100 Mile Ridge Run

Ridge Run At Jack’s

I went to Jack’s for the second day in a row.  On Thursday I showed up late and launched around 2:30.  Some nice climbs in the 600fpm range and top of lift was over 5000’msl.  I cruised around for a couple hours and then landed at the Mifflin County Airport after Shawn offered to pick me up.  That night, I checked the weather for Friday and plotted out a long flight over the back to Casement Airport on Lake Erie (dream big!).  It looked like there would be clouds and top of the lift was predicted to be over 6000’.  I resolved to get to the site early and be ready to fly by 12:00 as it would take a long time to go that far. I couldn’t sleep that night thinking about putting in some big miles. Friday dawned with a slightly different forecast, no clouds but winds straight in at 10-15mph, lift to 6000’, climbs around 700fpm and a solid boundary shear ratio of 7.  I really wanted clouds if I was going downwind so… OK change of plans, it looks like a ridge run day. I was the only pilot at launch at 11:00 and was ready to go shortly after noon.  Conditions were straight in at a steady 10mph.  Unfortunately, no other pilots were there yet.  Bob and Cookie arrived, followed by Joe and Karen.  They threw me off just after 1:00 and I climbed out above launch in 600fpm.  I headed NE and hit a nice smooth 800fpm thermal with bits of 900 to 4200’. Climbs never got quite that good the rest of the day.  I continued NE and the top of the lift progressively improved as the day heated up. An hour into it I hit a nice climb over the gap at Lewistown and topped out above 5000’ for the first time.   The going was slow as there was a tad of east in the wind.  The thermals were spaced every 2-3 miles but I just wasn’t comfortable enough to really put the hammer down; not having a driver put me in conservative mode as I really didn’t want to land out and have to beg for a ride. A couple climbs took me well over the back to my top altitude for the day at 5700’.  Jack’s is unique; the ridge is so abrupt that thermaling over the back is easy, there are open fields everywhere and even if at ridge height you can dive over and get out of any rotor to safe landable fields.  At one point I was over 1 ½ miles back working lift even with winds aloft at 17mph.  It took me 1:40 to get from Lewistown to the end of the ridge. At this point the ridge drops back to the north and then continues on for another 10 miles.  I chose not to go for it as it looked too difficult to punch back upwind on the return leg. At the end of the ridge I topped out again and headed back on a long 6 mile glide.  I was down to 1000’ over the ridge scouting potential landing fields (at this time of year they are everywhere!) when I hit steady 700fpm up to 5000’ again. It was another 6 mile glide to the next thermal and even though I was getting down to 1000’ over, my confidence was going up as the sink wasn’t near as strong as earlier in the day. I crossed the gap again (the return leg took less than an hour) at 4000’ to the next thermal.  The climbs were becoming softer and the edges weren’t as defined.  I stopped topping out when the lift lessened and pushed back toward launch. Two sailplanes (Rick and George) passed underneath and out front. I saw Joe thermaling and joined him for some turns and then kept pushing to the SW. A couple more good climbs and I was at the SW end where the Juniata river runs through the gap at Mt Union. The ridge continues on another 13 miles to Three Springs but it was just too late in the day for me to try it.  I met up with a Sport 2 (Andy?) on the way back and we thermaled together for a bit before I pushed on to the NE.  Doug called from the LZ to report on conditions there however I was intent on making it back to Lewistown to land at the Mifflin County Airport again.  At the power lines I turned in my last thermal realizing that the valley was lifting off and there was no need to circle anymore. I flew the last 6 miles with VG full tight and the bar pushed out boating along at 3200’ (1400’ over) before diving over the back to the airport.  I landed at 7:42 25 minutes before sunset, totally exhausted but elated to no end.  Two sailplane pilots, Rick and George offered to take me to my car so I quickly packed up as the sun was setting.  What an awesome day, 6 hours 34 minutes, 102 miles and a lot of smiles!!!