Pine Mountain to Stove Pipe Wells 5.5 hrs 181 miles

[Tony Deleo]

Looked it was going to be another great day. Fast Eddie had prior commits to drive but offered to pickup me up sometime. Tom Pipkin was nice enough to drive my truck back to Ojai. Self launching at 11:45, which was late. Climbing to 12,500 I went on glide Lockwood Valley with cloud base at 15K+. Went on glide to the Antelope arriving west of the radar facility down to 6500' climbing to 10K turned north to Double Mountain and Tehacapi. I was in strong sink when I contacted strong lift, 1700+ per minute, and the south end of the shear line. The convergence line extended north west towards Lake Isabella. A Cache Peak I had the option of going on glide to Boomer Ridge thru a "blue" hole or to follow the shear line, off course, towards Lake Isabella. West of Lake Isabella over the community of Weldon I was gliding over The Stodie Mountains and this point I opted to stay with the shear line and arrived at The Sierras west of Owens Peak and then jumped on The Sierras going to cloud base 15K plus. At that altitude it was extremely cold which left me shivering. The conditions were more like spring than summer. On glide to Olancha Peak and the "over" development. It was raining ahead and the "blow off" from The Sierras which extended and covered the Owens Valley north including The Inyos. South of Olancha Peak and southwest of Haiwee Reservoir I tanked up and then went on glide to the southend of Owens Dry Lake Bed and the south end of The Inyos up ahead, north east, was sunny with some wind blown cumis. With the course line north thru the Owens Valley in the shade and with the sun beginning to descend below the clouds I opted to go on glide north east towards Tonopah. Crossing the south end of The Saline Valley it was beginning to look "iffy" I was now gliding towards The Cottonwood Mountains, which are an extension of the northern Panamint Mountains, are flat and nearly 20 miles wide. I was on glide over an area that I was not familiar with out roads for retreival. My plan was now to fly to Beatty accept that I was disoriented and my gps was acting up. It had shut down earlier in the flight-probably from the cold. I was now on glide east to a valley( Death VAlley), with no roads it looked as if I might be landing in a wash behind a mountain range. Later on the lack of roads made sense since I was over a Park. I was unable to gain minimal altitude which gave me some altitude to go on glide to take me out of the mountains. Up ahead there was whnat appeared to be some sort of complex next to a road. I thought this was the road to Beatty which it wasn't, Beatty was now 37 miles to the northeast-my gps indicated southeast, of me with the Grapevine/Funeral Mountains seperating me from Beatty. There were no clouds in between and I was flying upwind to get to a landable area. I had inadeverently tried to cross Death Valleyt at its widest point. I was 2000 agl in a valley with lots of heat and inverted. Not knowing where I was on opted for The Complex and a runway. After landing I had to hold the glider on the ground for nearly 2 hours, with help only 3/4 of a mile away, in the 15-25 mph winds which was akin to being sandblasted. Finally the wind subsided and I was able to turn the glider tail into the wind. The complex turned out to be the Hotel Gas Station at Stove Pipe Wells Death Valley. After breaking the glide down I went to the gas station where I continued to hand out until a security person took me back to my glider a mile or so and he then took me back to the hotel where I was able to hang out in the air conditoned lobby. Fast Eddie was there at 11ish, it was still 100 degrees. We were on the road back home and I got into bed at 4:45 a.m.

[John Fritsche]

Amazing!
And dude, half the fun of reading about your adventures has nothing to do with the flying, but rather with stuff like enduring hail and whiteouts, holding onto your nosewires while getting sandblasted for two hours after landing, and getting home at 4:00 in the morning. I'll never question your dedication! You earn those miles!

[NMERider]

removed by author

[BobA]

Beats my day at work ! Are you saving those track logs ?! Geez, you must 'a broke the record for most miles from Pine in a single season by now. Good on you.