took me about 45 minutes to get connected. On the "high" point east of me I went to 15K and continued to go on glide on the Liebres in the northeast quartering "head" wind. My plan was to stay with the Liebres until the stopped working and then drop into the Antelope Valley and continue heading eastward. Small clouds continued up ahead. We had joked on the way up the hill about flying to the Robb Kells Memorial and Dean's contest and now it was unfolding. East of Bouquet Resorvoir I turned more southerly and flew over the Leona Valley towards The Sierra Peloma Mountains with "wispy" clouds forming, unfortunately east of Bouquet Resorvoir I did not take the time to max out in the thermal I was in which had me intersecting the crest of The S.P. Moutains with 7k or 1000 ft. agl. Arriving at Mount Mc Dill just west of Avenue S and crusing pretty much even with the crest It was now decision time to jump back on the north side of the LIbres into the "lee" or to continue south down thru Hauser Canyon. I was now below the crest circling in marginal lift with the nearest impact zone at the entrance of the canyon. I worked a weak thermal in which I gained 500' and from there I could see a better landing area east of Acton up against the mountains. I would first have to cross this spine than ran down the east side of Hauer Canyon. Down to 800 agl I rounded the corner of the spine and immediately hit a strong thermal ! It was drifting out of the southwest. At 8K and not having topped out I wents on glide to the clouds forming at Acton just north of Highway 14 just east of Avenue L. At 10k I pushed ahead into The San Gabriels and Mount Emma and the sehar line forming over the San Gabriels. Over Big Tujunga Road with Mt. Gleason east of me I went to 12,300. I was now on glide to Pleasant View Ridge intersecting the ridge from the Southwest. There is definetly no place to land back there! A head was Mount Badin Powell. At that time I could pickup Little Johns transmissions from Crestline. At the crest of the San Gabriels I went on glide for Mount San Antonio. Down to 11,300 and just short of Mount San Antonio I tanked up to 13K for the final glide to Crestline. On final glide over Lytle Creek I arrived at The San Bernadino Mountains with 10k with a slightly less than auspicious landing I had arrived at the party/celebration/contest where I was able to meet with a number of friends. 5 hours 109 miles.

[Leeside]

Hey Tony, when this Pine season is over for you I think it would be cool if you could post the hours and milage you flown this past season from Pine. Damn impressive so far. Flying solo to death valley deserves a medal of valor at least.