Pulpit Sunday 11/04

[XCanytime]

I'll be heading back from Morgantown and looking to stop by the Pulpit. Looking NW at 10. Anybody else have any interest? Bacil

[kcarra]

With forecasts for Woodstock now calling for gusts to 30 for Saturday, I'm considering flying on Sunday at the Pulpit instead of Saturday.

Mathew

[andybalkphysics]

I'll be there if it's soarable. Anyone know what happened to my wheels last weekend? I can't seem to find them. They're black hall wheels mounted on short stubs of aluminum tubing.

[Dan T]

The PG pilots are clamoring to get back in the air too. Hopefully we will be able to fill the air with wings of both types.

Dan

[Dunegoon]

Planning on being there Sunday.

Charley

[jyoder111]

Won't be able to make it this weekend, unfortunately. Good luck and safe flights!

Jesse

[DanTuck]

I'm planning to be there also. Probably early again...

[andybalkphysics]

Predictions I'm seeing say NNW...I may go up to the Gap (state college PA) tomorrow if the pulpit won't work.

[markc]

I'm willing to give it a go at The Pulpit tomorrow; conditions currently look more NW than NNW:

Pulpit Hourly

But with that sort of forecast, I think that High Rock could also work, and it certainly handles NW better than The Pulpit:

High Rock Hourly

I'm really just hoping to fly *somewhere*, given my sacrifice to the wind gods at Woodstock today!

What are people thinking, HR or Pulpit or both?

MarkC

[Matthew]

I'm thinking High Rock will be better.

Matthew

[XCanytime]

It will be fine. Just get there early. Bacil

[markc]

I think I'll wander Pulpit-way, at least to start. If a consensus for HRock develops, I'll divert....

[andybalkphysics]

It was good at the pulpit, but a little naughty on launch. Thanks for launching me, Matt, Charlie, and Mark (I think...sorry if I mis-remembered). I dropped a few feet after I left the gravel pad, but flew away from the hill after the anxious moment. The wind was north cross, but not soo bad, some guys got to cloud base but I couldn't seem to stick the thermals in my large xtralite. The ridge lift was sort of spotty, but doable. Bacil, Matt, Matt, Mark, John and Dan flew also, and I might have missed someone.

[XCanytime]

Got to the Pulpit at 9:30A. Greeted by clearing skies and moderate winds on launch with the expected north cant to them occurring frequently. Charley Fager arrived just before 10. Matt Christiansen and his son Taylor, Jon Brantley, Dan Tuckwiller, Mark C., Andy, and Matthew and Karen followed. I led the charge around 11:30A into a straight cycle. Got up but had to work pretty hard in the north cross, crossing the power lines to under some developing clouds and back again to above the launch. Repeated this pattern too many times with nothing much to show for it. Saw some nice clouds way down south. With a quartering tailwind from the north cross, I knew it would be a quick trip. Stopped every so often to fly upwind in a lift line and gain some much needed altitude for continuing the journey. Got under the line of clouds and it was a rowdy trip on sharp edges to 1K' over. The cloud above spread horizontally quickly so I found a ladder to base at 5100' MSL. Went OTB and made it over Cove Mt. at 4500' MSL. Headed out over the flats in some sink. Turned back upwind and noticed a redtail hawk going up like it was shot out of a cannon. Flew upwind to find nothing but a small bullet barely wider than the 4' wingspan of the hawk . Continued downwind to a nice landing around 3 miles due south of Mercersburg. Charley had an easy retrieve again. Thanks a bunch! Back at launch it was a bit stronger and decidedly NNW on the pad. Charley and Karen DNF. Most of the group made it to the Mountain House Bar and Grill for some brews and post flight reviews. Would like to hear more about the others' flights and how they felt about the turbulence. Bacil

[jyoder111]

Sounds like a rewarding flight, Bacil! I've been stuck at home doing school work and such this weekend with a bad cold. On the mend, finally. Bah. Sounds like a great flying weekend was had by many. Great job!

Jesse

[markc]

Very fun, very challenging day today! I managed to get to 'base twice, with multiple other trips to 2000+ above launch. As opposed to my last flight at The Pulpit, this time I seemed to be judging the lift lines and cloud streets fairly well. Conditions were definitely strong, with 400-600 fpm being registered on my 20-second averager. Very spring-like : wire-slaps at times, bullet thermals, and crank-n-bankin' at 3/4 VG. Even flying fast and aggressively, carving a wingtip into the lift, I was still spit out of thermals like a fly multiple times. Although it was strong/turbulent, I was actually ok with that, and having quite a bit of fun zooming around.

Stayed local, no XC today. For one thing it was d@mn cold. For another, my truck was in the LZ (vehicle-suck). For another, I was just having too much fun! Flew for about two hours or so, and then landed after I couldn't feel my fingers.

Was neat to hang at the Mtn House with seven of us at the bar, swapping stories and vids. But I think we're going to need (collectively) a few more tatts in order to fit in better.

MarkC

[Lostgriz]

Damn it, I just lost my write-up!! So here is the short version. Very fun day. Launched around noon and quickly climbed to 1000' over. Sharp and choppy lift, but still very fun. Lots of 5-600 and saw 800+ a couple times. Topped out at just over 4600'. I was planning on going XC until I realized that I had left my phone on my charger in the car. Got drilled in some 800+ sink, but eventually climbed back to around around 4300'. Scratched around in some light ratty stuff on the ride before heading to the LZ and calling it a day. Thanks to those that helped me with launching, thanks to Jon for the ride back to launch and thanks to Bacil for encouraging me to get out and fly with everyone today. No epic stats: max alt. 4600+msl, flight time just under an hour. Good times! Sorry about the crappy write-up, but I am pissed that I just lost the one I did earlier tonight. Damn!

[Lostgriz]

Here are a few screed shots from my flight. Sorry, I am too lazy to shrink them...

[XCanytime]

Once again, I say with the pics, the bigger, the better. Thanks for posting them Matt. And the writeup ain't so bad either . Bacil

[Matthew]

Another north cross day at the Pulpit-- got my ass kicked the first ten minutes of the flight-- thought I was gonna tumble at one point when I got thrown into an uninitiated, steep banked turn. Made a beeline to the south as I was barely above the ridge. Once I got a mile or so south of the LZ conditions improved and I climbed up to 3K over (5200msl I think)-- almost to cloud base. Played around down there in lift lines and thought about going over the back. However, my last OTB at the Pulpit a few weeks ago was a lawn dart. Plus, the saddle of the two ridges expands into a valley of trees between the peaks there. Even at 3K over it looked like a long glide over tiger country. I eventually decided to try to make it back to launch. That was a mistake. I hit two solid minutes of 1100 down once I headed North. Found a few climbs between the sink holes to keep me above the ridge and reached the ramps at 100 over. Once low again, it was rotor city on the ridge and I was cold so I went out to land after a 1:20 flight. This is the second time that I've gone way south where the ridge faces a little more north on a north cross day this fall. Each time conditions were great down there and I ruined it by coming back to the north. I don't need to learn that lesson a third time. I'll just stay there and land out.... maybe hop over the back if I can get a little higher.

Matthew

[XCanytime]

Matthew,
I understand your consternation but I have gone OTB down south multiple times from altitudes of 2K- over. The widest part is around 3 miles from the spine of Tuscarora Mt. to the backside of Cove Mt. It is around 2 miles from the spine of Tuscarora Mt. to the backside of Cove Mt. between launch and the Rt. 16 crossing, where most of the OTB happens. 3K' over is plenty of altitude, especially since you will have on average a 6 to 12 MPH tailwind. You will reach the flats with plenty of altitude to spare. An important point to make is you really have an extra 400' of altitude when you go OTB because the height of the terrain of the Hagerstown valley is around 700' MSL whereas the height of the terrain of the McConnellsburg valley is around 1100' MSL.

Bacil

[sailin]

Sporty, rockin rollin, day at the Pulpit. Launched about 20 minutes after Bacil into a mostly north cross with some short straight cycles. Working my butt off the whole flight and thought I had it figured out using the strong but narrow lift lines. I yo yo'd up and down finding strong lift and STRONGER SINK......fell out of the lift line several times into some nasty sinking air. Followed this pattern from just north of launch to the radio towers by the main LZ. Chased a lift line a little too far out and at the end when I fell off into 800' fpm down it sealed my fate. Landed in the primary after half an hour of sporty but fun flying.

Big thanks to Charlie for helping me with a car drop early on, as I was flying with a schedule. Had to be on the road at 3pm at the latest to go work the night half of my shift. Love sneaking one more flight in before ya gotta go back to work!!!

Jon