Stacy had gotten in contact with a local pilot: Jeff, who lives near Nathrop, about an hour north of Villa Grove. He offered to take us up his 'home mountain': Mount Princeton (14,204 ft/ 4'329 m) - many thanks Jeff!!
Apparently this mountain has been a flying site for over 20 years, first for HGs, now more for PGs. I am calling this a 'bonus' as this site was totally unknown to either Stacy or me.
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| Mt.Princeton |
The (ugly) road took us to about 100m below launch, which is at approx 12'000ft/ 3660m. A short hike brought us to a huge, almost alpine meadow, permitting TOs to the NE and SE.
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| SE launch |
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| Jeff, Hart, Stacy, Abbey (a pilot from Colorado Springs) |
Perfect conditions for launching made us too quickly leave this place with magnificent views, but this is a morning site which can get very rough if one flies too late here!
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| Hart |
Due to the very high pressure (30.42inhg/ 1030mb), the thermals have been very sharp and disorganized. Centered climbs have been almost impossible. All of us had some wingtip collapses. As Hart reported on the radio, that it was bumpy and lifty at the designated LZ, I choose to continue for a bit and selected a LZ I hoped would be a little more mellow ;-)
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| 'my' LZ (just above my left boot) |
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After a short nap at our AirB&B Hart visited a hot spring nearby while Stacy and I headed for Villa Grove, hoping again for an evening flight. At the LZ we picked up Jim (who had been with us already yesterday). He offered to retrieve our van, so both ou us could fly - many thanks Jim!!
Unfortunately -contrary to any forcast we had seen for today (0% chance of rain)- it started to cloud over.This effectively 'killed' all the lift. So it was just a sledder to the LZ :-(
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| Stacy landing at Villa Grove |
Later it even overdeveloped.
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