King Mountain

[lbunner]

Sorry for not posting earlier. The wi-fi around King is spotty at best. The nationals this year is split between King Mountain and Big Spring. If 10 pilots from King cross over and fly Big Spring also then the combination of the two meets will determine the National Champion. If 10 pilots don't cross over then the champion will be determined solely by the King meet. The format at King is cross country with the person that racks up the most miles for 4 of the 6 days being the winner. I went to King after an 18 year lay off. My intention all the way out (3+ days of travel) was to fly safe first, get air time second and miles third. I enjoyed meeting the western pilots and reacclimated myself to the strong mountain conditions. This certainly isn't Pennsylvania. Thermals and sink averaged as high as 1500 fpm which was sphincter tightening at times. I drew upper launch all week which is normally an advantage because it is about 500' higher than lower launch thus giving more altitude to work with to find the thermal. However the first 3 days blew out of the northwest with very few cycles coming up the upper south launch. There is a northwest launch off of a metal ramp that many chose to use however I elected to forgo the "cheese grater" ramp and was zeroed for two of the 3 NW days. The pilots on lower launch had straight in conditions and all were able to get off. Many pilots on upper were not so fortunate. Luckily I did get off in a rare south cycle on day 2 and managed a good 43 mile flight. On day 4 the task committee called route 2 up toward Dell, Montana even though the weather forecast called for overdevelopment and T storms on this route. It did OD and few pilots made it very far. I managed 28 miles. Day 5 was called due to strong winds. Day 6 the committee called route 4 out over the desert and it turned out really well for me. Dave Gibson and I flew together for 40+ miles actually getting to race from cloud to cloud before running in to a blue hole. Overall I finished 8th even though I only scored on 3 days. Probably would have ended up in the top 3 or 4 if I could have gotten off on one of the 2 NW days. The winner was Bill Soderquist from SoCal. He flew very well on the first two NW days (90 and 105 miles) which was enough to win. King is a great place to fly, the beauty of the place is beyond compare. The conditions can be extreme so the uninitiated must be very respectful of the local knowledge and fly conservatively. I would however recommend this place to any hang 3 and above. A hang 2 would do well there in the evening glass off. There were 68 open, sport and recreation class pilots and all flew safely short of a few blown launches. Lisa ran a good meet although I don't particularly like the format. The way it is set up lends more to how big the nads of the pilot are and less about head to head competition. However King is a tough place to get all of the pilots in the air at the same time. Except for the last day there were very few gaggles and flying together. Lisa is also a very talented artist. She made all of the trophies which were incredibly beautiful. I wish you could have seen her work. Amazing! I plan on going back next year and hope to drag a few more pilots along with me.

[mcelrah]

Thanks for the report, Larry. Road trip, road trip, road trip! - Hugh

[lbunner]

Hugh you would love the place. Fly hang gliders during peak conditions and paragliders in the morning and evening. Cool place!

[mcelrah]

And sailplanes, I hear! Ya, I sure would like it there. Went with Bruce E., Joe Schad and Sparky a couple-three years ago. And flew Lakeview and Jackson Hole. Too bad I flunked retirement (procreated myself into a condition of involuntary servitude)... Fly high and fly far! - Hugh