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Monday's flight articles [Dean] [Bob Anderson]

Bob Anderson (aka yna / Cougie / BobA)
Monday, 2/20/06
Eliminator to The Alternator to Piru
Leg form The Alternator to Piru ~ 53 miles (~ 47 LFSD points)

Anyone who flew scored.  I was only out on Monday, but what a day!  After a quick and fat climb out into quickly developing skies, I spun a loop from R&R to Alternator out to West Bowl and back to the Thermal Factory without spinning a circle.  It was on!  Fat lift just about everywhere, I chased Diablo East.  Caught him at the wires, he stayed back in over the dark ridge with a paraglider pilot.  I flushed to the sun line, way, way out front, where a paraglider was behind at cloudbase, Dean I believe.  At three grand, I found a fatty with three redtails, went to cloudbase, fifty two hundy.  I turned East.  Found one of the Redtails just under and in front matching my glide - super cool.  Stayed with him until Coyote Ridge Road, where he turned out, I stayed over the sun line, now lining up with the low dinosaur back ridge that bisects the bottom of Divide.  I continued the line until below the front of Whiteledge at three grand.  And the place went dark.

The entire area between the wires and Whiteledge OD'd, pushing out fast.  The sun line moved toward a paraglider out at the end of the low ridge line, passed the Whiteledge corner, on the way out.  Diablo went to cloudbase over Divide, but got stuck in the snowfall.  Racing at sixty to get out of the dark and falling ice air, he flew to Foxtail field, along with numerous pilots (Bo, Nathan, Akira and later JR).  I worked in the dark for a while before edging my way around the corner.  Sunshine sprinkled the rest of the ridge down to the 33 and in the Ojai Valley.  I found a little something the first spine after Whiteledge, then again a few spines down.  Flew onto the river bed, where a broad gentle thermal took me high enough to cross the gap.

Nordoff was dark, so I stayed out front along the base of the ridge.  A couple of canyon draws down, a very fat thermal took me to Iceland.  At sixty five hundred, I raced East to prevent whiteout.  Snow, hail, and shivering prevailed for the next two glides down range as the wind chill was getting thru three layers insulating my hands as my feet went numb.  I pedaled my feet and kicked my foot rest inside my harness to keep my toes in the game.  At the base of Chief's Peak, I found more lift, left early.  The valley was losing light fast, while the Sulfurs were going ballistic, a dark mass was draping above Santa Paula Peak.  I looked at the snow on the Topa Bluffs and related to the snow on my bar mitts... No more lift for awhile, I glided in low over Sulfur Springs... a gap between the Santa Paula ridge, Sulphur Mtns, and Topas, not a place I want to land - lots of canyons, no flatlands.  Interestingly, broad light lift above the school, springs, and the riverbed gave me eight hundred to thirty nine hundred. I turned to the base of Santa Paula ridge.

With increasingly strange headwind, I flew without turning the length of the ridge leaving the other side at more than fifty four hundred.  I passed on topping out above the ridge as I liked the air that was closer to freezing than the 14 below at six grand... Out of the dark and onto Fillmore it was slow going but in sunshine.  A quartering NE headwind had me adjusting to a crab into Oat mountain.  Thirty one hundred, above the riverbed, found light lift.  Turned it to Oat.  Fat lift there, gained two grand and back into the freezer I went.

Out East it looked like the promise land, high flat bottomed cu's, spread out to the horizon!  I left at about fifty four hundred before reaching cloudbase but found my ground speed grinding to a halt, twelve mph... I pushed on.  At twenty three, I turned right out of the foothills, and at Pacific Ave and 126, found a great LZ, landing into the ENE wind (12 mph five hundred AGL).  In hind sight, topping out at Oat or even Santa Paula Peak may have given enough altitude to make it to the next killer looking cu's just East of Piru...

See Dean's post and pictures on the South Coast Paragliding flight forum.

Monday's flight articles [Dean] [Bob Anderson]