Flying in The Owens Valley
My first flight in the Owens could not have worked out any better. There was plenty of lift, conditions were smooth and I was able to fly my goal: 60 miles from Walt’s Point to Bishop.
With all of the SoCal pilots deciding to take advantage of local conditions, I drove up to Lone Pine by myself to meet up with the Vegas crew. I’ve never been up highway 395 before but found it to be just about what I had pictured: a big desert. Here is a shot of the Honda-Mobile taken about 6 miles from the middle of nowhere:
There are long stretches of 395 that are like the cliché Hollywood two lane rode that extends as far as you can see:
Doug from Vegas (E-team nickname RadWhacker) was an excellent tour guide and was a super help in getting us (Me and Tony) Owens virgins good flights. We got up to launch (Walt’s Pont) around 9:30 and started setting up and watching the conditions. There were 4 hang glider pilots and 2 paraglider pilots:
As we were finishing setting up, ten more hang pilots and about a dozen para pilots showed up:
The big crowd was a bit crazy, especially because there is not much room up there, but lots of pilots meant lots of people to follow and show you the next thermal.
I waited for all the PG pilots to launch and watched a few of the hang guys launch before I went. Everyone was climbing out on the ridge just to the north of launch so that’s where I headed. There was no time wasted, as soon as I arrived at the ridge I was in the thermal and climbing at 1000 fpm. At that rate it didn’t take long to break my previous altitude record of 10,100 ft. I was climbing past that point about 2 minutes into the flight. Doug was in the thermal with me as we both toped it out at 13,900 ft and headed north. From then on it was pretty much just matter of flying from one spine to the next, stopping to work a thermal if needed. I saw a maximum altitude of 14,100 ft.
Just about every spine was generating a thermal too. It was reliable enough that if one thermal was not really working well, or was too trashy, you could just fly to the next one. I remember skipping several thermals because they were just not feeling right.
It took maybe 30 minutes to reach Mt. Whitney, which stands out well against all the other peaks.
My goal for this flight was Bishop, 60 miles north of Walt’s Point. For most of the flight I was thinking that wasn’t really going to be possible. I would have been happy getting just a few miles north of Lone Pine. However every time I needed a thermal to stay in the game I found one. I never dropped below 11,000 ft until the end of the flight when I was on my way out on glide to Bishop.
It’s hard to describe the size and beauty of the Owens Valley. The place is hyped up by pilots like it’s the Meca of Hang Gliding. Well the hype is true, the place is simply amazing. I really lucked out with conditions too. The Owens is notorious for super strong thermals and some of the worst turbulence of anywhere. I didn’t get any of that. There wasn’t any turbulence that we don’t experience out here at Crestline on a typical summer day.
Towards the end of the flight I had Bishop in sight but was starting to sink out. I managed to find a big area of 800 fpm sink that had me looking for LZs about 5 miles short of Bishop. It was at this point that my fingers started to get numb, like when your foot falls asleep. This felt like a good time to land but I found another thermal that got me up maybe 500 ft and feeling good about getting to goal. That last little thermal was just what the doctor ordered and I had the south fields of Bishop on glide.
I had a few choices for LZs and decided on a field just on the south east corner of the golf course. I was able to see the flags on the greens and after studying those for 30 seconds or so decided they were hanging limp, no wind. I setup for a south approach and came in with plenty of speed, rounded out, a bit late on the flare, needed 2 or 3 steeps but my legs decided not to carry any weight. I ended up with a belly/wheels landing in the dirt, 61 miles from where I launched. I was hot, exhausted and excited. All that thermalling at high altitudes with no O2 really wore on me but I made my goal. Not bad for a first real cross country flight!
My Bishop LZ (there were fewer and smaller bushes where I landed):
I didn’t get any in air pictures. With all the other equipment to worry about (radio, headset, gps, water, extra clothing) it would have been just over whelming. I wanted to just concentrate on flying and doing so safely. I did take a few pictures up at launch though:
More pictures and larger versions on my Flickr Page.
I couldn’t have asked for a better flight. I got exactly what I wanted. I only wish that the SoCal crew had gone up with me. Flying is super fun, but its super-duper fun with your flying buddies around. I did get to hang out and fly with the Vegas guys, Doug, Ron, Roger and David. It was fun guys, let’s do it again!
With all of the SoCal pilots deciding to take advantage of local conditions, I drove up to Lone Pine by myself to meet up with the Vegas crew. I’ve never been up highway 395 before but found it to be just about what I had pictured: a big desert. Here is a shot of the Honda-Mobile taken about 6 miles from the middle of nowhere:
There are long stretches of 395 that are like the cliché Hollywood two lane rode that extends as far as you can see:
Doug from Vegas (E-team nickname RadWhacker) was an excellent tour guide and was a super help in getting us (Me and Tony) Owens virgins good flights. We got up to launch (Walt’s Pont) around 9:30 and started setting up and watching the conditions. There were 4 hang glider pilots and 2 paraglider pilots:
As we were finishing setting up, ten more hang pilots and about a dozen para pilots showed up:
The big crowd was a bit crazy, especially because there is not much room up there, but lots of pilots meant lots of people to follow and show you the next thermal.
I waited for all the PG pilots to launch and watched a few of the hang guys launch before I went. Everyone was climbing out on the ridge just to the north of launch so that’s where I headed. There was no time wasted, as soon as I arrived at the ridge I was in the thermal and climbing at 1000 fpm. At that rate it didn’t take long to break my previous altitude record of 10,100 ft. I was climbing past that point about 2 minutes into the flight. Doug was in the thermal with me as we both toped it out at 13,900 ft and headed north. From then on it was pretty much just matter of flying from one spine to the next, stopping to work a thermal if needed. I saw a maximum altitude of 14,100 ft.
Just about every spine was generating a thermal too. It was reliable enough that if one thermal was not really working well, or was too trashy, you could just fly to the next one. I remember skipping several thermals because they were just not feeling right.
It took maybe 30 minutes to reach Mt. Whitney, which stands out well against all the other peaks.
My goal for this flight was Bishop, 60 miles north of Walt’s Point. For most of the flight I was thinking that wasn’t really going to be possible. I would have been happy getting just a few miles north of Lone Pine. However every time I needed a thermal to stay in the game I found one. I never dropped below 11,000 ft until the end of the flight when I was on my way out on glide to Bishop.
It’s hard to describe the size and beauty of the Owens Valley. The place is hyped up by pilots like it’s the Meca of Hang Gliding. Well the hype is true, the place is simply amazing. I really lucked out with conditions too. The Owens is notorious for super strong thermals and some of the worst turbulence of anywhere. I didn’t get any of that. There wasn’t any turbulence that we don’t experience out here at Crestline on a typical summer day.
Towards the end of the flight I had Bishop in sight but was starting to sink out. I managed to find a big area of 800 fpm sink that had me looking for LZs about 5 miles short of Bishop. It was at this point that my fingers started to get numb, like when your foot falls asleep. This felt like a good time to land but I found another thermal that got me up maybe 500 ft and feeling good about getting to goal. That last little thermal was just what the doctor ordered and I had the south fields of Bishop on glide.
I had a few choices for LZs and decided on a field just on the south east corner of the golf course. I was able to see the flags on the greens and after studying those for 30 seconds or so decided they were hanging limp, no wind. I setup for a south approach and came in with plenty of speed, rounded out, a bit late on the flare, needed 2 or 3 steeps but my legs decided not to carry any weight. I ended up with a belly/wheels landing in the dirt, 61 miles from where I launched. I was hot, exhausted and excited. All that thermalling at high altitudes with no O2 really wore on me but I made my goal. Not bad for a first real cross country flight!
My Bishop LZ (there were fewer and smaller bushes where I landed):
I didn’t get any in air pictures. With all the other equipment to worry about (radio, headset, gps, water, extra clothing) it would have been just over whelming. I wanted to just concentrate on flying and doing so safely. I did take a few pictures up at launch though:
More pictures and larger versions on my Flickr Page.
I couldn’t have asked for a better flight. I got exactly what I wanted. I only wish that the SoCal crew had gone up with me. Flying is super fun, but its super-duper fun with your flying buddies around. I did get to hang out and fly with the Vegas guys, Doug, Ron, Roger and David. It was fun guys, let’s do it again!
posted by David Aldrich at
10:39 PM
