Hang Gliding Owens Valley Memorial Day Weekend 2025 [2.7K]

Описание: On Sunday May 25th of Memorial Day Weekend 2025 I launched Waltz Point and flew to Boundary Peak and back to Independence airport for 166.69 miles. It was calm and variable winds through 18 k MSL that turned into a light West in the early afternoon, and maturing into a 10 MPH west in the late evening closer to sunset. I flew over Mt Whitney on my way north and got 14.6k feet in the Sierras. It was 28 degrees F at 14k feet MSL, and it gets 3.5 degrees colder every 1k feet higher. I did not get cold with 5 warm layers on and electric heated double layer gloves. At White mountain I thermaled in smooth 2200fpm average lift leaving at 17.4k feet and near cloud base. The most difficult part of this day's flight for me was physical endurance. I was not in my usual fitness and many times focused on breathwork for resilience. I had supplemental oxygen flowing all flight. I drank water throughout the flight until my supply tube froze over White Mountain on the way back south. It was beautiful to see the frozen alpine lakes and terrain in the sierras and the warm red toned glass off. It was just over a 7 hour flight. A mistake was made to not setup my landing pattern to account for the wind gradient about 50 feet above the ground. This exhibits the challenge of making good decisions while exhausted and is caution for future flights. Luckily there was no fence. I had about 15 mph wind out of the W above 50 feet and 8 mph below.

Flight Log: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/fli...