Crawford Airtime!

The Labor Day forecast looked great for flying the Crawford Mountains at Randolph, UT - So the 4.5 amigos (Cody, Bruce, Greg, Clover and me) met at the nicely cut huge LZ, and then truck-pooled to the top!


We set up under a blue sky with poppin' cumies, and a stiff W/SW wind at launch. The clouds were looking so good, that we had to draw straws before launching to decide which one of us would land and drive chase if the other three decided to go XC over the back! Both Greg and I volunteered to drive - so we agreed to "flip for it" in the air if needed :-)


Cody helped wire Clover and me off of launch, where the wind was gusting from 25 to 30 mph. We immediately began climbing steadily in the strong lift, as my vario chirped happily non-stop. Once we climbed away from the main ridge, the strong SW component became very obvious. We spent the next half hour beating straight upwind toward the big bend in the range only 3 miles away.


When we finally made it to the corner, it was just not producing the lift I had anticipated.


So we turned around and headed back toward launch, finding widespread lift all the way back. It seemed to be mostly "ridge lift" extending well in front of the range and thousands of feet above - with a few strong thermals mixed in.


We worked the lift under some big clouds while watching the shadows on the mountains below. I managed to climb to 9,500', and Bruce made it up to about 10,500' at one point. The view up and down the mountain range and beyond into neighboring states was incredible!


The winds finally straightened out to a more westerly direction, allowing us to relax and enjoy the huge lift band.


Greg took the opportunity to explore the VG range of his new topless glider, zooming from cloudbase to cloudbase!


Clover tolerated the strong lift and occasional turbulence very well. This was my first soaring experience over the Crawfords, and I was in awe of the indescribable 360 degree views. As the afternoon air began to mellow, Cody and I took turns practicing some climbovers before flying out over the valley to land.


Clover (the Landing Zone Monitor) had a great time in the air watching birds and enjoying the view, but after over two hours she was happy to get her paws back on solid ground.


What an incredible flight to kick off the Fall flying season! Here is a mini movie I edited together from our day. The keel shots are courtesy of Cody's Flip Video, and Bruce took the final landing sequence. It's not the best quality, but it's fun to watch! (If it starts and stops, just pause the movie, allow it to fully load and then click on play.)

Airtime: 2 Hours 20 Minutes!