Lookout Mountain - Smooth as Glass

I headed out to Lookout Mountain in Golden today to show Nate, who was interested in learning to hang glide, what it's all about. After 60mph winds yesterday I didn't think there was much chance of having a launchable window, but the forecast called for decreasing wind speeds by afternoon. Chris, from work, headed down with me. When we got to the normal launch the winds were about 15mph out of the south so I headed over to the south facing launch called the Widow Maker (no explanation needed). I'd never launched on this side of the hill before and it took forever to scout a good place to launch.

I set up, but Nate was stuck in traffic so we just hung out on the steep south facing launch. By the time Nate got there the winds had shifted favorably to the east, but I was unfavorably facing south. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for lull cycle, I decided to pick up shop and move. About 100 yards to the right was a nice east facing bowl I could launch from, but it required all three of us to carry my glider down a twisty, bush laden trail. We moved slow and eventually got the glider over to the bowl.

The wind direction was perfect, straight in at about 13mph. I yelled "Clear!" and launched to Molly's frantic barking in the background. I hit smooth lift immediately and turned to parallel the ridge out to the east. The air was smooth as glass, composed of light ridge lift and occasional gentle winter thermals. It was like water skiing on a still lake at dawn. If it wasn't for Lookout Mountain Road just below me and the occasional smell of hops from the Coors brewery I would have thought I was on the South Side of Point of the Mountain.

After a couple passes I dive bombed Nate and Chris back at the Widow Maker. Apparently this caused quite a commotion. It scared Nate's dog so bad he shat himself and my dog Diogee, who's new to hang gliding, broke the limb he was tied to and ran away. Eventually, he came back.

I spent just over an hour scratching on the east side of the mountain. The air was just a pleasure to fly in. The best part about flying Lookout is the road. It snakes its way up the mountain with multiple switchbacks and pull offs. Today it was filled with cyclists who just happened to descend at about my best glide speed. As I made passes along the ridge I would scan for cyclists coming down and try to time my pass to parallel them at an altitude even with the road. After a few tries I timed a pass perfectly with a guy in a race kit. I let him have a bit of lead at about 20 feet above the road. Then I pulled in an got within just over a wingspan of him, still high enough over the road to clear any cars. He didn't see me at all, so I yelled over casually "Out for a ride, huh." The sight of me in my bright yellow wing right next to him scared him so bad he screamed. I just kept on talking casually like we were having coffee, "Yeah, I like ride too, but not today obviously..." He was dumbfounded and didn't say a word. The road started to turn to the left where a power line crossed over so I finished with "Well, have a good ride." and pealed away. He relied with a confused "Yeah... See you later."

After just over an hour it got so light that I started having to scratch below the road, so I headed out to the LZ. I had a great approach and landed right on my spot, but in the flare I my aiming point was too close in so I had to run out my landing and ended up dropping the nose a little. When ever this happens it's a clear sign that I need to fly more.

Airtime: 1:18 Flights: 1