The forecast for Tuesday was strong pre-frontal South winds and mostly sunny, so Cody and I met up at Short Divide launch for the first time this season. We were greeted by gusty winds out of the SW at 18-22 mph - strong, but launchable. We talked of a possible early season XC route north toward Idaho Falls, but it would depend on the conditions at altitude. Cody assisted me on launch as a dust devil broke loose in the newly plowed field in the valley below. I had a good strong launch right into a bullet thermal which promptly twanged my flying wires, shot me to 500' over launch, and then spit me over the falls. I remained patient in the rock n' roll air, and 20 minutes later found a thermal that held together enough to go back to the mountain and bench up! I then saw Cody launch, work the thermals, and soon join me up top also. We worked our way over to Gunsight Peak and attempted to core the wind-shredded thermals.
After an hour and a half, the air began to mellow, as the glass-off began. The valley released all of its heat, resulting in smooth widespread lift, taking us effortlessly to over 10K. The huge lift band allowed us to fly miles upwind exploring the air to the south, losing only 1000' along the way. I then came back at the mountain with bar stuffed, full VG, reaching a top ground speed of 83 mph recorded by my GPS! We explored the ridgeline, keeping an eye out for the other half of the elk shed antler I found a few weeks ago, but no luck with that. As the sun got lower in the West, we decided it was time to return to our earthly obligations, as we both had work the next day. One by one we flew over the back, descended over Clarkston, and both had easy uphill landings into a 10 mph wind. It's good to be back in the air over Short Divide!
Airtime: 3 hours 4 min!
After a couple of hours my tummy was still fine, but I decided I ought not be too greedy, and headed out to land. I pulled on full-VG and pointed NW into the wind. I passed over the LZ at 10,300', and continued on until I was nearly over highway 16. I could have easily made it to Sage jct and perhaps beyond, but instead I returned over the LZ to practice some wangs, as the "three musketeers" were just arriving back at the pick-up there. I set up my final leg extra high to allow ample time to get upright and wings level. Steve C gave me a good wind indicator, as I forced all thoughts of my crummy landing last November out of my head. I came in hot through the wind gradient and leveled out a few feet over the wide open stubble-field. The 6 or 7 mph headwind gave me confidence as I entered the flare window. I waited 1 or 2 seconds, lightly dragging my feet as my wing whispered "you may want to consider flaring soon." I then made the commitment, and punched it skyward, resulting in a stand-up no-step landing!
