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By magentabluesky
#394131
Owens Valley - Sierra Nevada
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By Jason
#394132
magentabluesky wrote:Owens Valley - Sierra Nevada
was that photo taken from Mazourka?
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By WMichelsen
#394133
Jason wrote:
magentabluesky wrote:Owens Valley - Sierra Nevada
was that photo taken from Mazourka?
Yes. AFAIK that panoramic photo was taken from Mazourka, by Mike Kunitani, some time around the mid-'90s. It's been widely circulated with little attribution. It's a staple at nearly every Owens Valley trip briefing I've held, or attended, or heard about. It was indispensable in the days before google earth.
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By Jason
#394134
WMichelsen wrote: Yes. AFAIK that panoramic photo was taken from Mazourka, by Mike Kunitani, some time around the mid-'90s. It's been widely circulated with little attribution. It's a staple at nearly every Owens Valley trip briefing I've held, or attended, or heard about. It was indispensable in the days before google earth.
I've only flown Mazourka once (i believe you were there actually)

I did get a low save off the foot hills visible in the photo below the text that read Manzanar. I remember launching and then realizing my vario volume was turned off and having to d--- with the settings while thermalling out, and then restarting the recording feature.
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By zamuro
#394136
Nice Owens picture!! :drool: :drool:
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By NMERider
#394139
WMichelsen wrote:
Jason wrote:
magentabluesky wrote:Owens Valley - Sierra Nevada
was that photo taken from Mazourka?
Yes. AFAIK that panoramic photo was taken from Mazourka, by Mike Kunitani, some time around the mid-'90s. It's been widely circulated with little attribution. It's a staple at nearly every Owens Valley trip briefing I've held, or attended, or heard about. It was indispensable in the days before google earth.
Thanks Wayne. I found Mike's story of that photo here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/testforum/to ... 11#9687899
This shot was taken a decade ago with a 3 mp Canon G-1 and equally ancient software.
The Eastern slope of the Southern Sierra, the Owens River Valley

http://www.fototime.com/59859EFF2DB8F0F/orig.jpg

I am returning this month to see if I can capture a similar shot with high quality dSLR equipment.
Mike K
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By dave hopkins
#394140
I have many fond memory's of the Owens. I started rather late as I spent the first 10 yrs of my HG in the NE on the coast of Maine. A poor place to practice XC or thermalling. I made my first trip to the Owens in 88.
I was green to XC although very motivated and green to the scale and power of the Owens. I started flying on the White mts, which is a good idea for new pilots in the Owens. I learned to respect the place and make my own judgements about when to fly. I learned it's Better to be a pliot on the wishing you were in the air then a pilot in the air wishing you were on the ground.
I learned to do Skew-T charts at the Bishop tower in the morning. Powerful knowledge to have. Eventually I started flying Walts pt. and learned the Sierras and making the crossing at big pine and making to 100 miles up to Janey's or over the pass. Got consistent at it.
The Owens teaches you a lot if you learn quick and learn to error on the conservative side. Most of us eventually learned that if you have real XC flying skill we don't need an arena the size and power of the Owens to do long XC. There are lots of other areas of high desert and good thermal to test our skills then the power of the Owen.

My last flight in the Owens was on my VR ,early july 2013. I was passing through. Launched a bit late . I zoomed up the Sierras hardly stopping to thermal. Went in to the Mts get some alti. before making the crossing and got the crap kicked out of me.
I had the bar stuffed on the VR with the nose pointed straight up , wings and pitch going every which way, Like riding a wild bull. Got point toward the valley and only did a couple of past 90 degrees getting out . Feet chattering in the harness I flew to the hills west of Big pine and found booming big lift , Too scared to turn I cruised pass Bishop into the Whites. Found a twister at Flinn's. Screwed it up to about 12k. Several good slaps on the way up. I looked around and saw a storm developing in Westguard pass and one coming over the Sierras to the west and decided it was time to get on the ground. I flew out into the Valley around Chalfant and started to try! to get down. It was 800 up everywhere.
After a half hr of avoiding monster lift I was ready to set up an approach . My driver , girlfriend arrived and said my intended LZ was full of stakes hiding in the grass so I decided on the desert. Not a bad landing but still managed to knock both pins out of my DTs and be pinned under the glider till I squirmed my way out avoiding the cacti and such. Put in new pins, broke down and found a camp, Just an other day in the Owens. I did know of the OD potential so should have started earlier.

Dave
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By magentabluesky
#394143
Here are a couple of Barographs from flights off Walts Point. Upper is on a Pacific Wings Express, Walts Point to Luning. Bottom is on a UP Comet 165 Walts Point, made the valley cross and about abeam Gunter there was a big a-s thunder storm between White Mountain and Boundary so I turned around and landed back at Big Pine. The chicken scratches on the Baro-trace tell a story not found on digital flight data recorders.
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By once&future
#394144
Interesting that a picture by Mike K. should show up. I only flew the OV with Mike once - back in the mid-90s when I was flying there several times a summer. As I recall the flying was only OK, but Mike rescued the day by showing us a secret apres-flying swimming hole he knew about on the grounds of the old Manzanar camp. I've looked for it since and never found it again...

Oddly, though I haven't flown with Mike again, I've interacted with him more over the years through photography. Apart from that pano from Mazourka, he's actually a very accomplished art/landscape photographer.
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By waltspoint
#394145
>>a secret apres-flying swimming hole he knew about on the grounds of the old Manzanar camp. I've looked for it since and never found it again...


That reservoir? That was pretty excellent to land out there and take a swim. There's a big museum there now (worth visiting) and you can't walk about without constraint anymore. Ah, the days... /jd
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By WMichelsen
#394148
Regarding the first post, where is that Cross Country Pilots Assoc building? It looks familiar, like along Hwy-395 in Lone Pine. Am I'm wrong, or has it been torn down.
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By mario
#394150
Hmmmm, Ranger Rose Masters. I wonder who she is related to. ;-)

Thanks for the pix. I don't have any photos from that era, but lots of good memories.
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By waltspoint
#394153
>>Regarding the first post, where is that Cross Country Pilots Assoc building? It looks familiar, like along Hwy-395 in Lone Pine.

Yes, on 395. If my memory still works, it was in Big Pine, one town north of Lone Pine.
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By mario
#394164
waltspoint wrote:>>Regarding the first post, where is that Cross Country Pilots Assoc building? It looks familiar, like along Hwy-395 in Lone Pine.

Yes, on 395. If my memory still works, it was in Big Pine, one town north of Lone Pine.
Cross Country Pilots Association building was on Hy 395 across from the Inyo Courthouse in Independence (between Lone Pine and Big Pine). Supposedly Harland Ross used it to build sailplanes at one time. Some people who were leasing it burned it down around 1993.
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By butchpeachy
#394168
Guys: The picture is an 80s picture. In the two pictures guys are wearing Ocean Pacific ( OP ) shorts. The OPs were the rage in 1983,

One of the guys with his back to the camera looking at the map looks like Larry Tudor. I never saw him wear shorts. He worn glacier "geek" sunglasses.

I wonder if any of the guys in the pictures still fly hang gliders.
Butch
By highhuber
#394182
once&future wrote:Interesting that a picture by Mike K. should show up. I only flew the OV with Mike once - back in the mid-90s when I was flying there several times a summer. As I recall the flying was only OK, but Mike rescued the day by showing us a secret apres-flying swimming hole he knew about on the grounds of the old Manzanar camp. I've looked for it since and never found it again...

Oddly, though I haven't flown with Mike again, I've interacted with him more over the years through photography. Apart from that pano from Mazourka, he's actually a very accomplished art/landscape photographer.
Mikes parents met at Manzanar while being interned there during WW2. He still flys the Owens every year these days on a Atos VRS.

The reservoir is still there it just is dry because the water isn't in abundance anymore so no one diverts the creek into it these days.

I can remember doing it in the early 2000's and then having to wait a few days till it filled up.

These days we go east on Manzanar-Reward rd. to where the Owens Rvr. crosses under it. A very nice swimming hole right there with some shade trees to boot.

Wonder what happened to Larry Tudor. I guess he got married and had kids so flying time couldn't be found anymore. I believe I'm older then he is and I hope to best the Walts Point site record one of these years Would have loved to fly with him and hear his stories.

Does anyone know if his flight reports are accessible on the internet?

hh.
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By magentabluesky
#394196
I believe the van in the upper picture in the original post is Jim Zeiset’s van.

On the original post bottom picture, the knelling fellow in the green shirt is Rainer M. Scholl. (correction).

Rainer is still the current FAI World Record Holder for Altitude Gain in the Sub-Class O-2 (HG with a rigid primary structure / movable control surface(s)). The record has stood for over 31 years, record date 1985-08-05, 3820 meters (12,533ft).

Larry Tudor still holds the Altitude Gain in the Sub-Class O-1 (HG with a rigid primary structure / controlled by weight shift). Larry’s record is over 31 years also, record date 1985-08-04, 4343 meters (14,249ft).

Attached picture is the Dark and Dingy International Café in Austin, Nevada where Larry would have dinner after his one of many 200 mile flights. The Café should be made a Historical Land Mark.
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Last edited by magentabluesky on Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.