At 3849 feet Mount Diablo's Summit rises high above the surrounding foothills providing a landmark for much of Northern California. Its rocky peak and sun soaked slopes intuitively looks like the perfect thermal trigger. For some mysterious reason it rarely provides lift, often is surrounded with sink and is usually turbulent. Even on days with good lift it can be unobtainable to fly directly over with some XC flights bypassing this prominent point. However, todays marine influence seemed to be impacting the lower peaks and usual house thermals making the goal to stay high on the mountain.
Since we were near the summit Bob, Mike and I each took turns playing king of the mountain. We would work up, make a few passes in sink above the summit, move out, regain altitude and repeat.
Even with bumps and sink it was fun to do flybys for the crowd.
Working nearby thermals also provided excellent pictures for driver and photographer Teri to capture.
After 1 1/2 hours it was time to call it a day so I topped out and headed towards the North LZs. Down low we found West flow and light rotor so we had to put in at the plato. Three nice landings after a fun day spent overflying Mount Diablo's Summit.
1 comment:
Ooohh... the pain! Sitting in my office, I knew you dirty guys were out there having fun. While I initially thought I could handle not joining you yesterday, spring fever hit me hard in the afternoon.
Nice flying, and beautiful photos!
RM
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