Blue Ascutney

Although the forecast was uninspiring, Jake, Jeff, John A, and I hoped for a blue-sky cross-country cruise down the river starting at Mount Ascutney. I knew it was going to be a tough day when I saw all the water in the valley fields; they looked more like rice patties than cornfields or pastures. We all met at John's place and loaded up with Judy for the drive up. I wasn't sure how my arm would hold up on the hike out. I was slow, but no problems.

There was still snow in the setup area, a few black flies, no leaves, no clouds, and no wind. At least the forecasted top of lift was weak and low. ;-) Everyone took their time rigging, not sure who would be sacrificed first. Spirits picked up when I spotted an eagle climbing out front. That was finally enough get things going. Judy, along with a hiker named Warren, helped us launch. Jake went first and followed by Jeff. By the time I got to launch Jeff was low over the ski area and Jake was very low over the base of the mountain. Uh oh. Jake managed a low save and slowly started climbing. Although there wasn't much wind, it was 90 degrees cross at times, so I was waiting for an engraved invitation to launch. When it finally arrived, I launched, followed it to the western spine and started climbing in a snaky little thermal. John launched and Jake and Jeff cruised over to join the climb. Jeff managed to hold on while Jake and John struggled with anemic offshoots.

I stayed with that little thermal to 6000 feet. Jeff took off when I signaled it was time to leave but I struggled with my equipment for a moment. By the time I was organized, Jeff was already ahead me. Sorry Jeff. We headed south to an area northeast of the Springfield airport that usually produces a climb but it just produced a lot of little "popcorn" thermals. Jeff and I bounced along slowly gaining altitude. Jake headed out when he saw us turning and gave it his best until he landed at the golf course further to the south. Meanwhile I looked back and saw John low on the backside of the mountain. Ahead of me Jeff was low and looking for an LZ. Um, so much for our team trip down the river! I punched in Morningside on my Flytec 6030 said I had it by 700 feet. What the heck, lets go.

I didn't have a good glide back and was not going to make Morningside when I stumbled into a nice climb over the river that got me back to 5000. At least my flight wasn't over. I considered heading on down the river, but I didn't want to drag everyone south just for me. A short time later I saw Jeff cross the river after digging out of his hole. We played around awhile (you can see Jeff in the 3rd picture over the brown fields), I took some pictures, and we decided it was time to land. The problem? There was no sinking air around Morningside! Literally. I had to glide all the way to the Claremont airport to find lightly sinking air. I left the airport when my flight computer said I would arrive at Morningside at 1000 feet. I went on a straight fast glide and arrived at 3500! Jeff tried to lose altitude by speeding around. It was funny watching him zip around the valley below me, occasionally doing unintended aerobatics as he would hit a strong surge at high speed! I tried searching for sink to core. I finally found a small spot to the northeast and landed a few minutes after Jeff.

No big XC miles, but it was still a fun day and I added another 2:40 to my rehabilitation effort.