Skipping Stones

Although the forecast looked unremarkable, I was ready to shake the dirt off my feet after plodding along the ground for almost 3 weeks. Rodger was also game, so he picked me up at my place around 8am and we began the drive north. Aside from the weak predicted lift, high cirrus clouds dimming the sun, low top-of-climb (3800 feet) and hot humid air oozing in, we also had to deal with light winds that were shifting from the northeast to the southwest. It was a day we could launch (and probably sled) from any mountain in the area. Rodger and I originally planned to launch from Mount Ascutney, but after talking between ourselves and then Dennis on the cell phone we switched to West Rutland instead. After arriving later than most at the LZ, we tossed Dennis’ ATOS on Rodger’s truck and headed up the 4x4 road on the backside of the mountain.

Bo was already soaring his paraglider when we pulled up to launch; a heartwarming sight. It was good to see many new and familiar faces. While we were setting up, another paraglider launched and sunk out while John S, with his ATOS-VR, launched and managed to slowly climb out. I originally planned to launch around 2pm after some more heating, but with thick cirrus approaching, I decided it was now or never. Gary launched his paraglider and quickly climbed above launch. Barry was next up. He waited for some wind to inflate his glider. He waited some more. He waited even longer. Finally, John, a hang glider pilot, asked if he could step through and launch. Barry graciously waved him through. Sure enough, as soon as John stepped onto the launch, the wind began to blow in! Barry had some decent launch conditions after the pilot launched, but wasn’t able to launch in time. So I stepped through and waited for any sign of lift. I finally saw some fluff from blooming trees waft up a few yards in front of launch and decided to take the plunge. I initially sank below launch but found a slow building climb that took me over and then above launch. I looked down and saw Dennis on launch. I radioed that the climb had now built to 400 feet-per-minute and was nice and solid. (John G told me later that as soon as I was over launch, the slight breeze coming into launch faded away).

Although I had a nice initial climb, I was very careful with my altitude as I cruised around and tested out the day. I watched a large group of the pilots launch, struggle, and then land after short flights. Bummer. I found there was a lot of unorganized bubbly lift below 2800 feet that coalesced into more traditional thermals above that. Although there were no clouds marking the thermals, I pictured myself hopping across stones in a river. Miss one stone (thermal) and I would fall into the water (below 2800) and would have to work hard to climb back out. However, the flying above or below the “water line” was fun and pleasant.

I looked around from John S, but couldn’t find him. He later told me he flew south, then east, and then back to the valley. I never saw him until he came back to the valley from the east and then head out to land. I did share a nice climb from down low with John G in his paraglider. Once I topped out I went on a glide across the valley to “Bird’s Eye” where I was greeted by a dozen turkey vultures launching from a cliff to mark a strong climb for me. I flew back across the valley and then made my way west to the town of Castleton and then on to Route 30. I never got low and found that almost all the higher terrain was producing usable thermals or at least providing buoyant glides. I didn’t want to land out so I eventually turned around and came back to play some more in the valley before landing with a no-step uphill flare near the breakdown area.

Many of the pilots had already left, but I got a picture of the crew that was still hanging around when I landed. On the way home I talked to several pilots to see how they did. The pilots at Morningside mostly had pleasant sled rides and the pilots that launched from Mount Ascutney did ok and some managed to dribble 15 miles to the north in climbs similar to what I encountered. Although it wasn’t a booming day it was still fun working light but friendly lift to 4500 feet in very light winds for almost 3 hours. I enjoyed playing in the sky but wish more pilots were able to get that initial climb before landing.