rolling nuthouse dice

[andy dainsberg]

art, marty and i hit the nuthouse today w/ an out and back chief peak goal. art launched 2nd @ 11:45 and rolled snake eyes. straight down, to land nicely at the road. it had been strong in for 25 minutes and right after his launching it died completely except for some weak east twitching. meanwhile marty miraculously worked his way back up from the deck to professionally topland and wait it out with me. it came back on. i launched @12:30 and was up and out fairly quickly. at the east end of nuthouse ridge i got up to about 4300 and sailed east over the pyramid to the east end of nordhoff ridge where it was booming and edgy. it felt great to be in ojai air~ strong lift you can sink your teeth into... marty took the thermal there back to nordhoff peak... from stooges and with a nice tailwind i intersected chief spine about 3/4 of the way from twin peaks to the ridgeline road; an odd canyon crossing line but with the altitude, wind and lift it worked great. at the spine, i was granted nonstop lift that rapidly got me over the top of chief peak with 6800+. still climbing and heading south back over the road, i found a sweet line straight over bruce's to nordhoff ridge losing only about 1.2K with another cooperative tailwind. was at @ 3500 over the high school when i spiraled down. marty followed with an infinite SAT. bittersweet day tho when your buddy rolls snake eyes at the nuthouse.

[Marty DeVietti]

Credit goes to Art for sharing with me that the little spur below and right of launch can sometimes be a last ditch 'get up' some time ago...It was the ticket for me to get back in the game after a near repeat flush right after Art down the spine. It could have happened to any of us, as the timing was truly a factor today. 12 noon seems to be the magic time, and anything earlier is 'dicey'. I got to roll twice, but that was likely a one time event for me, as I can't imagine the conditions allowing a repeat top landing like that one.

1200 fpm lift at times, long booming climbs and an out an return with a convergent tailwind everywhere you go? Yep, sounds like an April 1 posting, especially with the lapse rate for that day (which, by the way seems to never be accurate for the NH) but it was a magic day in Ojai, and I look forward to more. Stellar flight Andy, you busted some sweet moves up high, and FAST too!

Don't forget the bug juice!

M