It took twelve days into 2010 for a cold front to traverse Northern California. On the thirteenth day of the new year this cold front's wake left the first soarable day. I arrived at Juniper Launch to find Kevin and Mike already high above. I quickly set up to join in the fun.
On weak days with low cloud bases, after scratching the west side, the Mount Diablo pilot gets to perform the notorious landing at the 1000 Footer. Mount Diablo rewards advanced pilots by using careful weather observation, flight planning and skill use. The quintessential Hang-4 skill displayed at this site is landing in the oak covered foothills below the west slope of the mountain on the small hilltop called the 1000 footer. The landing calls for a right approach over North Gate Road followed by a low pass over oak trees remembering to keep the speed up for turbulence and landing before the fire road, because an overshoot would be highly undesirable. This is the hang gliding equivalent to an aircraft carrier landing and today I captured some video. Below are the landings of Mike, myself with a camera on board and Kevin.
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