Re: Pine Mountain Weekend

From: BH
Activity_Date: 7/20/01
Remote Name: 207.71.212.250

Comments

Topa Flyers' first Pine Mt. weekend was great fun, thanks to good weather (despite the forecasts) and early set-up on Friday morning by Dan Keyser and Fast Eddie. Although we arrived at launch a little too late to fly on Friday afternoon, we knew a good weekend was in store when a small black bear crossed the road 200 or 300 ft east of us and barreled down the slope out of sight.

Flights Saturday morning and late afternoon took us above 9,000 and 10,000 feet, modest elevations by Pine standards but strong thermas nevertheless. Most of use ended at CalTrans in the morning except Casey who landed along Dry Canyon on the back side.

The late afternoon flight taught me, at least, that I've missed some great flying by launching only once during those many trips to the mountain. With strong cycles up the front until after 5:00 p.m., Tom Pitcan and I lounged around 10,000 feet over the ridge, then joined Casey, John, Ron Faoro and Dan over the valley for long, bouyant flights followed by ridge soaring along the highway. We finally landed at the Sand Pile within minutes of each other. Benson's landing skills were sorely tested a mile or so east after he turned west from CalTrans to land closer to the gaggle and couldn't make the glide. Ron Faoro was in rare form for the rest of the evening and Benson, as usual, was patient and unaffected by Faoro's outrageous kidding.

On Sunday, we drove vehicles to the Sand Pile intending to return to launch for a final flight. With Elizabeth as his driver, Ron stayed behind, planning to meet us at launch. In the Valley, the strong west wind, so consistently forecasted for the weekend, began to push through and we cautioned Ron about launching. He paid no attention, of course, and immediately connected with a good thermal, carefully avoiding the lea side of the main spine, eventually landing at CalTrans. His daring encouraged the rest of us and we raced to launch and pitched ourselves into the air.

Benson angled east, away from the spine and immediately hit the convergence. Even with lines tangled from his landing the evening before, he soared to 9000 feet or so over the valley without a single turn, landing at CalTrans with Ron. Dan Keyser was next with the same result. Sara Char, our newest Topa Flyer, followed on her inaugural Pine flight and cruised the valley in the convergence before a perfect landing at the Sand Pile. I brought up the rear just as the cycles started blowing over the back, tried to connect on the spine with a couple of hang gliders, got wacked, limped out toward the highway and still managed to find enough convergence to get back up to 6500 feet or so. A truly magic weekend at a very magic place. Thanks again to Eddie for hanging with us. Lets do it again in October.