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Back to SoCal soon

From: Forger
Activity_Date: 090801
Remote Name: 209.244.76.35

Comments

After a month and a half in Denver, I'm finally returning to Camarillo on 9/12 (just in time for summer to end, I'm sure).

I've flown Lookout Mt. in Denver several times but it has been very inconsistent and I've only had short periods of soaring success.

That was until last Tuesday. I borrowed a car for a couple of hours and got to launch shortly after 2 pm. There was one other pilot sitting with his wing unfolded. He commented that it looked pretty strong and I commented that it looked perfect. It was certainly safer than the last time I saw him fly where he had launched in light winds but with virga coming in fast over the back. He went ahead and launched and was a few hundred over by the time I launched.

I launched right into a thermal and it was initially a pretty bumpy yo-yo with up a few hundred, down a few hundred... I found another one and gained a couple of grand. I had drifted north and west (over the back) slightly and decided what the hell, it was time for a challenge. I turned north and headed up range without chase or radio.

I topped out in each thermal (for awhile) and always found something at the end of the full speedbar run to get back in front of the range. On my lowest save I cleared a several hundred foot tall ridge by just a few feet and scared the heck out of a doe and fawn. The two deer ran around frantically through the brush not knowing where to go. I don't know if they released it but I climbed out from just over their heads to an estimated 15K'.

I say estimated because my instrumentation was limited to my mini audio variometer. I now started leaving the thermals when the combination of cold, heaving lungs, and downwind drift got too much for me.

My initial goal was Boulder which I made after 1.5 hours. I set up to land at an intramural field at CU but hooked another one back up high. I thought it would be cool to land at the training hill north of town so I flew over the town and airport. I got to the training hill low and spied a plastic grocery bag going up. I followed it up again to over 15K' (I was looking down on Longs Pk at over 14K').

Eventually the road along the front range T'd at the town of Lyons. I didn't want to head NW into Rocky Mt. National Park and didn't have any luck finding lift by penetrating NE towards Ft. Collins so I turned around and landed in Lyons at 5:17 pm.

Approx 34 miles in 3hr 5 min. The retrieve consisted of hitch hiking (without a sign), four bus rides to get to Golden and a cab to get to launch at 10:30pm.

It was a great time. Aside from the deer, I circled with 3 buzzards for a very extended time, an ASK-21 sailplane (up close and personal with me just inside his wingtip), and the plastic bag. What a hoot.

Well worth the 6 hours of retrieve and the few hours of sleep prior to my 4:30 am United simulator.

Hope to fly with you guys soon.

Forger

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