Woodrat

Another late start for Woodrat, as the weather was calling for rather stable conditions (there is still a lot of smoke in the valley due to the nearby fire) and unfavorable wind direction earlier on in the day. Caught the 1pm shuttle to launch and then waited until around 3:30pm to launch into light cycles.

Similar conditions to yesterday except the lift was a bit higher, and the inversion was a bit easier to break through with less roughness. Alex had a good climb over the antennas behind launch so I joined him, and when we got to about 5100’ we went on glide for Rabies Ridge.

Over there I got a nice climb and waited for Alex to join me, since he had arrived lower on the glide over. Then faded back the ridge to the peak where I got my highest of the day at 6300’. Alex had already left for Burnt ridge, and when I finally glided over there I couldn’t see him anymore. No lift over Burnt (unlike yesterday, where there was plenty of lift), and I was getting pretty low with a long glide out, so I headed for the LZ in preparation for an oh-my-god-I-sunk-out-landing.

But the convergence was just setting up between Burnt and Woodrat (which happens on a pretty regular basis here) and I found plenty of lift right over the LZ. A bunch of other pilots joined me from the mountain, and we boated around at 5100’ over the valley for over an hour while the convergence lasted. Eventually I got tired of doing circles over the LZ and did some speed bar runs to keep me entertained, and then landed to find Alex in the LZ. Another great day at Woodrat, and still getting high despite the lateness of the season!