Lookout 3-21-09

Saturday I decided to give my knee a break and dust off my Colorado wings. My last flight in the Rocky Mountains was 5 months ago, so I was due. Saturday's forecast called for unstable air with highs in the 70's. The thermal index and top of the lift looked promising plus the moderate southwestern flow aloft could even lead to an XC from Lookout to Boulder, something I've been keen on for years. I pulled the Fusion out of its tube and headed to Lookout.

When I got there BJ, Steve, and Dennis Pagen (visiting from PA) were setting up HG's while Sparky was setting up his bag with a ton of other paragliders. After catching up and confirming that it looked promising I dumped my harness bag and lugged the Fusion up the hill. I hadn't flown the Fusion since my cliff launch on the White Rim trip last November and had since done some maintenance on the glider. When I put it back together I forgot to mount my vario bracket on the downtube, so I was planning on a lengthy set up. It took forever to pull the downtube and slide the bracket on, so long that I missed the best cycle of the day. With BJ's help I got the job done and was finally ready to fly.

Dennis with Steve Launching

BJ Ready to Fly

BJ Skimming Launch

PG's and Downtown Denver

While I was pre-occupied with that, Steve and Dennis launched, followed by BJ who top landed later. JY and Fred launched from the south facing launch. In Dennis's words, it was a "cooperate and elevate" kind of day and everyone took turns getting high and loosing it in the light conditions. As the low pressure moved into the area, raggy high clouds would blow in and shut everything down periodically. Steve got up to 8500' at one point and was able to explore the sunny slopes to the north. Eventually, the afternoon turned mostly shady with a few "sucker holes" of sun rolling through here and there. They would lure brave soles off the mountain who would sink out after an extended sledder. It was March in Colorado, if an extended sledder was all I could get, so be it! I'd be happy take advantage of a sucker hole if it would get me a launch and a landing. Sam Crater got some great shots of the day, here are a few.

Sam's Photos of the Day

(the Fusion and I are the only HG facing away from launch)

As I hooked in and readied to launch the wind got light and turned cross from the north. I waited for over an hour for a decent window. It finally came in the form of a 5mph breeze blowing straight in. I pointed the nose down, ran like hell, and slowly lifted off, feet still kicking, about 30 feet later. Amused at how long it took to airborne I pulled in and tried to kick the lower windsock with my feet. Once I was clear of the road I somewhat aggressively pushed out and was surprised to find descent lift. To everyone else watching on the hill it looked like I hit a boomer right in front of launch. There was a mass exodus off the hill and after two turns in my newly found thermal there where 5 gliders of both types in the air. We all worked together, scratching low on the hill for a bit. BJ launched right after me and easily out climbed me in his Sport 2, which was no surprise. After I while I tired of the crowd and headed out over the primary LZ. I was high enough to explore some areas of zero sink, but I never found anything strong enough to take me up. My rusty thermal skills kept me in the air for a solid 20 minutes, but soon the valley was full of shade and I could tell it was just a matter of time before things turned off.

The windsock below in the primary LZ was showing a north breeze and the thought of all us landing there at the same time with a quartering tail wind was not appealing. I had plenty of altitude to make it to the wide open Miner's field to the south, so I pulled on full VG and when on glide. About half way there I hit a good sized bump, but was going too fast to get turned around in the narrow thermal. Instead, I turned in the surrounding sink while bleeding off all of my energy. It was a bad decision. I pulled on 3/4 VG and dove for the Miner's field. Still in the sink I considered doing a fly-on-the-wall on a steep uphill straight ahead with the tailwind, but a turn of 20 degrees to the left took me out of it. Dennis was breaking down his glider on the north end of the field and confirmed that the winds were still out of the north. I had just enough altitude to comfortably clear two sets of power lines, fly a tight base and final and land right next to him. I rounded out in ground effect on a slight up hill and when the time was right, flared like hell and ran. It was a perfect landing for the conditions and was a nice way to end the 5 month gap I'd had since my last real flight in the Fusion.

Tracklog

BJ landed next and we all broke down together, stoked to have stayed up as long as we did. Dennis had the longest flight of the day, staying up for almost 2 hours. It was interesting to watch his persistent style, he was a little too low to hit the boomer that got Steve and BJ high, but he was able to use every bit of lift coming up the hill until eventually he was looking down on all of us. It was good fun, with great company, and nice to feel like a hang glider pilot again.