Pine XC spree

[andy]

Good day at pine, pilots were dribbling over the back all day and going to lockwood and farther. Reports had Diablo going to Lone Pine. Dean took the day for the bag crew. Ron Faoro and I landed at Gorman and a bunch more landed at the truck stop. Tom P. came cruizin in to the truck stop as we were all winding down and loading up, he launched after 2:30 and made it, leaving Frazier with over 14k.
Dean and I were off to the races early and were going well looking for a big day. Then I fell into the insinkerator close to the 138 interchange after leaving Frazier with 15.5 I couldn't even make quail lake, then the rotor and turb down in the pass coming back to Gorman was crazy. Dean ended up somewhere near the cement plant.
Was strong sharp thermals, cores were smooth, but don't leave early. It was cold as shit above 13k, and at 15k my fingers hurt so bad I could hardly stand it, but it was so turby I was afraid to let go of the brakes to shake them out. Lots of crazy glides with sink/turb/sucker pops, hard to feel good using bar, but had good speeds most of the way to Frazier.
What a good way to start the XC season.
Time to hit the hay.
Thanks to Ron M, and Mike for driving!
Andy

[Chip Bartley]

Sweet redemtion

Although the meet time was 0930, I started early and picked up my buddy Mike who agreed to drive for the day. We pulled in to the High School at about 0850. I figured I would be the only one. I was wrong, there was Bob P., Tom Pipkin who said a quick hello and jumped in with Tony D. to head up. Art was next and the usual suspects filed in one after another. We quickly figured out the vehicle situation and did the pilot shuffel to Pine launch.

Once at launch the cycles started to move in on us quick and that deep distinct howling pine sound was on. As soon as we started working our way down to launch with the gear we noticed smoke rising up from the sand pile. It grew quick as a brush fire started to spread. half of us started to set up to launch before the fire spread. The other half where aprehensive because we new the choppers and planes would be moving in soon. Faoro had his wing laid out in a flash and launched after a couple snags. We all slowly set up as we watched Ron sink out to the left of the Bonsai. The sighs and ooh's and ahh's slowed the hustle and we watched Ron disapear behind the spine. Deano set up like the man of steal and launched heading to the left following Tony D's lead and headed up. Art was close behind and low and behold we saw Ron hook a boomer at the last minute and he started benching up following the smoke from the fire. This awesome save revived the attitudes at launch. Cycles where honking up the hill and lasting quite a long time with very short but distinct down cycles. Randall lined it up and launched unfortunately with a nasty not in his wing and ended up bee lining for the sand pile falling short but safe on the 33. It took a while to get the first group off. Annie from Colombia set up and got ready for her first Pine flight. As she launched the cycle kicked in and hucked her straight up and back toward the trees. She went up so fast it made everyones heart skip a beat for sure. Ann finally got a hold of the glider about 200 over and pushed back out front I presume on full speed bar. She did a great job keeping cool and comanding her wing.

At this point there where 4 pilots left and the cycles where steady gettin it. We decided to wait a while for it to calm and Randall had hitched a ride back to launch so we waited for him. Once Randall was back we lined up and launched one after another with Pipkin last but not least on his first real flight since his accident "SPARKY"S BACK". after a little searching I hooked into a nice one and went to 9,300 and headed over the back to catch Randall and Roger. As we headed out for the bad lands I was sinking at a rate that was very disenchanting. I got down to 6,200' and could see the ground clearly as I heard Randall call out his position in front of me at 13,000. I kicked in to full speed bar and headed toward a Cummie I saw forming in front of me. I finally heard the friendly sound of my vario tracking about 300 up. 300 went to 12 and 1300 up quick. before I new it I was at base and on glide for Lockwood Valley.

On the way there it was steady lift until about a click west of the clearing. The sink came fast and hard. As i crossed into the clearing the lift was on again. headed toward Fraiser and ended up at 10,500 aproaching the decision to go south side or north side or maybe straight over the top . Never getting this far and with no one in site to pimp, I worked my way to the north and began to explore the spines as my altitude decreased at a fast rate yet again. I finally got a viz on Randall who was searching hard close to the terrain and decided that today was so good, I would play it safe and head for the LZ I was eye balling. Randall was right behind me and we landed about a quarter mile from one another. Mike my 1st time chase driver with Andy D. where right on it an pulled up as we finished packing up. We headed up to the truck stop and joined the party. Headed back to Ojai and listened to all the stories of the day. Another remarkable day at Pine.

13,446 alt. / 1468 up / 1283 down / 1 hour 45 minutes / not sure quite how far but personal best without a doubt

[faoro]

What a week at Pine Mountain, the Mecca of local flying sites! No wonder we have almost religious awe and reverence for the location. You never know what you'll get - or where you'll get it - when you set your nervous toes on launch, risers in hand, and turn to pick your cycle.

On Wednesday, three condors flew tight to the north side, ridge soaring and showing us that even professionals have bad days at Pine. We never launched.

Friday afternoon we had the cocktail flight: A short and sweet happy hour romp from Pine to Ojai with a generous tailwind to put you high over the valley with enough time for a scenic cruise before dinner and drinks with friends. That is, of course, unless you are Chip Bartley, who had enough bandage material around his legs Saturday morning (from his unfortunate encounter with a heretofore unidentified chaparral predator species on the north side of Nordhoff Ridge) that someone called him "the Mummy." "It's all good," Chip would say repeatedly about the experience. A stoic courage indeed, in the face of such terrifying, carnivorous plant material.

Maybe it was the sake and hefeweizen of Friday night's celebration of Chip's survival story. But it was very difficult for me to get off launch once again on Saturday morning. Eager to get off early with a fire building in the valley at the sandpile (apparently from a vehicle that left the highway), I tried to pull up in the cycles that had some east in them, my wing always turning and coming down on the west side of launch. I have trouble launching the Trango anyway, but an east crosswind makes the Pine launch difficult. Finally, a perfect cycle and pull-up - but my risers were crossed and I brought the wing crashing down on the heads of the other pilots standing nearby. Dean helped me unwind every time and I got off nicely on the fourth attempt. There was plenty of lift, but the air felt explosive to me, so I didn't turn and tried to reach the ridge. There was strong pull to my right. Even though the thermal was right there, I avoided it to avoid turning into the hill. Mistake. The next thing I hit was the strongest sink I have ever felt at launch. (It would be an indicator of the huge downdrafts outside the large thermals all day.) I plummeted below the tree line and peeled back down the canyon. Here, I felt the draw and lift was to my left, but I didn't want to cross the canyon toward Reyes and get stuck - there was a 6-9 mph headwind of the draw to the thermal going off behind me. Another mistake. Now I was below the bonzai tree in very nervous air thinking about a hike out from the perpendicular ridge in front of me. But I've gotten up there before on at least four occasions and had nothing to lose at this point. The gods smiled on me and I hooked into a strong thermal that drifted west with the prevailing east wind toward the smoky conflagration below. I could see the twenty foot high flames off the brush on each turn. CDF was already on the scene. The fire had little fuel due to the last fire four years ago.

Anyway, it was gratifying to get high and watch the fire and see that my pals had bravely punched off and taken a better route - they were already getting way up over the back ridge. That thermal took me to 11,500 feet and I cruised the back ridge as I had to change out radios. The batteries were dead in the first and I couldn't change them in the twitchy air. Soon there were paragliders and hang gliders everywhere, many of them above 13,000 feet, and people started heading out on course.

Saturday was one of those days that a paraglider seemed more like a kite than a vehicle. The hang glider was the more efficient means of transportation. They quickly disappered on their hundred mile flights. It took a long time to get anywhere (at least, in my impatient mind), despite tailwinds of 10-20 mph. Like we've seen many times the last two years, it was setting up over the back. A convergent line stretched out toward Dry Canyon, where two cumis marked its position. Dean and Andy took a northerly route, while Robb and Art got up over the mouth of the canyon. I tanked up several times before and during my crossing at the middle of the badlands. The lift was all over the place, but it was frustratingly slow at times, while other times it yanked you unpleasantly out of your seat. I should have bypassed the weak stuff. I got my best screamer at the east end of the 50-50, ascending to 14,700 feet. It was so cold on my face and hands that I didn't want to get any higher. I was never below 10,500 feet through Lockwood Valley. There was that wonderful experience several times that afternoon: Feeling tremendous lift and looking up to see a wispie forming high over the top of your wing. But there were also gaping sinkholes. Three times I felt I was in freefall parachutage as I fell out the sides of gigantic thermals.

A sailplane came in low underneath me at the east end of Lockwood Valley. What a glide! He effortlessly transitioned to Frazier for a brief turn or two with Robb and then casually took off into the Antelope Valley, lower than the top of Frazier Peak! Meanwhile, despite the fact that I was 2,000 feet higher than that sailplane, I barely came into Frazier with about 8K. I took my usual booster at the southwest corner of the mountain and got up to 13,500 feet to consider my prospects within the Antelope Valley. I wasn't too happy about Dean and Andy's wind reports. They had both gotten hammered, Dean on the Tehachapi side at the cement plant and Andy on the south side pushing toward Quail Lake. My GPS said I had a play for Quail Lake, so I pushed out toward booster junction. There were cumis at the east end of the Antelope Valley and up into the desert. I knew the hangies had scored a direct hit. I could see Andy on the ground beneath me at the entrance to Hungry Valley. I watched the movement of the cars and trucks coming down out of the Grapevine. Like so many ants, the call of family and friends and commerce drawing them to their thousands of different destinations. While I was lost in reverie, thinking about my life and the march of time - inexorable like the movement of vehicles on the I-5 - my groundspeed bled away and I turned back to land with Andy. To find a friend at the end of the trip on one's daily journey is always a good thing.

Three hours of dancing with clouds. Many friends spread out over twenty seven miles. Thanks to Ron M. and Mike for gathering us all up.

[Tom Pipkin]

Listening to the great Pine mtn. flight stories over dinner Friday night was brutal. Knowing that I had missed a great opportunity to get off the ground after a 7 month layoff was enough to inspire me to catch an early ride to launch with Diablo.

We arrived at launch at around 10a. By 10:30 the cycles were already looking good but decided to wait for the rest of the motley bag crew. In typical Pine fashion, the mellow cycles quickly grew to 20mph+ rippers shortly after the first group of 6 or so pilots had launched. To make matters worse, two planes and a chopper were making retardant drops on the fire at the sand pile, hogging the air space over our bailout lz.

The 4 of us remaining were now forced to wait for mellower afternoon conditions and clear airspace over the bailout. By 2p the last plane finally headed out and Chip was air born. It was 3p when I pulled up in a super strong cycle. I tried to abort but the wing had other plans as I was pulled into a nasty sticker bush. With Andy and Mike’s help on the wing extraction, the second attempt was successful and I was off at around 3:15p.

As Brendan once said, “the bastards left me!” Everybody was long gone! In spite of the prevailing south winds, I still hoped that I could get high enough (at least 12k) to make Ojai. I really didn’t want to go otb this late in the day. The thought of hitchhiking in the hot sun after already standing at launch for 5 hours didn’t sound too appealing. After 20 minutes over launch, 9500’ was the best I could do. Since the landing options are much better on the north side I headed otb with 9300’. After all, what difference does it make where I end up stuck along side of the road? It’s not like I’m going to walk home from the Sand Pile.

I groveled at Dry Canyon with 7500’ looking for the best place to set down and stumbled into a smooth thermal that topped out at 13k. I’ve learned over the years that with big altitude and the day still working, the flight east through Lockwood Valley late in the day can be low stress and easy. The thought of civilization and cold beer at the Lake of the Woods market while I waited for retrieve was inspiration enough to turn east. Sure enough, it was easy and low stress as I never dipped below 11k for the next 20 miles.

When I arrived at Fraiser mtn. The radio came back alive with reports of most of the crew hanging out at the I-5 truck stop. I topped out at 14k over Fraiser and made the truck stop with 11k.

Flight time- 1hr, 50min, (a lot of that time was spent trying to get down to land).

I would have loved to write about all the "alleged" great flights by the others but quite frankly I never saw anyone in the air after they went otb. I suspect they all landed short, probably somewhere in Lockwood and drove to the I-5. Wouldn't be the first time a Topa pilot embellished a flight story.

Big thanks to Ron and Mike for driving retrieve.

Congrats go out to the 4 hang pilots for their typical great flights.

[DBLD]

Hey,! What am I, chopped liver? There were five diver pilots that flew. My flight was NOT a great flight. I ended up 45 miles out at Nenach 'cause I had to pee and thought I had left my zipper down before launch (for access), but had not. I tried getting to my "unit" from Lockwood to Nenach. No success. If I were a REAL pilot I would have pissed my pants and kept flying 'cause it was GOOD, but I am chopped liver. I did have two low saves from 200' agl. One at Dry Canyon and another at the Boy Scout camp in Lockwood. Both times Hammer's words of advice popped into my head, "it ain't over till your feet are on the ground". So I guess it was a pretty good flight after all.

My hat is off to the baggers for flying in conditions that from what I saw had them "parked" at launch and landing. Takes some real cajones to fly when you can't effectively go to windward. Seriously, I'd like to see the Topa bag pilots get into hang gliding and have some even better flights from Pine and the Owens. It's kind of like the difference between a VW bus and a Porsche Boxter. They both have their advantages, but to use another analogy, you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

[Randall]

It seems (from talking to a few other pilots) like those who launched later got smoother air, and just as much altitude and distance. In my first flight I launched at around 12:30 with the early group, but had a nasty knot in my right B's and C's that pulled me hard to the right. I was cursing up a storm as I heard radio reports of the other guys already at 13k and Lockwood bound--and me looking at a Condor Ranch landing if I could even penetrate out that far. Luckily, a thermal popped me back up over Pine Mtn. road and I decided to try and put it down on the ridge line instead of waiting for a dodgy landing somewhere at the bottom.

I found a nice-looking piece of straight road just west of the north launch and stuck it in a clearing beside the dirt road. Man, that felt good! A couple friendly rock climbers passed by almost immediately in their pickup truck and stopped to help me untangle the wing from the bushes and boost me back to launch. Pipkin, Chip and Roger were still waiting to launch. Cycles seemed to be mellowing out a bit by this point, and my second launch (at 2:30) was uneventful.

Went OTB with only 8400, but I felt confident I would get something over the badlands. Mostly weak stuff for the first 20 minutes, but I drifted norhteast with it, aiming for a cloud street, until I finally broke through 9k and then climbed smoothly to 14.2 over the west edge of Lockwood. I never had a collapse and the air felt suprisingly smooth and I was as relaxed as I've been on a Pine Mtn flight. Maybe it just felt so much better compared to my first flight.

Reached Frazier Mtn with about 9k but wasn't sure how to play it, and I felt like I was drifting deeper and deeper without much altitude. In retrospect, (after talking to Ron) I should just have stuck with it. But Chip had already landed by Lake of the Woods, and that seemed like a good enough day to me, so I headed back out to the road and put down in the softest field I've ever landed in--long, springy, drying grasses that I just sank into as I touched down, like a feather bed. Aaahhh...

Thanks again for the beer and sandwich, Chip!

[Dean S]

What a great day! The conditions at Pine over the last couple days, including today, were unusually good for this early in the season. Typically the wind speed and direction 86 any chances of good XC this time of year. Maybe the weather gods are making up for an extremely weak winter in SB. If that's the case then they still have some makin' up to do because this winter has been the worst season in SB that I've experienced. The exceptional conditions this weekend have me wondering if we're revving up for a long, hot summer like the forecasters say we are.

What I liked most about this particular day was the amount of pilots that showed up. All the XC speculation at launch, the chatter on the radio in the air, and the fish stories we all told after the flight is what really makes for a great flying day. There were several personal bests made today including Chip, who flew close to 140 miles from launch (calculation using Dog miles). Instead of naming all the PG pilots that were there I'll just attach a photo that I took at the truck stop in Frazier Park.
http://www.pbase.com/fllspdahd/image/77930250
You can see Frazier Mountain in the background with Cumi's still popping up to 15k. The smiles on the faces tell the real story...or maybe the smiles are from all the beer...whatever, we were happy! They say Happy Cows come from California; I think the same can be said about Happy Pilots. The Topa crew has had some key members out of action for awhile and it's nice to have a couple of them back in the air. Pipkin didn't miss a beat despite his extended layoff and Ron Meyer helped with retrieve. Ron is about a month away from breaking out the glider. Now, if we can just get Truax and Brendan back in the air the Topa pilots will be close to full strength.

I talked with Tony D this morning and he filled me in on the day the hangs had. Tony took the day landing in Lone Pine around 154 miles and Hammer, Southside and Bob Anderson put it down near the 100 mile mark. Of course I can't forget CHOPPED LIVER (aka DBLD), who put it down around 45 miles to water some plants, which was very thoughtful.

A sweet day for everyone...

[Southside]

Just wanted to clarify that I landed on SW side of Mojave for a 68 miler. Great day though.

[diablo]

Received my first thermal in the Antelope Valley west of the cement plant the convergence was working at the base of the Tehacapis. Over the windmills the convergence was marked by ratty clouds the convergence then bowed back into the Tehacapi Valley and northwestwards towards Kelso Valley I wasn't prepare to go into the Tehacapi Valley for fear that I might get stuck there in the marine air. Went on glide to Jawbone Canyon and with a south southeasterly headed north bound. Left Red Rock Canyon with 8K knowing that I would some sort of skip to make Inyo Kern. South of Inyo Kern contacted thermal which at altitude was drifting out of 210-240. This wind direction leaves you in the lee of the Sierras with all of the situations and scenarios. At Inyo Kern airport I went on glide with 11k towards Pearsonville and knowing that Kennedy Meadows with it's drainage was ahead. At Pearsonville and with Little Lakes ahead I went on glide thru the pass south of Little Lake. My goal at this time was Coso Junction. Clearing the Cinder cone I was at 500 agl and looked as if I was going to be short of Coso Junction. I found ratty lift down low in the lee of the Cinder Cone and just hung on with the hope it would at least take me to Coso Junction. Passing Coso Junction and with the thermal drifting me towards the Sierras I jumped on to the foothills of the Sierras.My goal at this point became the airport at Lone Pine. South of Olancha Peak and on the Sierras I got hammered and had to beat it out of the Sierras. Flying 65 mph I reached Olancha and continued to work the weak lift that I was at least able to maintain in as I drifted towards Lone Pine. Chase caught up and went to the airport in Lone Pine. At the Glass Plant at the Northwest corner of Owens Lake and at 7k I went on glide to the Lone Pine airport arriving 1500 agl. 6.5 hours 154 miles. The flight from Red Rock Canyon was basically the Garlock flight with the majority of the flight between 6500-8000'

[BobA]

Season opener for me. Had great time ! Find pics from Saturday's flying here:

http://bob-shots.spaces.live.com/

I included a pic marking the spots where Southside & I found our lift in the Antelope Valley.

Cheers,
Big A

[JimmyZ]

Wow! Great photo journey Bob. It would be great to see a GPS track of the flight to match the pictures. Nice flight.... same to all of the others... wish I was there.

[Southside]

As I post I didn't go as far as Bob, but here is my write up that includes my tracklog and a couple of Bob's shots.
http://www.hanggliding.org/weblog_entry ... ee3245ae73

Btw, that ladle shape in the middle of the track is me flushing off the Tehachapis; drifting down wind off of the deck; and then climbing out in the upper level SE wind.

John