was what I found when I arrived at 2:15P. Bob Beck was there with Cookie, and Karen Gorrie was there also. Quickly set up while Keith Olena, Doug Rogers, Lloyd Wilcox, and T. R. Johnson filed in in the next hour. Took off at 3:15P into a somewhat squirrelly cycle that turned me a little to the right just after takeoff. Straightened it out, exited the slot, and turned right. Stair-stepped my way up above the ridge and found a nice thermal to 2200' over. The visibility was incredible. To the ENE a wind farm on top of a ridge was plainly visible. Flew around to the east of launch for a while, losing down to 400' over a few times (and getting warmer in the process), then getting back up to the 2K' over range, waiting for someone to launch. After a half hour Keith launched, caught a thermal to the right of launch, and took it OTB to 3K+ over. I flew out into the valley and found some lift to 2800' over. Flew out to the church and back to the ridge, watching Doug Rogers dig himself out of a deep hole to the east of launch. Doug clawed and scratched his way up above the ridge and on to an eventual height of 4900+' over. I found another good one east of launch that got me to a chilly height of 3300' over. I was underdressed, and it was cold up there. I lost down to a few hundred and decided to go in and land. The valley was lifting off pretty good and it took a while to get down and land. Had a nice landing at 4:30P and climbed the mountain to get the truck. Back in the LZ it was toasty warm. Keith had landed, and in the next hour the remaining 6 pilots all landed with big grins on their faces and very cold hands. Then it was on to Jack's Spot for some beer and chow. Spring flying is finally here!Bacil