Owens Valley Personal Best Flight

66 yrs. young. Can this body still push the limits of endurance and effort. A trip to the Mecca of hang gliding is a good way to find out.

Willy Dydo who is 35 yrs. my junior at 31 has similar drive and the same (Go For It) attitude so we make good flying brothers.

The weather looked promising with a low pressure system parked over the state, bringing in instability and cloud streets marking lift.

Some para glider pilots show up also so Willy hooks up with them for the first day of flying on Wed the 15th of July.

I drove down the day before and decide to rest up this day as I want to be completely fully charged for Thursday which I figured would be the best day of the week.

Wed. over develops and nobody goes real far maybe 65, 70 miles.

That night Jay comes up to drive for us so we are good to go long the next day if conditions warrant.

It's not particularly a good day of flying for the Owens Valley and after crossing low to near Flynns launch east of Bishop I can't hook into enough to keep me airborne so land after 70 miles. Eric,  one of the para gliders makes it over the Whites and lands a few miles north of Basalt for around 110 or so. Willy got flushed off the Sierras early, getting maybe 40 miles.

Friday the 17th feels very similar to the day before.  Reavis Sutphin-Gray joins us for it. He is pushing his limits on his Enzo3 para glider going for a 200 miler. I feel this day has a lot of potential if we can just get out of the Owens Valley of California and into the outback of Nevada. The Sierras have been over developing every afternoon so being in Nevada out of the Owens gives more opportunities to avoid OD, and continue flying.

The beginning of the day is very similar to the day before, good enough lift to progress down the range but not a lot of altitude to go fast.

 Mt. Whitney, highest point in the continental US.

Looking north up the Owens Valley from same area. Burn scar is from a couple years ago when the TFR (temporary flight restriction) shut us down.

Willy pushes hard again and is soon scratching low with little options. He will be on the ground before Big Pine.

Reavis, Carter Crowe,on para gliders, and I are playing it patiently making similar progress.  Eric the other para glider who went long the day before falls behind us. The para gliders have excellent sink rates and seem to float along like soap bubbles in a breeze.

They climb out at Tinnemaha Mt. and begin their crossing of the valley to the White Mts. but soon abort and come back. I missed the climb there and continue to Birch Mt. a mile further. We are soon all scratching along the lower hills north of Birch.

I have flown this line many times so when we don't find anything real good I blow across the canyon at Big Pine Creek to an area I usually skyout in and leave them behind.

I climb to 13300 ft. at Round Mt. and decide to cross to the Whites. A similar line as the day before in similar conditions,but a little higher.  SE winds around 18 blowing in the valley, and I am losing altitude quickly.

Not wanting to repeat yesterdays outcome, when I hit some lift just SE of Bishop I decide to keep turning in it, aborting the crossing.  I'm slowly climbing and drifting NW up toward the Owens River.

The Volcanic Tablelands from the Glass Mts. begin rising just north of the river and the lift typically gets better in this area.  I push hard up and over it getting down to 6000' before hooking into something solid.  Yeeha, I rope that thermal and ride it up a few grand and continue on.

Everyone else made the jump and eventually land along the base of the Whites. Reavis getting the farthest, landing about where I did the day before.

The winds begin shifting to SW as I get up near Chidago Canyon Rd. So I go with it toward the north end of the White Mts. Coming in on the SW flanks of Mt. Dubois at Queen Dicks Canyon.

I climb to 15800' or so and report back I have the altitude and am soon to be heading out into Nevada.

Willy, Carter and Eric are left at the park in Bishop, and Reavis and Jay are on chase after me shortly. I can see the SE winds are pushing the clouds over the tops of the Whites so I play it cautious skirting around Montgomery Peak and cross to the north side where I usually find abundant lift.  Clouds are forming in the area and I beam up when I get there.

Here's a great shot looking south, White Mts. on left, Owens Valley, Glass Mts right, with Sierras behind over developing.

Mono Lake and the Sierras with OD building

 Walker Lake to the NW. Excelsior Mts in middle, with Marietta Mines area below my wing tip. I continue on the path my wire is aligned with.  I'm in a convergence zone, two different wind directions, in this case SE and SW coming together which creates an uplifting air mass. That may sound religious to you, we as pilots looking for the eternal high are always elated when we can enjoy the heights along these areas of the sky.  The cloud streets are setting up showing me the way and no priests are there telling me to follow them, just a passion for flight and a desire to remain, tasting the sky.

 Last look at the Whites, before heading north.

I follow the streets of clouds to the Gillis Range east of Hawthorne.  A sky junkies dream come true. A south tail wind pushing me along, between 13 and 18k.  There are areas of virga in the clouds to my west as they build and I am running fast trying to stay ahead of it as they move out into Nevada.

Up near the Rawhide Mine area at 175 miles out the shading from the cloud street has become 100%. I hit an area of sink so bail to the sun soaked ground to the east of the mine. Unzipped and looking for a good place to land I push it into a bowl area that looks promising for thermal development.  I find one and crank and bank back to 16000' ft. Alright, another helping of sky time is mine.

Reavis and Jay are in Gabbs and I send them up to hwy 50 where they tank up at Middlegate on snacks and gas.

I head for Fairview Peak more NE as the shading on my path north doesn't look good.  Find a liitle lift there, nothing solid so move across Hwy 50 to the Clan Alpine Mts. southern flanks.

Get low for a bit but find lift and massage it up to about 10k. There is a dying storm to my east on the Desatoya Mts. that is still pumping out some virga, but also lift along its western edge. With clouds forming under it.

I'm at 206 miles out and topping up at 13k when my flight instrument completely shuts off, out of power.  Bummer.  It's approaching 7pm anyway, there are no clouds over the northern higher reaches of the Clan Alpines where I was intending to go.  I know the site record flight I wanted is going to allude me this day but my personal best has already been broken and the day was fantastic. I have no regrets.  I glide into the Edwards Creek Valley and land gently at the Clan Alpine Ranch. 212.25 miles from launch at 7:11. 9 hrs. of skytime.

Looking ENE maybe 45 mns. after landing.  New Pass Peak in left distance. Reavis says the para gliders have been flying it..... Well  maybe someday!!

The northern portion of my track.