Super fun day at Smithsburg!!!! Arrived at about 1130 after a nice greasy spoon breakfast at the Dixie Diner. There was about 6-8 inches of fresh wet snow on the ground......with no tracks in it, just pure white!! I set up a wind sock and some streamers and found the direction W to WNW. At the top it was blowing 8-10 consistently with occasional gusts to 12 or so. The air was buoyant, super smooth( no nasty north in it) and surprisingly not too cold. We set up and went at it.
We each had 3 really nice flights from the top in the smooth air. It was actually pretty difficult to differentiate between the slop and the flat field as you were flying down...the endless smooth white snow created a weird perception. It was a serious workout getting the glider back up the hill in the fresh, slick snow. Every step was plunging through a bit and then slipping back a bit. Definitely a good work out that was much appreciated...its a nice little added bonus to being out there
We met some nice local high school students that asked a bunch of questions about hang gliding. Planted some seeds for some potential new pilots
One of them took a picture of us and our gliders for some project she was doing for school.
Oh, and water proof shoes don't help much if the snow comes in from the top
I'm diggin the Smithsburg winter.....
Jon
