Crestline Soaring Society

Great day! Hot and rather clear after overnight north flow. Launched a Sport 2 155 from Marshall at 13:52. Gene and Dusty had already skied-out with their PGs. Got up a little in a kind of ragged drifter, then went to Cloud and got to 5500 in a few minutes; lost the core briefly around 4500 when it started drifting more to the North. Went to Crestline, where the thermals were away from the hill at launch - I got drilled/mushed doing a low fly-by and popped up in the themal out in front of launch.

Got 5600 or so at Billboard and headed to Pine, where the fun started. From about 5000 I climbed in one thermal to 8200, ending up over the very top/back end of Devil Canyon. Headed for Sugarpine, working one core for a few turns halfway there. Decided I wanted to get the old fire lookout (now just a cell tower) turnpoint at the very end of the ridge at Cajon. Haven't done that in a couple of years. Found it quite bouyant at the last spine, and got 7000 before deciding to go for the tower, mindful of all the times I've rapidly lost a lot of altitude, like 1000 feet, doing that last jump. As I crept West, I actually climbed another couple of hundred, then hit the big sink. Made the tower and whipped around, arriving at my start point 700 feet lower than I started. It was still lifty, so no problem. Back to Sugarpine and out front to Pine, where I got another one to 8200 feet. These climbs featured stretches of 5-6 turns at > 700 FPM up.

Flew across and over Crestline, mostly above 7000 MSL, then across to the 138 Interchange and at the next spine I decided to head out to Arrowhead Peak instead of going for Strawberry. I was getting a little stiff in the legs and the plan was for me to drive Peter's truck down, maybe after flying another glider. About 15 minutes later I landed at Marshall, for a 1:51 flight.

As I was breaking down Peter showed up and told me I had to fly a glider down to the LZ, so I got an 18 minute flight, launching at 5:10. Could have stayed up a while, I think, but it had really really mellowed out.

When I go out to the Pass, I like to be well above the ridge, so I don't worry about getting back to a familiar LZ, especially on a glider that isn't mine. As I was getting up when I returned to Pine, I saw someone with a topless glider heading west across the front of Pine, below the top a little. He made a beeline, and I mean straight line, A to B, to the bowl just past Sugarpine, well below the peaks. I've gotta admire that willingness to commit to having to land out if you happen to get skunked out there. Being below the ridgeline out there is like being below Regionals, even though you're above 5k. I've scratched my way back, and I just plain don't enjoy that tension. The ground does drop as you head back from the pass, so you gain AGL while losing MSL, but still. Of course, it was a booming day, and I saw him climbing out of the bowl shortly after he got there.

Dusty had the grill going in the LZ, and there were a handful of ebullient pilots who couldn't stop talking - always a great environment.

Get out there Sunday and get some, if you can.

Flight track image at:
http://www.kenvective.com/images/flights/