Originally posted by Lindsey Chew on Yahoo Groups, June 4, 2019.
Today could present nice flying though a bit lefterly with wwnw winds about 10-13mph at 2K. The NAM12 is the most optimistic with excellent Buoyancy to Shear Ratio and west winds. Top of Usable lift reaches 7-8K over the mountain 5-6K over the valley which is not bad! Days like these can produce the best XC opportunities as our XC routes are all due east.
If you want to try crossing the river then today might be a good day for the attempt. For HG the route is to work your way up to the Prison and then get as HIGH as POSSIBLE. How High is HIGH enough you might ask, my answer would higher than you are now! The mountain is really fat back there so get as high as you can. 8K is golden, 6K is absolute minimum. Find lift down by the prison and just stay with it, never leave lift on an XC flight. Drift back deep, climbing as you go, once you are committed then don’t look back. There are plenty of LZs out in the valley behind the mountain.
Look for lift over Lake Awosting, and the back ridge can be productive to. Try to get as high as you can and STAY there! Don’t get in a rush, be patient. Make your way toward the hills near the river looking for a tall radio tower. Find lift over those hills and sky out, you will need every foot of altitude. There is a pond near the radio hills with a grassy field just south of it that makes an good LZ with a dirt road nearby for retrieve.
You need to be really high, like 4-5K to cross the river as the whole area beyond is dead for lift. There are LZs over there but you need to make your way toward Pleasant Valley which is quite a glide to the NE from the river. Look for multiple high tension power lines converging on the biggest electrical substation I’ve ever seen. The damn thing scares me from 2 grand! The transformers in the substation are warm so there is a reliable thermal there. Work the angles, meaning the angle from your position in the air to the thermal source on the ground. The lift will be downwind of the source so note the angles as you climb. The thermal source will stay at the same relative angle as you climb, so at your next thermal source, hunt for lift at the angle you noted earlier in the flight.
Sky out and try to stay north of the high tension power lines that head west toward Dover Plains. Do not cross the river more than a 1/2 mile south of the radio tower as you can end up in Dutchess airspace which can get us all into trouble.
Good luck all, I don’t know the PG routes. I’ve seen them stay with ridge all the way up to almost Kingston, then crossing the river and making their way toward Brace but you really need to talk to the PG XC experts.
Lindsey
I’ll see you guys up there later this afternoon.
