Medergen / Arosa

Tue (18.10.) Hiking from our hut in Medergen up to 'Wangegg'. As I had feared, the wind was rather weak - but at least from the good direction. Even though the flight lasted only 5 minutes, that was far better than having to hike down again ;-)

Wangegg: looking towards Medergen/ Arosa Weisshorn

Sapün

Medergen

launch is on the ridge at the far left/ Medergen/ Medergerflue

Wed (19.10) Arosa Weisshorn: lot of patience was needed before I had a good window for launching. But the waiting time was well spent, as right after take-off I hit a thermal, which took me to 600m over the top of Weisshorn within about 5 minutes :-))

Arosa Weisshorn (2653m)

looking SW: Hörnli, Aroser Rothorn

Pano looking South: Bernina group

Medergen

Golfcourse

As I had promised Ruth that we'd go to Medergen for an afternoon tea, I landed after a little more than half an hour at 'Prätschli'. For this time of the year, conditions have been excellent: nice/ mellow thermals, high cloud base and only little wind.

'official' LZ at Prätschli

US'22: thanks & conclusion

My foremost thanks go to Ruth, who has been so generous as to 'let me go' on this trip for almost 6 weeks!!

Then also to my friend Andy for coming along and 'keeping an eye on me' - preventing me from making some stupid mistakes ;-)

Then of course to my guides and drivers: Stacy/ Aaron/ Talyor/ Mike and Kari - without them such a trip would have been virtually impossible! But besides driving/ guiding they all have been great company and told us many things about the US, which you'd normally not get to know on a 'standard' trip.

(PS: it should read Chalk Bluffs iso Chuck Bluffs - sorry)

Sites flown / (visited)

Lookout -at Golden / Boulder

Mt.Princeton / Whale Hill / Villa Grove

Aspen / Lookout -at Glenwood / Roan / Skinny Ridge/ (Gran Mesa) / HLF

Dinosaur

Cove / Monroe / Mt.Edna / (Junction) / (Uranium)

Pajute / Gunthers / Flynns / Chalk Bluffs / McGee / (Mammoth Mtn)

(Alabama Hills) / (Walts Pt. aka Horseshoe)

Marshall / (Elsinore)

notable visits

Cove Mtn

Bryce Canyon NP / Devils Garden / Hole in the Rock / Devils Backbone

Mono Lake / Bodie

Horseshoe Meadows / Tehachapi Loop / Mojave Airport

some numbers

sites flown: 20           number of flts: 37

> unfortunately -as can be seen in the schedule above- there have been quite a big number of unflyable days (13: due wind/ wx). This of course has greatly reduced the number of sites we could fly - but luckily in the US there is no shortage of sights/ places to visit in such a case; and really 'bad' weather -like rain/ fog- we had only on 3 days...

distance driven (approx):   >5000 mi/   >8000 km

A word about my wing: Profly Leeloo (XL): the longer I fly these (!) wings, the more I like them: I can't even remember if there has been a major collapse during the whole trip! With my first Leeloo I have now made more than 165 flts (since 8.4.21) - but especially on this trip the wing has taken quite a beating...

US'22 (7./ 8.10.) (Elsinore) / LAX-ZRH

FRI: very last day here in the US. As my flight was scheduled to leave only at 1915 I had the whole day to 'kill' the time. Therefore I didn't drive directly to LAX, but made a detour via Lake Elsinore, where I've flown in 1992 (flts 189/ 190), 1993 and 2008.

Lake Elsinore

Arriving on launch I met a HG pilot with whom I had a long chat. It's a nice (East facing) site, but kind of 'special', as normally pilots are waiting for the thermals to devellop sufficiently, but trying not to miss the (last) moment for launching, before the West wind kicks in - then it would be too late ;-) In winter, when there are (light) Sant'Ana winds, this is not a problem and also soaring becomes possible... Another problem: there are no official/ approved LZs anymore :-(   >> toplanding or landing in one of the few open fields and getting out before anybody complains...

route flown...

arrival in ZRH (Rwy 14)

Boeing 777

Uneventful flight: leaving LAX on/ arriving in ZRH 10' before schedule :-)

US'22 (6.10.) - Marshall

Thur: Getting up early to be at the loop around sunrise...

...and as luck would have it, another of these 'monster' fright trains came in sight. After returning to my motel for breakfast I left for San Bernardino, stopping on the way at Mojave.

wind park 'California' style

...in need of an used airliner? (dry storage at Mojave airport -KMHV)

I arrived at San Bernardino/ Andy Jackson Air Park (AJX) around 1300 and just 1 pilot (Reilly) could be seen flying, but he had to land due lack of thermal activity. According to my flight book(s) I have already made 18 flights here: the first in 1992 (!) and the last in 2009 - always when flying into LAX as copilot (on either DC10 or MD11) - half of them toplanding.

Marshall (launch) on highest point (Reilly landing)

The usual problem: how to get to launch? Luckily Reilly 'knew' the solution: call Gene Embree +1 909 260 0131, who took us in his ATV to Marshall Peak. A cool ride up the mountain with his dog (Max) sitting in the copilots seat and ejyoing the ride - 20USD well spent, especially as Gene (a longtime H4/ P4 pilot) gave me a briefing along the way :-)

Marshall, looking SW towards LA

AJX - the green field obove my left boot

Apparently I launched too early and had to land after only 20', but completely drenched in sweat as I had dressed in the hope for 'something different' ;-)

Gene was waiting for an other ride up, but I declined, even though it looked that conditions would improve later in the afternoon.

driving to my motel: Marshall (middle of pix), AJX below

'last supper': Prime Rib, Sam Adams (and cheese cake)  ;-)

US'22 (5.10.) - transfer via Alabama Hills, Horseshoe and Tehachapi Loop

WED: First stop on my way south to LA: Alabama Hills.

Alabama Hills / Sierra Nevada (background)

Unfortunately I couldn't reach the launch here with my rental SUV: conditions seemed good for a possible flight on this North facing site. I was even prepared to make a flight, land at the bottom, stash away my gilder somewhere and hike back up to my car ;-) But in addition having to carry my glider up to launch would probably have been a bit too much for me...

I then continued to Horseshoe Meadows, passing another possible launch: 'Walts Point'.

Walts Point

...what used to be Owens Lake...

Horseshoe Meadows (2950m)

After another 2 hours driving I reached Tehachapi, having passed huge solar power farms.

Why go to Tehachapi? Because I wanted to see the so called 'Tehachapi Loop'.

train going down the loop - 'filling' the complete 360-turn

This is similar (but on a much larger scale) to the 'loops' in Switzerland: RhB in Brusio (Bernina line), SBB on the Gotthard line), MGB (Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn) in Grengiols (with cog wheels) or on the DFB (Dampfbahn Furka Berg) below Gletsch (also with cog wheels). I have been really lucky, as just after a short wait a very long freight train (total of 7 engines: 2 in front/ 3 in the middle/ 2 at the end) went up the loop while at the same time a (rare) passenger train came down the line :-)

US'22 (4.10.) - McGee / Flynns

sunrise on Mt.Tom (there is also a launch, but hike-up -1000ft vert)

TUE: my last day here in the Owens Valley with Kari... Today I got up early, so I could watch the sunrise.

Acc to the wx fcst, conditions for McGee should be a bit 'less good' than yesterday. Jonny (our driver for the day and a former HG pilot) met me at my motel for the drive out to Kari's Place on 'Oceanview Rd' (!!). At the LZ for McGee Barry and Eric joined us for the ride to launch.

Eric

Crowley Lake

The flight started pretty much acc fcst, but thermals were harder to center and sharper; TOC also lower. And as forecasted conditions got weaker, so Kari and I landed after about an hour; Barry and Eric fared the same...

Even though the winds on Flynns showed 12-16mph (which would be too strong for me), we decided to drive up - Kari hiked. Just as Jonny and I reached launch, a pilot arrived hiking: Andy from SLC.

Kari launching on Flynns

But it turned out that the winds seemed to be a bit lighter and I coud even reverse launch :-))

Andy went first and hit THE thermal of the afternoon, which allowed him to 'sky-out' - I estimated to around 3000m. Unfortunately neither Kari nor I found a similar thermal.

So this flight concluded 7 days of flying in the Owens: rather unusually we could fly every single day - normally some blown-out days have to be expected. As usual Kari did an excellent job, always finding a site suited to my (launch) abilities. MANY THANKS! It have most enjoyable days, even if I have fallen a couple of times for Kari's jokes ;-)

US'22 (3.10.) - (Mammoth Mtn) / McGee

Mon: Kari had everything organized for a flight from Mammoth Mountain, but -we already have been heading up to Mammoth- she received a SMS, saying that 'private cars' are not allowed to be driven up to launch anymore :-( Originally she had wanted to go there in my SUV, but luckily I had convinced her to take her own car. She had assumed that the road (at Mammoth) still might be good, but accepted my argument, that she really didn't know.

She asked me if I was ok with flying McGee instead. I agreed, but without great enthusiasm, as so far all my previous flights from McGee had just been sledders... While driving towards the LZ, she organized a driver (Eric) which arrived together with Barry. With my car we wouldn't have been able to drive to this launch.

McGee: looking (East) towards Crowley lake - LZ just beyond highway (where it 'disappears' in the pix)

Launch (Barry setting up)

Kari launched first and we could see her climbing on the East side. After a blown launch I got away without problems (thanks to Eric and Barry for helping me set up again!) and was able to find good lift, which took me up to 3000+m: strong, but nice thermals, but sometimes requiring tight turns close to the hill...

Luckily I had agreed to give this site a chance, as conditions have been really great, especially as the aspens also here have started to change colors.

Crowley Lake (at ca 3500m)

I made it back to the 'official' LZ, as Kari had an important appointment and needed to be back in Bishop by 1500. I used the rest of the afternoon to have my clothes washed for the last time during this trip ;-)

It are these flights which sometimes are the nicest, when you are not expecting anything at all before launching and then you are given a really great day :-))

US'22 (2.10.) - Pajute

SUN: once more, the best option for a prolonged flight was driving up to Pajute... Arriving on launch, we met Tim (a pilot from Texas, whom we had seen launching 2 days ago just as we had arrived on launch). He drove his car almost up to launch (to a point where the BAD road turns REALLY BAD), deposited his equipment, drove back down and finally hiked back up to launch (picking up his pack along the way) - cudos!

After a nice reverse (!) launch I tried (as Kari had suggested I might) to fly North. But TOC seemed (even) lower than yesterday (just short 0f 3000m) and thermals much less abundant - probably due to a lower lapse-rate (=Temp.Gradient), so after a short while I turned around... Winds also ahve been less strong, but getting lower, the south push was still prominent, so I landed at the 'official' LZ for Pajute.

Pajute launch (middle of pix)

On the way back into town, we checked-out Chalk Bluffs, but wind speed was just a bit too high for my reverse launch abilities ;-)

new glider ;-)

 (thanks Andy!)

US'22 (1.10.) - Pajute

SAT: originally Kari had thought, that we could possibly fly Mammoth, Manzanar or Walts Point. But unfortunatley for these higher launches the wind fcst has been too strong. So it was again up to Pajute, where the wind came straight in (due West). Between cycles it dropped sufficiently to permit me a good forward launch. Contrary to my other flights here (or at Gunthers) I immediately found a nice thermal, taking me to 600m above launch :-))  TOC - according to Barry has been about 3300m. Barry headed North, I on the other hand wanted to stay in 'known territory' -hoping to reach at least the same LZ as yesterday- and so I flew slowly South. Thermals have been strong, but 'felt' better than the day before.

flying past Gunthers (looking South)

The further South and the lower I came, the influence of the South wind became much greater and finally I had to land about 300m short of the same LZ, where I had landed from yesterday's flight (off Pajute).

Unfortunately no second flight todaydue to increasing South winds :-(

US'22 (30.9.) - Pajute / Flynns

FRI: another cloudless day in the Owens Valley. Options today have been either Gunthers or Pajute, so I choose Pajute. Just as we (Barry, Kari and I) reached the West) launch, we saw a pilot launching from the North-launch: he must have hiked up all the way from the valley floor (at 1300m) to launch (at 2500m) as we didn't see any other vehicle...  As the wind was coming in too much from the left side on the West launch, Kari took us alos to this alternative launch. I was surprised how good the launch area had been cleared of weeds etc.

Barry getting ready on the North launch

North launch (LZ to the right of the green field)

I had to wait a bit for the wind to drop sufficiently to allow me a (fwd) launch, but with some patience and Kari's help I could start my flight without problems. Thermals out front could be easily found, but contrary to the days before I didn't 'like' them too much (sharp edged/ bumpy) so I headed out towards the valley floor. I'm not really sure if it has been the aerology or if I just didn't feel too well this morning: anyway, I landed after about 50 minutes on an irrigated field and could pack my glider in the shadow of a tree :-) 

just as I had finished packing, Kari arrived - perfect timing!

> Unfortunately, due to a problem with the settings of my camera, no usable pictures from this flight :-((

The second flight of this day I could make from Flynns. This is Kari's main site (where she trains her students). Normally it's an 'easy' 20minutes drive to launch, but a heavy rainfall a few weeks ago had damaged the road seriously, so it took us much longer to get there. It will need quite some time and effort to put this access back into a halfway decent 'road'. 

Flynns launch

above launch, looking North

'Triangle' LZ

For once, I managed a really nice reverse launch and could enjoy the smooth conditions for more than 1/2 hour...

Only on Friday (and Saturday) nights, Prime Ribis on the menu of many restaurants; and as this is my last Friday on my trip, I 'had' to take advantage ;-)

But rather unusually, I had to decline dessert...