Flyfunston

I just thought I'd post a note to tell you that your website rocks. I am up here in Idaho, in Boise. This weekend, John Kangas and I are meeting Dean Tiegs at King Mountain for some flying on Saturday. There are no turtles there at least! Safe Flying John Spurlock

This weekend I drove over to King to fly with John Kangas (the weatherman). We were set up on the lower launch by 2 PM. We launched into cycles coming up, about 500 ft/min but spaced out in time. I struggled around the front of the mountain, trying to out thermal Kangas. That was a mistake. The best thermal is the one you are in. I finally got up on the mountain and it was really cold up there. As I flew around getting ready for the jump over Ramshorn, a hazy mixture of cirro-stratus obscured the area and the lift shut down. By that, I mean I took about a half hour to descend the mountain, trying to stay up but only finding down air. Landed after 1 hour 30 min. Shifting winds and high density altitude robbed me of my perfect landing.
Meanwhile John K presses on, jumping Ramshorn and flying down Sunset Ridge. At the Pass Creek end of the ridge, he has 12,500 feet of elev, but a direct headwind at that altitude soon uses that up. He lands and radios me his GPS co-ordinates and I found him about 10 miles up King Mt road which goes along the base of the mountains heading north. We drove back to Boise and were home by 10 PM.
By the way, some visiting pilots who also flew there were alarmed by the snakey, turbulent, winding thermals. They spit you out and were not where you thought they were. Over the falls is a way of life at this site, dont let it bother you. Fly Safe. John Spurlock

Good to hear there's some great flying going on up there. I miss the site already.

Hey John, Glad the turtles have already started to head south for the winter. I just hope they don't stampede!
Urs

Urs- it was great to see you up here. I hope you got some business done. When I last saw you I was part of a group at the USHGF asking for financial assistance to create a photographic site guide to King Mountain. Although not just for the contest, and eventually available to any pilot, the site guide will be a series of pictures on the 4 routes that show landmarks, bonus LZ's and enough pictures so it will be a lot easier to tell where one is along the routes. We got what we asked for from the USHGF.
If you remember the weatherman at the King Contest for the last two years, John Kangas, he is doing the aerial photography from his airplane, Mr. Piper. I have seen some of the pictures and they are nothing short of awesome! The plan is to have the site guide available before next years flying season.
Besides aiding and defining the contest routes at King, any new or unfamiliar pilot will be able to use and access this guide when it is finished. Now if we just get some great weather this next year..... John S
Turtles: just don't turn your back!