On Sep 9, 4:36*pm, wrote:
On Sep 8, 11:46*pm, Hellman wrote:





I fly a motor glider out of the San Francisco Bay Area and frequently
head over the Sierras to the good soaring. My question has to do with
lift on the Sierras themselves.

I've occasionally been able to soar on them, but most of the time find
them marginal at best. Clouds which would indicate great lift on the
mountain ranges to the east (which are more barren and therefore
better thermal generators) often have little or no lift under them.
There are exceptions and I've had some fantastic times on the Sierras
themselvess, but I'm talking about most of the time. Which leads to
three questions:

1. Have others had the same experience as me? If not, where and what
time of year?

2. I mostly fly the Sierras from Lake Tahoe down to about Bishop. Do
they generate better lift further south?

3. Why are the Sierras so much poorer soaring? I know some of it has
to do with the greater moisture content of the vegetation and soil,
but have also heard theories about the Pacific's marine influence
penetrating that far inland. Are there other theories, or even better,
established reasons?

Thanks very much.

Martin
WT

Martin, I have been down the west side of Lake Tahoe a couple of times
this year, pretty close to the crest. *I would say that portion is
just as good, if not better than the Carson Valley and Pine Nuts.
Particularly if the line is clearly on the Sierras. *However down
toward the Mono-Mineral convergence the lift is always better and more
consistent to the East around Patterson and the Swee****er range and
typically higher by comparison. *I think the lift around Warren and
Dana is very good by any standard but the lift is so incredible around
the Mono-Mineral convergence that the Sierra gets an somewhat
unfavorable comparison. *Toward Mammoth the valley influence is what
makes that area inconsistent, I believe. *Just as it does up north
between Lassen and Shasta.

Further South I dare not get too deep. *SoCal guys can comment more.
Sunday there was a good sized cell fairly far west of the crest down
west of Coyote Flats. *I imagine that part of the Sierra is stronger
but higher

But in general the Sierra does suffer from either valley influence and/
or marine influence. *San Joaquin valley only has lift after frontal
passage to setup a decent lapse rate, which otherwise is inverted.
Frontal passages however lower cloudbase heights, increases winds in
mountainous regions so to have it good in both the SJ valley, and
western Seirra and over the Crest seems rare. *I am told there once
was a soaring operation maybe down by Visalia/Kings area on western
Sierra. *Might have been hangliders. *Those guys would have practical
local knowledge of Sierra/Western Sierra flying and when it is best.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

There was an Soaring operation near Pine Flat dam at Wonder Valley
dude ranch years ago, I instructed there and it was always difficult
to break the inversion to get you high enough to get on the ridge.