Into the Haze

Peter J and John B met at my place Thursday morning before carpooling in Peter's truck to West Rutland Vermont.  Al and Greg greeted us when we arrived at the bottom.  Al decided not to fly but offered to drive the truck down, so we tossed Greg's glider on top, hopped in, and drove up to launch.

Sam and Tim were getting ready to launch when we arrived.  Sam's paraglider wasn't that interesting, but Tim's pristine vintage Fledge III ET was another matter.

Check out the wires!

It was a beauty in the air.

PK showed up as we rigged and waited for clouds to develop overhead.  We planned to fly to the southeast to the Rutland airport and then east-southeast across the Green Mountains.  It is a challenging course due to limited landing areas, higher peaks, and conflicting wind needs.  (The launch faces southwest but west-northwest would be ideal for the crossing.)

PK launched first within our group.  He slowly ascended so I stepped up to launch next.  Although PK said he was sinking I ran off into a smooth cycle and slowly floated above the ridge line as Greg got ready to launch.

Greg on launch

Allen posted some raw footage of the the launches and flying.

The three of us climbed out as Peter and John cruised the ridge below.

I was immediately ready to start our journey with a glide to a developing cloud on course to the airport, but Greg and PK wanted to fly back to the ridge to get higher and join up with John and Peter.  I didn't think it was a good idea, but stayed with the group.

PK was soon at ridge height while Greg and I worked a few thermals overhead.  I pushed forward to a forming wispy and was rewarded with a strong climb back to 6300 feet (1920 m) that Greg missed.  I floated around the valley for awhile until I joined PK in a climb downwind of the ridge.  We finally started heading for the airport but the clouds were fading as the wind and haze increased.

It was difficult to make forward progress as we drifted northeast with every climb.   We finally settled into a healthy thermal over Rutland that lifted us to 7400 feet (2250 m).

Rutland, Vermont

Greg made a long gutsy glide into the bottom of that thermal and climbed out as well.

I finally tossed in the towel after I realized it took us 5 climbs to just cross the valley, the clouds were gone, the wind was still increasing from the southwest, and my shoulder was starting to bother me.  I slowly glided off my altitude and landed next to the taxi-way at the airport.  A short while later PK and Greg joined me and we broke down on a nice lawn.

Rutland airport

We arrived back at the mountain as John and Peter were breaking down after flying for hours along the ridge.

John

Flights: 1, Duration: 1:59, Distance: 9 miles