US PG Nats Day 6
After yesterday’s adventures, I wasn’t really in a mood for a lot of hiking, so when the task was announced (104 km task) and the second part was over the territory I had hiked the day before, I resolved to not land out in boony-land, and land on a road if necessary.
The air was quite stable, with a lot of forest fire smoke around. It was hard to get high, and we all left for Sun Peak way lower than we usually do, only 11,000’. But over at Sun Peak it was working, and we managed to get high enough to bench our way up to Otto peak, and then commit to crossing the Trail Creek Pass to the other side.
A lot of people landed at this point, since it was very stable and everyone that went on their own ended up landing since they didn’t have any help hunting for thermals. I made sure to stay with a group! Managed to make my way to Wildcat Peak (the 1st TP), and got the best climb of the day, to 13,500’. But there wasn’t anyone with me at this point, and I didn’t want to tackle the next part by myself, so I had to wait for the next group to catch up to me.
Went on glide to the next TP, via the Copper Basin area, and started to get low. This is where I landed yesterday, so I was super-conservative and headed out early to get a nice landing spot right on the road (50 km flight). Landed right on the actual road, packed up, and I wasn’t moving until a ride came along!
4 more people landed next to me, and while we were waiting for the retrieve vehicle, a truck came by on his way to Sun Valley, and gave all of us a ride to downtown Ketchum! So we were back in plenty of time to check in, and have a leisurely evening. Not sure if anybody made goal, since there was 1 more TP to make, and then a long glide to goal, and it was so stable and high pressury that it would have been very difficult to do.
Ryan, Keith, and Will landed near the Trail Creek Pass, or near the first TP. Apparently, on their way back, Ryan’s and Keith’s ride was involved in a collision with a free-range cow (they’re all over the place here) as they were headed over the Trail Creek Pass. I didn’t know cows could dart into traffic!
