Villa Grove

Villa Grove is one of the best hang gliding sites in Colorado. It’s located on the northern tip of the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range. The Sangre De Cristo’s (or Blood of Christ) are one of the longest continuous mountain ranges in the country. They start at Poncha Pass, just north of Villa Grove and end at Gloria Pass south of Taos. They are the same mountains Jo and I rode on the day before. It’s been a goal of mine to fly the entire range from Villa deep into New Mexico. Launch is at 9000 feet about halfway up the steep west facing slopes. The San Luis Valley is flat and narrows to a point at Poncha Pass.

The entire drive up from Antonio there were towering cumulus clouds building over the peaks. They would be full blown thunderstorms within a few hours, but there was a blue hole over La Veta Pass and Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Hopefully that would keep the overdeveloping clouds to the south as they traveled east. When we reached Alamosa I could see another boomer growing to the west. It was moving northeast and would probably miss Villa Grove. It was good entertainment as there wasn’t much else to do but watch clouds on the flat, straight road.

Sangre De Cristo's

We rolled into Villa Grove, identified by its one intersection and a few buildings, around 2:00 pm. I was in need of a pit stop, but the only store was closed. Luckily, I remembered the outhouse in the town park. Villa has a distinct charm that inspired my creativity, even in the out house.

Villa Grove

From the Outhouse

If had been monsoon season, 2:00 pm would have been way too late to fly, but the skies over Villa were still blue. I put the truck into 4 wheel drive and turned off the highway on the dirt road that led to the base of the mountain. The LZ at villa is wide open with a slight incline up to the road. Other than the occasional cactus, small sage brush makes landing a breeze (no pun intended). The windsock was shredded to bits, but there were enough strands to give adequate direction.

Often the most dangerous part of hang gliding is the 4x4 road up to launch. I learned this early on while riding in the back of Zippy's overloaded truck as he speed like a mad man up to Camels. He should have been a rally driver! The road to Villa is steep and off camber, but is well maintained with 4 foot tall waterbars. It was nothing the Tacoma couldn't handle, but Jo was a little leery about driving solo back down. I couldn't blame her, but she handled it like a champ.

The Drive Up to Launch

At launch the parking area was lined with animal skulls that only heightened the ominous feeling I was getting from the growing storm to the west. It was moving northwest, but now had a healthy overhanging anvil that would soon shut down the valley heating. I still had time to get off, but it would be close. I unloaded the glider and set to work rigging and replacing a few batten ties.

Animal Skulls

Setting Up

(look at the sky)

Fixing Batten Ties

By the time I hooked in and was ready to launch the shade from the overhang was just creeping into the opposite side of the valley. I could hear occasional thunder clap in the distance coming from the direction of Monarch Pass. On launch the winds had been directly west the whole time I was rigging, but were starting to turn north. The storm was closing in. The Villa launch sits on the south side of a small finger that makes launching with a north wind dangerous. I waited for a while watching the trend to see how north it would go. The thermal cycles were strong and consistent enough to easily overcome the north component. I waited for a lull at the end of a cycle taking the advantage of smoother air to launch.

Conditions in the Valley

Ready to Launch

Just off launch I managed a couple turns in broken lift, but with the north trend decided to run to safer air to the south. I settled into a well flagged bowl just south of the launch road and felt out the air. Near the terrain it was rowdy and disorganized, but I was able to maintain my altitude. If I was alone I would have waited for a good climb, jumped Hayden Pass Canyon and ran to the blue skies to the south. With no radio and zero cell phone coverage that would have put Jo in a horrible position. Instead, I hung out in the bowl keeping an eye on her and scanning the valley for any signs of a gust front to the north.

Just off Launch

After about ten minutes the anvil had shaded the whole valley. The sink between lift was getting stronger, so I pulled in and headed for the LZ. About half way there I hit massive sink and for a while thought I might land short. I turned crosswind to the southwest over flatter terrain. Soon I was only in mild sink and spotted a hawk circling over a fence line. I headed straight for him, hitting the thermal about 50 feet above his altitude. We turned together and I took it from about 500 feet to 10K MSL. It was drifting west straight into Hayden Pass Canyon. Having no desire to get sucked into the canyon I left the fading lift at about 10,000 feet (not that hight for Villa) and glided back towards the LZ.

Working the Bowl

The storm was fully matured now with virga shafts spilling out on the other side of Poncha Pass. It was going to miss Villa, but I decided to get on the ground just in case a gust front dropped into the valley. I reached the LZ with about 1000 feet to spare. Just south of the LZ was local pilot Larry's house. Last time I flew Villa it was nothing but the end of a dirt road. Since then he had built beautiful house that is a hang glider’s dream. I was tempted to land there, but I didn't want to without permission and Jo was planning on meeting me at the LZ. He had a huge wind sock and a line of flags that made easy work of picking up the wind direction. I boxed the LZ a few times and set up my approach. Instead of my normal super tight pattern I opened up my downwind, base, and final just in case there was any strong sink lurking close to the ground. I touched down with a perfect 2 stepper just before Jo pulled up.

Topping Out at 10,000'

Larry's House

It was a great first mountain flight of the year and a stellar way to end our trip. I was in the air just under an hour, but am lucky I got that much airtime with the storms and late start. Jo is a rock star for her awesome support, driving and taking pics.

Airtime :53, Flights 1