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Saturday, 9/25/04 Dean and I had been watching the Owens weather in hopes of a late September flight from Walts Point. When Friday nights report showed L&V with a good lapse we pulled the trigger. Chris Grantham and I headed out at 4:00 am Saturday morning and met Dean at his dad's (Bob's) house. We piled into Deans rig and hit the road at 5:30 am. Chris brought his lap top and transferred my gps waypoints to Deans on the way up. Sundowner was kind enough to call & give us the updated weather, still mostly L&V with a good lapse. We pulled into Lone Pine at 8:00 am and headed straight to launch. At the observation point 1 mile past Walts, the west was from 3-7 (OTB). We figured it was the remnants of the morning katabatic flow. We checked it again at 10 am. It was now drawing up 3-7 from the east. We were good to go. Tom Moock and 3 or 4 other Bay area pilots arrived as we geared up. I was first off at 10:30 and headed to the saddle on the right. When it became obvious that I was coming up short I veered back across the canyon to the bowl on the north side. It was light lift but working as Dean joined me. I was uncomfortable hanging out in the canyon and turning into the hill so I headed out to the front of the spine. It looked like an ideal thermal trigger, boy was I wrong. As I slowly sank, I watched the other pilots hook into the thermal that I passed on and climb out. I guess that’s why the call the first off the hill “the wind dummy”. I turned the corner with 7800’ and headed north. Tried a couple more spines but couldn’t make them work either. Down to 6,800’. I tried plan B and left the mountains in hopes of connecting in the flats. It was too early in the day for the valley floor to heat. As I put it down on the road, Dean threw in the towel and joined me. Chris boosted us back to launch for round 2. I followed Dean off at 12:30 and climbed out from the saddle easily. The flight down range was tons of fun. We stayed together bouncing from spine to spine all the way to Onion Valley. The 15 mile stretch north from launch has to be the most spectacular scenery in the US. My 2 goals on this trip were;
The Eastern Sierra’s start to shade in around 3:00 in September, so I felt like we needed to be at Tinamah Peak while it still had some sun. Our 2nd launch was somewhat late. We arrived at Onion valley around 2:30. I was feeling a sense of urgency. The day was slipping away. Down to 8200’ 5 miles north of OV, I decided to leave the mountains in hopes that the valley was now working. If it was, the 10-15 mph south wind would certainly speed up our progress to the Whites. The flats again weren’t working and I dirted at the 36 mile mark. Dean stuck it out in the mountains and continued down range, only leaving when the Sierra’s were completely shaded in. He landed at the 57 mile mark taking the day amongst all the PG pilots. We decided to stay the night so we grabbed a room at the roach motel and treated ourselves to a steak dinner. On Sunday Ron M. met us at Lone Pine. The weather on paper looked similar to Saturday but turned out to be much tougher. I again wind dummied at 11:30 and had pretty much the same bomb out, but pulled off a long, very slow save one canyon to the north. Dean joined me and Ron was just behind us pulling off his own low save. Every spine all the way to Whitney Portal was a workout. My max altitude was 10 grand but I was mostly down around 9 grand. By the time I arrived at Whitney Portal road just 10 miles from launch, an hour and a half had passed and I was mentally exhausted. Getting to Tinamah at a decent hour would be nearly impossible unless the conditions radically changed. I was not having fun with the scratch fest so I headed out with 8,200’ for yet another shot at the flats. This time there was hope. I managed to connect with 3 nice thermals but it didn’t last. I dirted at the north end of the Alabama Hills at 1:30. Ron and Dean hung on and continued down range. Dean has a great story to tell about altitude, west winds and going over the falls. Thanks to Chris for chase and to Dean for the use of his truck. I had a blast! Dust Devil |
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