???? Kept the faith and hit the road at 9A.? Saw and heard all the S and SW SURFACE reports in the AM.? Seen this pattern before on good Pulpit days. The forecast for 3K' MSL winds from the west and the fact that the Pulpit is at 2200' MSL kept me going.? Along with the NOAA weather station in Hagerstown forecasting W winds 5 to 10.? But what really cemented the faith was the surface pressure map showing plenty of west to east isobars from PA to NY for most of the day.? A beautiful symmetrical lenticular appeared and hung over Tuscarora Mountain as I entered the Hagerstown valley.? Another good sign.? The lennie was still there when I got to launch a little after 11A and found Shawn Ray ready to go.? Conditions were as good as they could get.? Straight in at 10 to 15 MPH.? Helped Shawn off and he had a nice soaring flight.? Picked up Shawn and we hustled back up the mountain.? I set up under lots of cirrus moving in aloft and blocking the sun.? Launch conditions were just like when Shawn went:? 10 to 15 straight in, with some cross from the WSW at times.? Took off around 12:45P and immediately got up.? First half hour was spent between 200' to 400' over in some mild chop.? Then it smoothed out big time and I found some cohesive thermals to 700' over.? Had an encounter with a redtail that was fun.? Heard the characteristic shrill, piercing scream and scanned around for an angry hawk.? Spotted the hawk off my right wing 20 yards away.? He looked at me, screamed again, and flew out in front of me.? I chased him for a minute or two until he folded his wings back in a diamond formation and did a power dive straight down to the deck.? Awesome sight.? Saw Shawn waiting for me in the LZ, so l left the still soarable sky so he didn't have to hang around for another hour or so.? Had a nice landing in dead air, clocking in an hour of airtime.? Mentioned the redtail episode to Shawn, and he had seen the redtail following me for a good while with his binoculars.? Rich Bloomfield joined us in the LZ as I broke down.? Back at launch it was still blowing in sweetly.? Multiple lenticulars appeared in the sky horizon to horizon as the high cirrus disappeared and the sun came out.? This was a perfect day for both HGers and PGers, for the conditions stayed 10 to 15 MPH all day, and pretty straight in most of the time.
???? What's going on on the surface at Hagerstown, Altoona, Johnstown, Martinsburg sometimes ain't got nothing to do with what's going on on the ramps.? There are times where the surface forecast is SW, and it's blowing straight in and soarable on the ramps, especially when the 3K' MSL forecast is west.? I've seen this pattern multiple times.? It happened a month ago in December at the Pulpit.
???? As for Matthew and his prediction of sleds, I'll reference the oft-quoted line from the movie Deliverance:? "You don't know nuthin'."
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?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Bacil