timobarker wrote:... flight tomorrow from Santa Ynez. Are you interested? Any sage advise or wisdom if you can't make it?
I like the idea of flying the full length of the range from Santa Ynez Peak. It’s the highest location on the west end, even higher than La Cumber Peak. I've got a lot less experience on the west side of 154 compared to a dozen or more local pilots. I've flown over Santa Ynez Peak a number of times, but have only launched there once. Not actually right at the Peak due to the communications antennas, but from one of the clearings near the road to the west. The ridge line is pretty accessible via 2WD vehicle from Refugio. My recollection is that the road is mostly paved, but narrow, winding, and slow.
Despite the obvious appeal, I haven't made the trek a reoccurring pilgrimage for a number of reasons. As Tim noted, the ride to launch is long. You can likely get there just as fast by flying to Santa Ynez Peak from the Skyport. The range on the west side of Hwy 154 is shallow compared to the mountains behind Santa Barbara, so the glides out can be long. Being toward the west end of the range with a large valley to the north, it has little protection from north wind, and if you invest an hour and a half driving up to ridgeline from Santa Barbara an it's wafting from the north, you don't really have an option to go lower from protection.
If Santa Ynez Peak was the only option around, I'd consider the mountain to be a Mecca, but compared to our more quickly accessible mountains offering multiple launches off the road, it is problematic. That said, I still like the challenge of starting from there and running the range to Fillmore, but I'm not convinced today (Wednesday, 1/28) is the day to do it. If you drag a bunch of pilots up there for mediocre flights, they will be disinclined to repeat. The key to scoring is to pick your day. Yesterday (Tuesday) seemed like a colorful day to fly with inviting numbers, but today seems to be "mostly cloudy" / overcast on the satellite images. The heating will be less and the lapse rate weaker, plus it is a bit prefrontal with some flow from the SE, so not really downwind back to SB early.