Salida
1.9. Back to Villa Grove, where we have been joined by Jeff. Very similar conditions to the day before. On the first flight all 3 ouf us (Jeff, Andy and me) sank out. The high pressure makes thermals sharp edged and 'spicy', as well as hard to center... Stacy picked us up for a relaunch.
Second flight: again I sank out :-(( Andy had launched just a few minutes later and found a 'monster' thermal which had taken him with > 7.5m/s to above 4000m. He has been able to fly over the plains towards Villa Grove and the Country festival held there. Incredible the number of RV's parked nearby.... He landed near the village. Jeff flew for about 20minutes.
RV parking for the festival at Villa Grove
In retrospect it probably has been 'a good thing' that I sank out, as Andy said that it has been a pretty rough ride; furthermore just about 20' later a gust front went through with windspeeds > 60kmh.
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| ...starting to OD |
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| Prime Rib for dinner with Jeff, Stacy and Andy |
2.9. Already at 0800 we met Jeff and many other PG-, as well as some HG-pilots at the LZ for Whale Hill. I had been here with Stacy and Hart in 2018, but at that time the wind remained over the back the whole morning, so we had to drive down again... But in the late afternoon I then could make a really great flight (> see here).
Originally all these 'roads' on these mountains here had been built in the late 19th century for mining silver, gold and other stuff. It's hard to immagine how hard it must have been to construct these roads and carry up all the material necessary for mining. And don't forget, the 'hill' is 3600m high and how cold it can be up here - especially during the night (even in summer)...
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| remains of a mine on top of Whale Hill |
The drive from 2750m to 3660 took about 45' on a pretty rough 4WD track, requiring high clearance.
At first, the wind had been blowing from the South, but after a while it weakend and turned more to the East, thus permitting easy launches.
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| looking SE |
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| ...on can launch anywhere on this hill... (Jeff) |
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| Whale Hill |
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| heading out to the LZ... |
I could climb a bit over launch and took some pictures, the started heading out to the LZ, as the SE-wind could be clearly felt. Andy and Stacy have been able to get higher and also landed at the LZ.
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| Car park and LZ (at 0200 from cars) |
At first we thought that maybe a second flight would be possible, this time form Villa Grove; but the wind in the valley floor increased even more and it also quickly started to overdevellop over Wahle hill, so we had to call it a day.
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