I think Rob summed up our awesome weekend pretty well. I don't think we could have picked a better weekend for our mission at giving some unfamiliar pilots (including me), a taste of what the Owens Valley has to offer.
My first flight on Saturday from Flynn's was a fun start. I launched last and played around for awhile getting a feel for the air. Arnie and Tim were already long gone past Black Mtn when I decided to head south. I made my way down to Black Mtn and got up to 12.5k over it. I wanted to chase Arnie so I started on glide over the gap but was getting drilled so I turned around at hwy 168 and made it back to Black Mtn. I figured I should go ahead and do one of these out and return things that everyone talks about but I never try. So, I made it back to launch no problem and tried to glide out to town but I left to low and wasn't going to make it over the airport so I returned to the LZ. Unzipped to land and sure enough the valley started to breath and I took that thermal to 12k over launch and now I knew I had Bishop. I actually wanted to land in front of the Barker's house a bit west of town but my stinkin Falcon said I don't think so. I was hungry so I put it down at the high school soccer field. Packed up, left the glider and headed for an overdue lunch at the bakery. The out and return and glide to town turned out to be about 33 miles.
Sunday topped off the weekend for sure. I launched Piute last and went after Arnie once again who was already specked over White Mtn. I cruised north between 9k-12k until I got to the last spine before it wraps around. I was able to tank up to 15k then over to Boundary peak where I cleared 16k. The 360 degree view was spectacular and I could have stayed there all afternoon. However, Arnie was getting away from me as he went on glide down the north east spine. I finally caught him and we made some turns together but it was the first time I flew with someone all day and it turned out being pretty distracting at that point as we were low and I needed to hydrate a tumble weed. I ended up landing just north of the Basalt LZ where hwy 6 and 360 meet for a 36 mile flight. Arnie hung in there and went a few miles down the hwy. I wish I had hooked up a way to mount my camera- oh well next time. Thanks Rob and Kari for an incredible weekend and the Barker’s for the first class hospitality!
Good times looking back at Boundary Peak.
