The forecast was for strong winds and decent lapse rates--turned out to be blasting at the top of lift and nuclear thermals going off everywhere. Got to 5200 in thermals ofeten averaging 600 fpm and occassionally peaking at around 1000 for a minute or two. Landed at a sailplane airstrip after almost getting sucked through a gap on my Talon with VG on--never had that happen before.
This was a level of flying I've never experienced the likes of on the east coast--certainly not in winter conditions, anyway (it has been VERY cold here, locals say coldest winter in over a decade).
Chillhowie is a relatively small but steep ridge at the eastern edge of the great Smokies. BIG mountains here--by east coast standards--many over 5000 ft and one or two well over 6000 ft. Chillhowie sits tantalizingly as a jump-off point on the western side--but nobody has ever tried flying over the Smokies, from what I've been told. One glance over the back and its easy to see why. Still--can't help but imagine what it would be like on a high cloudbase day.
marc