- Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:49 pm
#374541
Dean Miller and I conspired to get a few of us off the ground last Sunday at Williams during a little dry slot in the monsoon pattern..... The morning forecast data indicated a launch time of between 1 and 2 pm from lower launch with W surface winds forecast to trend toward valley flow (NW) dominated after that (great landing direction BTW). Ken Grubs and Tim Seeling showed up - that put 80 years of collective knowledge on the hill in one shot. Matt Wentz too. The relatively new guys were Mark Henline, who returned to the sport a couple of years ago, and Dave Graham who is a new H3 with many hours (including hrs at Jackson Hole off the ski area launch.) Charles joined in too - another long time pilot and a transplant from FLA last season.
Our timing was perfect. Dean was off first at 1:05 and was at cloudbase (15K) in 10 minutes. KG was next, followed by, Mark, me, Matt, Dave, Charles, and Tim. Peak reported lift rate was 2200 by Dean and I saw 1800. Above 13.5K there was some cloud suck evident but it wasn't the scary kind..... Dave had an awesome low save 1/2 way to the postage stamp LZ not long after launch: he went from about 8800 to CB in 7 minutes!
Some of the traditional triangle points were explored over the next 1-2 hours and all landed when they wanted too..... by that I mean that folks ended their flights by choice and picked their landing cycles with style to avoid trying to land when 1500 ft/min up was ripping through the LZ :>
Fun day with old and new friends. It was classic midday Williams during the Summer! But XC not a good idea with threat of OD 20 miles to the East.....
'next good mtn day in CO may materialize sometime between evening of 19 Aug and evening of 23 Aug. Right now I'm betting on 21/22 Aug but all depends on how fast the approaching PAC NW trough pushes across WY (and pushes monsoon plume to SE as a result). 'could set up quite nicely!
SF
Our timing was perfect. Dean was off first at 1:05 and was at cloudbase (15K) in 10 minutes. KG was next, followed by, Mark, me, Matt, Dave, Charles, and Tim. Peak reported lift rate was 2200 by Dean and I saw 1800. Above 13.5K there was some cloud suck evident but it wasn't the scary kind..... Dave had an awesome low save 1/2 way to the postage stamp LZ not long after launch: he went from about 8800 to CB in 7 minutes!
Some of the traditional triangle points were explored over the next 1-2 hours and all landed when they wanted too..... by that I mean that folks ended their flights by choice and picked their landing cycles with style to avoid trying to land when 1500 ft/min up was ripping through the LZ :>
Fun day with old and new friends. It was classic midday Williams during the Summer! But XC not a good idea with threat of OD 20 miles to the East.....
'next good mtn day in CO may materialize sometime between evening of 19 Aug and evening of 23 Aug. Right now I'm betting on 21/22 Aug but all depends on how fast the approaching PAC NW trough pushes across WY (and pushes monsoon plume to SE as a result). 'could set up quite nicely!
SF