Owens Valley XC Classic Day 5 - Task 4

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Video from Leon Shatz



Interesting day with new challenges. The launch conditions again developed very quickly with early pilots climbing out quickly. After 30 minutes waiting in line I had an unexpected line tangle right on launch which took ten minutes to sort out. The wind picked up and thermals around launch were quickly shredded and resulted in climbs over under 1 m/s.

I scratched low over the terrain to the start circle 8km away, with the accidents earlier in the week never far from my mind - it was in exactly these types of conditions that they both occurred. After finally tagging the start circle at only 6500ft (which is right back in the terrain here)  I flew out in the valley to land, unwilling to work up the spines from deep in the terrain.

Went out with my friend Henry Baker who was driving retrieve. There are a few shots of us in the video from Leon Shatz.  We had a lot of fun following pilots on live tracking system and it worked brilliantly. Only 1 pilot made goal after a 6 hour heroic effort.

Aaron Price Landing in strong conditions

Click the image to view the Tracklog on Leonardo