Ron Lee wrote:



Perhaps mountain flying is where you have minimal terrain separation.

Yes. You are flying in the valleys, below the tops of the ridges.


Not my idea of smart if you encounter a downdraft due to mountain wave
action...which I have.

Well that's the skill level you need to attain. It's not safe to fly in
the mountains all the time. On clear sunny days after about 11 am it
gets too turbulent to fly in the mountains, you run into those
downdrafts you talk about. Get up early and you can fly over the
mounatin passes at a few hundred feet agl as easily as you fly over
anywhere else.



Would you say that the pilot who impacted mountainous terrain in the
Vail Pass area was mountain flying?

I don't know what his altitude was when he had whatever problem he had.
He ended up in the mountains, I don't know where he started.



Who would you rather fly with....him or me?

Neither. He crashed and you avoid the mountains like they will reach up
and grab you.