Sailplane Gaggle Over Mt. Washington

Today seems like a good day to do Mt. Washington, 63 nautical miles to the east. Thermals are popping with cloud bases at around 6,500 feet MSL. Wind is light and variable such that the return trip west later in the afternoon when lift may be weakening should be free of a difficult headwind. We get task agreement amongst those of the great white fleet presently aloft and after reaching cloud base set off towards Montpelier.

We fly close to our GPS heading of 95 degrees with minor deviations picking the way under cloud wisps none of which seem to be building. At least they offer in their proximity zero sink. The air mass between is heading down at a pretty good clip as would be expected on a strong thermal day. We pass Northfield and look ahead for the best prospects for lift. There near Montpelier (Point A: sectional map 102kb) is a solid looking cumulus, black in the center and flat on the bottom. We head for it taking a 20 degree course variance since our altitude is now down to 4,000. As expected, we punch into the turbulence with vario settling out at a solid 3.5 knots increasing to 6 as we approach cloud base.

On each circle we turn our attention to the cloud patterns forming over Spruce Mountain ahead. This high ground invariably kicks off good lift and today is no exception. As the lift weakens near cloud base, we drop the nose and accelerate to cruise speed as indicated by the nav set at McCready 5.

Approaching Spruce (Point B) we catch the glint of sun reflecting off a thermalling sailplane marking lift under an extensive mass of clouds. Getting closer we see that his turns are tight and his climb rate seems steady. Great! This saves us a search pattern for decent strength lift. We enter the thermal circling in the same direction. The letters under the wing are Tango Lima. Tony Lauck beat us to Spruce. Let’s see if we can make up some time on him from here in to the Washington turn point at Bretton Woods Hotel. Even with water ballast in our LS-4, catching Tango in his Ventus C will be difficult. Negative flaps in glide and lots of savvy in that cockpit do make a difference.

We depart from Spruce at cloud base providing a comfortable cruising altitude over extensive unlandable territory east of Spruce. The lift is good and we bump along dolphin style not stopping for lift. The cloud pattern appears better to the north with mostly blue sky to the South of our route. Have to remember this in planning the return leg.

The Connecticut River Valley as usual seems devoid of lift but over the high ground on the east side near Monroe (Point C), cus have formed. Let’s hope they are active since our arrival there will be around 3,500 feet. We try one without happiness. The next one to the northwest works better and as we approach cloud base, who comes in under us but 8 Ugly. Bob Messner thanks us for the spot and asks what we are doing so high above the terrain. This is refreshing since I invariably get grief about being on the trees so often. Of course it’s not true.

Now we head off towards the high ground to the north of Twin Mountain airport where the mid-afternoon sun is baking the south facing slopes. If there were any significant wind from the northwest, a better approach to Bretton Woods would be the higher ground to the south -- Cannon, Mt. Jefferson, etc.. We hear others of our intrepid task mates reporting location: Mike Newman, Ron Webster, Brian Shoemaker, Steve Ludemann and Errol Drew. Everyone seems to be doing well and really enjoying the spectacular scenery that this area offers.

I hear the work "click" transmitted meaning Tony reached the designated turn point. Maybe I’ll learn next time to cruise faster between thermals on strong days. Next transmission from him is from the top of Mt. Washington. He detoured before returning west just for the fun of it. The hikers at the summit get a great view of Tango Lima roaring by a eye level.

We find good lift over the high ground north of Twin Mountain (Point D) and go in for the picture. Looking west we see a ship thermalling. It turns out to be Mike Newman in YG who took a late start due to family commitments. By now cloud bases are reaching 7,000 plus and we have a comfortable glide to the river at Littleton (Point E) staying to the north of our inbound route to avoid the big blue area south.

Not much action over the river valley but a modest thermal south of St. Johnsbury (Point F) gets us high enough to reach the high ground to the north of Spruce. Lift is beginning to weaken, but the west facing slopes of Spruce are working. It takes some time and patience but we work to final glide altitude this time working the weaker lift near cloud base up to 7,500. Things don’t look that great ahead but if the nav is right we can make 0B7.

But wait a minute. The East Ridge is an obstacle in our path not factored in by the nav. Just have to hope for something going up before reaching there. We set McCready 0 and tip-toe along over the most likely looking terrain. Something seems to be happening over the west facing slopes in the Northfield area. Heading that way we realize that if we find nothing, Montpelier airport or one of the few fields near Northfield will be our fate.

Dumping our water, we work weak lift at Northfield (Point G) and get just enough altitude to reach over the East Ridge at a low point north of the Moretown Bump (Point H). There is enough warm air rising off the ridge to get us onto final approach. We hear Tony just ahead announce a change to airport frequency. Rounding Scragg (Point I) we switch to 123.0 and report "Sugarbush traffic, sailplane Romeo Charlie 3 miles out on final for 22."

We roll off towards the trailer area joining those already on the ground: Tony, Mikey and a few who turned at Franconia short of Mt. Washington. The others who attempted the full task soon follow in with a big smile of achievement easily visible on their faces. All eight sailplanes are in and accounted for. As we wash away the days accumulation of bugs prior to disassembly and watch the lengthening shadows blanket the valley floor, we rejoice in recollections of another great soaring day at the "Bush!"