Woodstock, this Sunday (April 8th)

[Ward Odenwald]

Recent forecasts have backed off their snow predictions for Saturday with current casts calling for little or no accumulation at WS. If they’re accurate, the tower road may be open on Sunday. If this happens, and it’s a BIG if, forecasted wind direction and velocity (Windy and NoStepper) and thermal (XCSkies) conditions for Sunday afternoon are looking very good! Let me know if you're interested. Could be a "big air" adventure!

Ward

[Blaine]

I have to work but I may be able to make it down as long as I get out on time.

[Ward Odenwald]

Sleepless night so I’m out for today.

Ward

[garys]

Hope you get some sleep Ward. I am in if anyone else is. ETA; 1:00 or 2:00pm.

[XCanytime]

Awesome day at Woodstock! Got to the launch at 12:30P to find Walt and Eric Kriner. Eric drove 5 hours from DuBois PA on Saturday to camp out overnight on the back side of the mountain. Other arrivals were Gary Smith, Anthony, Randy Weber, and Homer. Moderate to light conditions on launch. Led the charge at 2P with a nice launch in light conditions. Got up and headed SW. West cross on the ridge. Thermals were drifting to the NE parallel to the mountain. Pure thermal flight. Got low on the way to the Edinburg Gap and turned around in lift. Flew over the launch slot at ridgetop level, where Eric was in position to launch. Found some lift at the bowl on Cox Ridge and proceeded on up to Signal Knob. Each west facing bowl was working, so I stopped at each bowl to grab some altitude. The lift down low was turbulent. By the time I got to the Strasburg Reservoir I found some good lift out away from the ridge and locked in. Found the ticket and climbed to 5300' MSL and went on glide towards the airport. All the way to Buzzard Rock and beyond there was strong lift. I got to 6400' MSL w/o even turning, just flying into lift. 19 degrees at that altitude. Flew over the airport at 5600' MSL and considered burning off 4.9K' to land there. Remembered that Jon Brantley was going to arrive at 4P, so I hoped to land soon (it was near 3P) to get a retrieve as he was driving thru the area. Ended up landing by the Rt. 55/Rt. 340 junction in the field bordering Rt. 55. Uphill gradient and late flare resulted in a belly flop. And to add insult to injury up drove a young man in a black pickup to the gravel insert into the field, and from his demeanor (silent treatment to my friendly overtures) I knew what would happen next. He said to me "What are you doing?" I did the respectful thing and explained why, in layman's terms, I ended up on his property and that I would spread the word to not land there and move my stuff off rapidly as soon as Jon showed up to retrieve me. That seemed to satisfy him. Jon showed up from Toms Brook to retrieve me. Thanks Jon! Passed Randy on the way up the front side of the mountain. Back at launch Walt took off and had a very nice flight, experiencing wave for the first time. Eric and Homer showed up, w/ Eric getting to 8300' MSL and landing out by Strasburg High School, and Homer getting 8460K' MSL himself. Gary Smith (7K'+ MSL) and I ended up launching Anthony and Jon. They both had great launches in light conditions, and easily got up. I fetched Jon from an out landing up by Toms Brook. We grabbed some great food at Fox's Pizza in Strasburg. The Doarama track http://www.doarama.com/view/2024765. Bacil

[XCanytime]

Here is the link to Eric's track from his 1st ever flight at Woodstock. His iPhone GPS minimum operating temp (32 degrees F) was met and exceeded, resulting in the track freezing up at 8K'+ MSL OTB. http://www.doarama.com/view/2028895