Take a look at Great Western Soaring's website.
http://www.greatwesternsoaring.com/
It may take a while to read the whole site, but it's worth it. They've got
pictures of the actual terrain you'll be flying. They log weather conditions
also, so you can see what lift was available yesterday, last month, or last
year.
The school is located at the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains in
Southern California, You get every kind of lift. Yesterday we were up for
hours in thermal, sheer, wave & ridge. I practiced ridge for 30 minutes.
Later, we burned off excess altitude doing spin & slip training.
The sleek DG-500 trainers have honest 40-1 LD & retractable gear. They are
nice handling & roomy. After training in these, you can transition to
single-place glass much more easily than from an old Blanik or 2-33.
The instructors are expert pilots; positive & friendly.You could solo in a
week to ten days, although you may not expect to. I understand they do
training camps for teenagers & often solo them after a week.
I'm very glad I chose Great Western. It's certainly helped me accomplish the
dream!
Best,
Jim Hultman




"Saltfly" wrote in message
oups.com...
This summer I will fulfill a lifelong dream to learn to fly sailplanes.
I would like to concentrate the first phase of my schooling into a
concentrated 7 or 10 day period. I'd like to find a commercial flight
school in an area of stable and predictable weather. After browsing
this list, I also wonder if training would be more intensive in a
powered glider. Can anyone comment on the above? Recommend a specific
program, school, or teacher? Am I off base on the powered option? If I
am on base, recommend a school so equipped?

I live in NY but can travel anywhere in US for this plan.

Thanks.