Oat Mt HQ

[Chris G]

It's usually open all Summer. They close it up after it rains or snows on the road but they'll sometimes open it up again if it has time to dry and there aren't any rocks in the road. It's supposed to be open this next week. You need a permit (free) to get up the road and it's on USFS land. You have to plan ahead since the USFS offices are usually closed weekends. I'll be gone again in a few weeks but if you come out the local hoodlums will show you the ropes.

[Simon]

Ojai is a spectacular place to fly, I have flown at all three sites; Chief, Nordhoff, and Nuthouse. Next on my list is Pine, Tom Truax Jr. fears no mountain (he may choose not to launch, though, depending on how difficult the seasoned pilots make it look when they are flying it). Any more questions about Oat Mt, feel free to write me a message or email me. Oat Mt is a combination of ridge lift and thermals. Most of the time when we have a sea breeze, it is typically too strong in the middle of the day, so we wait till the afternoon to fly. Most of the year there are no Santa Ana winds, so we usually rely on availability of rides and work schedules. The LZ for PG's is small and overshooting is very discouraged since this is the only LZ we have secured tentatively. The LZ for HG's is different and the landowners there like HG's, but us PG's do not keep a very close relationship with them. Ron and Mark love sharing their mountain with responsible pilots who are grateful for their generosity. Feel free to contact me about flying Oat Mt. I am typically in the know when it comes to who is flying out here and when.

[Southside]

Southside, when you say that the place is "susceptible to the sea breeze," do you mean that it gets blown-out by high winds, or that the cool air shuts down the lift? It looked to me like the place should be smokin' on any warm, sunny (non-Santa Ana) day

The latter.

From what I know so far, Ojai isn't for me. Maybe I've come to the wrong conclusions(?), which are: big turbulence scares me in my PG, Chief's & Nuthouse can't be done with HG (I'm biwingual)...

I'm not sure where you got the information about Chief's. As Chris writes HGs fly from there all the time. When you get to the summit on your drive up to launch you get out to check the wind direction; If it is blowing OTB from the NE go to Nordoff; if it is blowing straight in, Chief's. There is another launch called the "Back Ridge" located in between the summit and Chief's. We used to be able to drive up to it, but it is now blocked so we just take off from the side of the road right below (see below). You use this launch when you're to lazy to drive all the way out to Chief's. Or when the winds are waffling back and forth at the summit.

Flew Alternator with Matt Hendershot today. Beautiful.....sled run. Are sled runs to be expected on days like this (Santa Ana)?
PS: If anyone can't tell, I'm somewhat new to this area...

Santa Barbara is at its best when it is post-frontal. It is my opinion it is at its second best during Santa Ana days. Of course there are always exceptions; that day must have been one of them.

John

[Dizzy]

Is anybody try to fly east toward Piru lake and I-5 from Oat Mt.?

[Simon]

Yes, back in the day when real men went Cross Country on a regular basis, Oat Mt was just another thermal trigger on the way East. You can read old flight discussions about it at http://www.paraglide.net. Mark Pratt even set an undisputed record by flying west from Oat to Ojai, http://paraglide.net/log/amigo/mark_pratt/03_02-09_oat_to_ojai.htm, and no one has done that since.