Mount Washington... The highest peak in New England. It is a part of White Mountain National Forest, and that forest stretches for miles in every direction. This is a great area for hiking and mountain biking, maybe not so much for hang gliding.
Mount Washington is known for its unpredictable weather. It's often very windy. Too windy to fly. The way it was explained to me, the only time winds at that mountain are manageable for free fliers is when three high pressure fronts align properly. One right over the region, one pushing from north, and another sitting over Caribbean. That also produces an easterly flow, and that is the only direction we can safely launch/fly at that place.
There are two small fields we can land in. One is right next to Mt Washington Autoroad tollbooth, and another a bit to the north of it, at the beginning of Glen trails.
All of that makes this site a very challenging, a rarely flown place. I didn't expect to fly there often if ever, so that opportunity fits into a category of hang gliding bucket lists. Gotta do it at least once.
Naturally, H4/P4 advanced rating is required to fly there. Any negative exposure can close this site for us forever. With all high pressure fronts lining up in the last weekend of August, I was thankful that Crystal pushed me to get my H4 rating last year... I guess, I was going to fly that monster of New England after all!
Ilya and I looked at the forecast for Sunday, August 27th. It looked pretty good, but there was some inconsistency with wind direction. We also looked at the logistics, and we would have to leave Morningside around 5AM. Ouch! Not a morning person. Driving for more than 3 hours after just a few hours of sleep - not my idea of fun. We decided to skip Sunday. Monday looked much better anyway. Plus, John Arrison, who few there plenty of times, was going on Monday as well. We needed someone to show us the ropes.
Crystal offered us to stay at her place on Sunday night as it was much closer to the mountain, just an hour twenty minutes away. We packed our gliders, and left Morningside early.
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Monday morning we had a nice breakfast (thank you Ilya for cooking), and were at the mountain's base around 9am. Bill Gottling and his wife Sally joined us as well. John was with his non-flying friend Bob. We had two drivers to bring our cars down. That simplified things a lot.
It took around 30 minutes to drive up. After parking cars, we walked to the setup area... if you could call it that... Technically, we can launch from anywhere we find suitable, but east facing slope below the lower parking lot is all covered with huge boulders. No place to set up a glider except for one small patch of grass. That patch of grass was on a pretty steep slope. We could probably fit 3 gliders there at the same time... with some effort.
Wind was blowing around 10 mph, gusting to 15. Not as forecasted. John seemed unconcerned. I helped him to bring his glider down to the setup area. John put the glider as low as possible on that grassy patch, and I had to hold the glider from sliding down into abyss until John set the control frame up, and we turned the glider over. Now control frame was holding the glider from sliding. With such an angle, he even needed help to tension the crossbar... Turning the glider around when ready to launch would require help as well.
Bill followed John's lead, and started setting up his glider. I looked at all of that - wind, slope, boulders... and my desire to launch started to disappear. I was worrying I'd break my glider before I even get off the mountain. I didn't feel comfortable setting up on a slope like this.
Mount Washington is known for its unpredictable weather. It's often very windy. Too windy to fly. The way it was explained to me, the only time winds at that mountain are manageable for free fliers is when three high pressure fronts align properly. One right over the region, one pushing from north, and another sitting over Caribbean. That also produces an easterly flow, and that is the only direction we can safely launch/fly at that place.
There are two small fields we can land in. One is right next to Mt Washington Autoroad tollbooth, and another a bit to the north of it, at the beginning of Glen trails.
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| Glen Trails field |
Naturally, H4/P4 advanced rating is required to fly there. Any negative exposure can close this site for us forever. With all high pressure fronts lining up in the last weekend of August, I was thankful that Crystal pushed me to get my H4 rating last year... I guess, I was going to fly that monster of New England after all!
Ilya and I looked at the forecast for Sunday, August 27th. It looked pretty good, but there was some inconsistency with wind direction. We also looked at the logistics, and we would have to leave Morningside around 5AM. Ouch! Not a morning person. Driving for more than 3 hours after just a few hours of sleep - not my idea of fun. We decided to skip Sunday. Monday looked much better anyway. Plus, John Arrison, who few there plenty of times, was going on Monday as well. We needed someone to show us the ropes.
Crystal offered us to stay at her place on Sunday night as it was much closer to the mountain, just an hour twenty minutes away. We packed our gliders, and left Morningside early.
...
Monday morning we had a nice breakfast (thank you Ilya for cooking), and were at the mountain's base around 9am. Bill Gottling and his wife Sally joined us as well. John was with his non-flying friend Bob. We had two drivers to bring our cars down. That simplified things a lot.
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| In the setup area - Crystal, Ilya and John are evaluating conditions |
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| View from the lower part of the setup are. This is our takeoff runway. |
Wind was blowing around 10 mph, gusting to 15. Not as forecasted. John seemed unconcerned. I helped him to bring his glider down to the setup area. John put the glider as low as possible on that grassy patch, and I had to hold the glider from sliding down into abyss until John set the control frame up, and we turned the glider over. Now control frame was holding the glider from sliding. With such an angle, he even needed help to tension the crossbar... Turning the glider around when ready to launch would require help as well.
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| John is setting up his glider |
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| The whole setup area |
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| Bill and Sally are bringing down Bill's glider |
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| Bill and John are setting up their gliders. Not much space left. |
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| Sally is waiting for Bill to get flight-ready |
Ilya was not happy with what he saw either. He was worrying about a glide over unforgiving terrain if he'd hit huge sink. Crystal was worried about landing in very slotted fields... her shoulder wasn't fully recovered from a recent surgery. So three of us were pretty much ready to drive down... just after we helped John and Bill to launch.
40 minutes later wind started to die down. Nice clouds started to form to the east. An occasional thermal would bring a nice cycle of straight-in breeze. John launched, and went up like a rocket. Bill waited for another cycle, and took off without an issue as well, climbing fast toward the clouds.
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| John is waiting for a good cycle, with Crystal and Ilya on the wires |
(video credit: Sally Gottling)
We looked at each other... Setup area was clear. We still had time, and the day was working really, really well... John came on the radio, telling us how good condition were, and that we should really give it a try. This was a rare opportunity - don't miss it!
Crystal decided to pass. Too much worry about landing. There will be another day.
Ilya and I helped each other to bring the gliders down, and open them up. We were setting up as fast as we could. I was also worried that by the time we were ready, air might start flowing downhill - a known phenomenon with east facing sites.
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| Colorful Sport2s taking over Mt Washington glider setup (photo cred: Sally Gottling) |
It was probably the fastest glider setup I've done. We were ready in 30 minutes. Ilya went first. There was almost no wind by that time, but he caught a very light cycle and set on a glide away from the mountain. No crazy climb.
(video credit: Sally Gottling)
By the time Crystal helped me to turn the glider around, there was no wind at all. I was looking at the streamer we setup earlier, and it was gently starting to show wrong wind direction. Wonderful. "You are late!", my agitated brain screamed at me.
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| Crystal and Bob are helping me to turn the glider around (photo cred: Sally Gottling) |
I waited, watching the streamer gently raise up toward the hill, and lower itself again - no wind. I decided that no wind was good enough. It's a Sport, a glider I know well. We'll be fine. It's the highest foot launch for me, 6000' feet MSL, but there is a big drop below launch... enough to get up to speed without an issue.
I balanced the glider on my shoulders, double checked angle of attack, and started my run. I immediately realized that there was no way I would clear the boulder at the edge of the cliff. I started my run too low down the slope. Oh well, no panic. Gently push out, clear the edge, and pull in. Thank you gravity! It doesn't look bad on the video, but Crystal saw right away the predicament I was in, and you can see her reaction. She gave me plenty of grief afterwards as well.
What could have I done better? First, start higher up the slope. Two, wait for some breeze coming in. What was my decision making process? I moved down because the slope is very uneven, with hidden holes and rocks. I thought, I found the smoothest path, and consideration for shortening my run didn't enter my mind at the time. I knew there was plenty of a dropoff to help me out, though. As to wind... I already described my decision regarding that.
I balanced the glider on my shoulders, double checked angle of attack, and started my run. I immediately realized that there was no way I would clear the boulder at the edge of the cliff. I started my run too low down the slope. Oh well, no panic. Gently push out, clear the edge, and pull in. Thank you gravity! It doesn't look bad on the video, but Crystal saw right away the predicament I was in, and you can see her reaction. She gave me plenty of grief afterwards as well.
(video credit: Sally Gottling)
What could have I done better? First, start higher up the slope. Two, wait for some breeze coming in. What was my decision making process? I moved down because the slope is very uneven, with hidden holes and rocks. I thought, I found the smoothest path, and consideration for shortening my run didn't enter my mind at the time. I knew there was plenty of a dropoff to help me out, though. As to wind... I already described my decision regarding that.
Anyway, I was up in the air. Climb slightly but was still too close to the terrain, so I set on a glide away from the mountain. I accepted a possibility of a sledder. It didn't matter that much at the moment.
Ilya was already pretty far away, testing a glide path to the LZ, I guess. He wasn't losing much altitude, but wasn't climbing much either. I set on a glide toward him, but altered my path slightly to go over the auto road. If I sank out, at least I'd take a nice video of that part.... Right, video... I realized that I forgot to start recording. No video of the launch. Oh well. In all that launch anxiety, it was the least of my worries.
I turned the camera on as I was approaching side of the mountain to NE. I felt a smooth transition into a thermal, and banked hard to play with it. A few seconds later, averager on the vario reported 400 FPM up. Awesome! Now realization that I was up in the air at freaking mount Washington started to sink in. Anxiety was gone. I was not only flying over it, I was climbing out!
One circle, and vario reported 600FPM. 700, 800, 900! WOW! That was the strongest consistent climb I experienced to date. Smooth, too! No going over waterfalls. Ama-freaking-azing! I reported my crazy climbs on the radio, and saw Ilya gliding back toward launch. Good! We are going to play with that mountain for a bit.
I couple of minutes later I was at the cloudbase, 1800 feet over launch. This was getting better and better. Now that I didn't have to worry about sinking out, I flew back toward launch to enjoy the views and to get a better video from above.
For the next hour I was going up and down, and up again, gliding toward wildcat mountain and back to launch, chasing Ilya from above, then sinking out and looking at him from below, then getting back up again.
After an hour of aimlessly flying around, I was getting cold sitting at 7K MSL all the time. My fingers started to beg for some warmth. I need much better gloves for flights like these. Anyway, I decided with all that lift, I can go down to 4K MSL and warm up. Not a bad decision, but I should have paid attention where to do that. Looking at the clouds and staying close to a potential thermal would have helped. But no, I just glided absentmindedly toward LZ, losing altitude.
After I warmed up enough, I tried to get back up... Nope, nothing. Clouds were too far now. I found a thermal right over the LZ, but it was rather weak. Pushing 50-100 FPM maybe. I stayed with it for a half hour, gaining another thousand feet but never finding anything strong. After getting tired with that play, I decided it was time to land.
The landing went smooth enough. Crystal said on the radio that there was no wind on the ground. I looked at the flag near the tollbooth and it was showing due east. The field goes north south. I tried to cut it diagonally, just in case, but almost got short. Not wanting to land in the tall grass, I extended my glide a bit, and had no energy for a good flare. Landed on my feet, though.
Ilya landed another 20 minutes later. He executed a perfect landing. This birdman can fly, and he certainly can land!
My flight was 1 hour 42 minutes. Awesomely unexpected day at the most intimidating site in New England. I hope to do it again sometime.
....
Big thanks to everyone who helped on the ground - Crystal, Sally, Bob! And big thanks to John for showing us the ropes, and encouraging us to give this mountain a try.
Here is a couple of videos from that day:
Ilya's video:
PS
For geeky curious, here is the recording of my flight:
http://doarama.com/view/1648940
Ilya was already pretty far away, testing a glide path to the LZ, I guess. He wasn't losing much altitude, but wasn't climbing much either. I set on a glide toward him, but altered my path slightly to go over the auto road. If I sank out, at least I'd take a nice video of that part.... Right, video... I realized that I forgot to start recording. No video of the launch. Oh well. In all that launch anxiety, it was the least of my worries.
I turned the camera on as I was approaching side of the mountain to NE. I felt a smooth transition into a thermal, and banked hard to play with it. A few seconds later, averager on the vario reported 400 FPM up. Awesome! Now realization that I was up in the air at freaking mount Washington started to sink in. Anxiety was gone. I was not only flying over it, I was climbing out!
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| Camera is on. On a glide out toward auto road. |
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| First thermal |
One circle, and vario reported 600FPM. 700, 800, 900! WOW! That was the strongest consistent climb I experienced to date. Smooth, too! No going over waterfalls. Ama-freaking-azing! I reported my crazy climbs on the radio, and saw Ilya gliding back toward launch. Good! We are going to play with that mountain for a bit.
I couple of minutes later I was at the cloudbase, 1800 feet over launch. This was getting better and better. Now that I didn't have to worry about sinking out, I flew back toward launch to enjoy the views and to get a better video from above.
For the next hour I was going up and down, and up again, gliding toward wildcat mountain and back to launch, chasing Ilya from above, then sinking out and looking at him from below, then getting back up again.
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| Cloudbase! |
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| Back to launch, a few hundred feet higher |
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| Enjoying the views |
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| Chasing Ilya |
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| As happy as I can be |
After an hour of aimlessly flying around, I was getting cold sitting at 7K MSL all the time. My fingers started to beg for some warmth. I need much better gloves for flights like these. Anyway, I decided with all that lift, I can go down to 4K MSL and warm up. Not a bad decision, but I should have paid attention where to do that. Looking at the clouds and staying close to a potential thermal would have helped. But no, I just glided absentmindedly toward LZ, losing altitude.
After I warmed up enough, I tried to get back up... Nope, nothing. Clouds were too far now. I found a thermal right over the LZ, but it was rather weak. Pushing 50-100 FPM maybe. I stayed with it for a half hour, gaining another thousand feet but never finding anything strong. After getting tired with that play, I decided it was time to land.
The landing went smooth enough. Crystal said on the radio that there was no wind on the ground. I looked at the flag near the tollbooth and it was showing due east. The field goes north south. I tried to cut it diagonally, just in case, but almost got short. Not wanting to land in the tall grass, I extended my glide a bit, and had no energy for a good flare. Landed on my feet, though.
(video credit: Crystal Wolfe)
Ilya landed another 20 minutes later. He executed a perfect landing. This birdman can fly, and he certainly can land!
(video credit: Crystal Wolfe)
My flight was 1 hour 42 minutes. Awesomely unexpected day at the most intimidating site in New England. I hope to do it again sometime.
....
Big thanks to everyone who helped on the ground - Crystal, Sally, Bob! And big thanks to John for showing us the ropes, and encouraging us to give this mountain a try.
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| (photo credit: Sally Gottling) |
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| John, Bill, Max, Crystal, Ilya (photo credit: Sally Gottling) |
Here is a couple of videos from that day:
Ilya's video:
And, of course, Skymax Studio:
PS
For geeky curious, here is the recording of my flight:
http://doarama.com/view/1648940
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