First XC flight in Utah at Inspiration Point. Pretty nice conditions with thermals to about 10,000ft. Strong tailwind for some of the flight made for a fast time.
Ziggy Mulhauser, Tavis Gustafson and Jai Pal Khalsa were in our XC group for the day. I was pretty nervous at the start but found the house thermal quickly and worked it up to 9000ft.
The others took a little while climbing out and so I decided to set off slowly. I expected the others to catch up but with the strong tail wind for the first section, they never did!
After the nice climb gave me enough height to cross high over the windmills at Hwy 89, I surfed ridgelift around the next mountain to Woodland Hills. I was too low to go deep back in the mountains at Woodland hills, so landed in a nice big field
Ziggy Mulhauser with Utah Lake in the background
Photo credit: Jai Pal Khalsa
Ziggy Mulhauser, Tavis Gustafson and Jai Pal Khalsa were in our XC group for the day. I was pretty nervous at the start but found the house thermal quickly and worked it up to 9000ft.
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Climbing out over launch at Squaw Peak (locally known as Inpiration Point)
Heading south with snow capped Utah Mountain in the background
Cruising past Springvillle at about 9000ft, with Buckly Mountain to the left.
We flew around the mountains all the way, landing in the valley in the far right of the picture
Nearing the Windmills at Hwy 89. I got low in the middle of the picture, then climbed out in a beautiful thermal all the way up the ridge
While waiting for retrieve, I watched Ziggy and Tavis work their way around the hills from ridge to ridge. Nice flying guys! They eventually flew about 5km more than me.
A very satisfying first XC in Utah! Lots of smiles in the van ride home, then we had a stunning evening sunset flight on the north side of Point of the Mountain. A big day!