Lee Vining Airport - Pine Mountain Lake Airport
(Updraft Challenge, 103km/67mi, Top Rudder Solo 103)
I landed in Lee Vining, right next to Mono Lake, which is a otherwordly salt lake, in October 2022 and with empty pockets. The misfortunes leading to this situation are reported in part 1 of my traveloque (The Grand West Coast Tour). High altitude mountain rescues, replacement top rudders, prison time and last but not least my disproportional addiction for ice cream had me working full time in Lee Vining’s Lake View Lodge for the last 1 1/2 years. Now I am financially more stable again and my Grand West Coast Tour in a Top Rudder, my adventure of a lifetime, can continue: Los Angeles to Seattle.
(me roughing it up at the Lake View Lodge grill station. Earnest work for little money)
I planned a hop across the Yosemite Mountains to the west, bringing me in reach of San Francisco. The best destination airport was Pine Mountain Lake Airport. The challenge was that the fuel capacity of the Top Rudder was not enough. So, not for the first time, I layed out an updraft route for south wind. The idea is to get free altitude from updrafts which you can trade in for gliding distance. The Top Rudder is light enough for this, although it is not a glider. I waited for a day with good punchy wind, and off I was. I miscalculated the initial climb up to Tioga Peak (11,526 ft/3,513 m) a bit and burnt tons of fuel getting up there. It was important to be up there to slingshot me across the next mountain range to the west which did not have updrafts. But fortunately, because of good altitude/updraft management, I made it close to 2 miles of the destination aiport where I landed with just 0.1l of fuel left and was towed in. It was a skillfull flight, constantly hugging mountain faces for updrafts, very tactical and technical flying.
(the mountain in the background was my first climb, say hello to updrafts!)
(I had to circle and circle in updrafts to get up there)
(following Tuolumne river to the west)
(my flight map, zoomed out)
(my meticulously layed out flight path with wind from the south and hugging along mountain faces in yellow to extend my fuel range)
