This weekend was the start we've been waiting on. Saturday was one of those days that didn't look all that great from the info the soaring forecasts provided. Horse Heaven was the obvious choice for the day given the wind conditions. Even though the thermal index was mediocre, a few of us decided to make the drive south to Levan.



Lisa launched first around 2pm and had to do some groveling out front. Julian and I launched next and found solid lift immediately. By the time I was climbing through 12k, Lisa was at 15k+ and heading over the back. I was soon at 15k and made the jump over the back as well. Julian headed out front and landed providing a chase.



It was obviously one of the first great XC days. Even though the day could have easily yielded a 100+ flight, I ended up in Indianola for a meager 26 mi tour of Skyline, but a great season starter. Lisa landed in Mount Pleasant.

The Day

The day was........amazing. Driving in from the backside through Provo Canyon, the cumulus clouds were hanging low over the back of Timp and Cascade. Some of the cu's were well developed with pretty high cauliflower tops. As I continued through the canyon I had my doubts about the day. Once on top it was obvious the big cu's were drifting from the NE (the wrong direction). Cloud base was about 500 ft below the peaks, however as the day progressed the bases lifted a bit.

Set up! A truck load of panties arrived, which was cool because I was alone. amazingly the cu's coming over the back weren't penetrating to far west. Smaller Cu's were forming in front and drifting toward launch with nice accompanying cycles blowing up the face. I launched and to my suprise got drilled and headed out front. I found a bit of lift in Provo Canyon and drifted with it to the north side. It turned into something workable, but disappeared after a few hundred feet. Finally over the water tanks, above the soccer field, it came together. The lift was strong and disorganized, but cohesive enough to get me to cloud base. I tried diving back toward Timp, but that was poor judgement. Very ratty - still some lee side turbulence close to the hill. I flew back out front and was joined by three of the PG's. We all bobbled around close to cloud base for a while before they headed north. I flew out over Provo finding an abundance of lift. I played around over town for a while and landed in the soccer field. Airtime - 1.5 hours.

Got out late this afternoon at Inspo just in time for conditions to go south - litteraly. Just a short flight, but still fun. Was joined by Tom and Lisa.



The new T2.



Tom, Bruce and Lisa.

Sunday At Inspo

I did get to fly Last Saturday at the South Side. OB was there as well as half a dozen other pilots. It was a bit of a raw morning. The typical glassy morning air didn't last long. The wind was bumping up to 25 by 9am, and by the time I was set up and ready to launch at 9:30 we were feeling gusty spikes close to 30. I was able to squeeze in a few sorties on my new T2 before it was blown out.

This weekend We had a friend out from Minnesota. Dan and I flew hangs together back in the day. For all His reasons, Dan gave up flying in the late eighties and never picked it up again. Dan has remained interested in hang gliding so it wasn't to hard to convince him to drive for me on Sunday. Inspo looked like the most obvious choice for the day. It was my third - launch in a good cycle, get drilled, catch something over the sub-station just before unzipping, work zero to 100fpm lift to 7000asl......this year. I am thankful for that flight, but man, this year has been a bugger!! Is it just me? I am getting in a few flights on the T2, and realizing what a great wing it is - solid!


Not the T2. A vintage photo of one of my first flights. Circa - 1976.