The winds at high altitudes looked weak from the W, so we choose Monroe peak for flying. As we got up there too early for going high and far, Stacy made a sledder to the LZ, where I picked him up.
I took off at 1400 and after having to search a moment for a good thermal, I finally got up to 14500ft and started going SW. The lift was really nice and strong and I got to >17000ft. At one point I had to do a steep spiral to get under the clouds again. Then for a while 'accelerated big ears' to stay at 16000ft. Upon reaching the Parker ridge I followed it to the S. Suddenly there was this zone of massive sink as the wind had switched to N-NW, which brought me down to a few hundred feet above the ridge. Here it was no fun at all anymore and for I while I was thinking about landing on the ridge. Finally I was able to climb a bit and this allowed me to fly out to Hwy 62; landing on the Hwy, so it was an easy retrieve for Stacy.
Being his birthday, I offered to drive him up to Cove for an evening flight. At the LZ we met Theo and Lisa (both Swiss). Theo and Stacy launched off Cove-N and where able to bench up to the top. The evening ended with Stacy and me having a nice steak at Steve's steakhouse.
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