Mt Washington Diamond Mine delivers again...

We "can" do that out of Middletown, NY or Wurtsboro, NY.
For me (looking for last Diamond from Middletown, NY.......K06N), we can tow to Wurtsboro ridge, if ridge is working, yes....... high speed pass low (did it for my go.d climb on a crappy day in October....several tries beforehand....).
Then ridge fly up, big air intake, dive around the knob before Ellenville, find a thermal, get into the wave.

I have been in the wave in a C-150 on glider freq. told gliders I knew they were there, I would stay out of the way.
When I did my gold climb, it was a fluke, Chip Beardon (JB) was up as well. It looked doable, Hank (the real UH now) said, load a barograph, go for it.
I got my climb.
I still want a diamond climb from Middletown, NY. Then I can have all SSA badges from one site ("A" through 3 diamonds).
Hank (UH) did the same but diamond climb, then again, he was part of the "mass 1000K" at Newcastle a few decades ago.

So yes, it can be done, it just adds to the level.
Frankly, doing a diamond climb in the NE US is tough. Some tougher than others.

BTW, my badges were done by the log, photo proof (killed my 1st diamond distance) or Replogle barograph.

At 17:26 15 October 2018, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Monday, October 15, 2018 at 11:39:04 AM UTC-4, Roy B.
wrote:
Mike's post brings back some good old memories.

Yup, brings back some good memories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_...rport_(New_Ham
pshire)
Became a shopping mall 25 years ago now.

...If you could figure out how to jump from the little ridge, to the
Mt. Kearsarge ridge, to the secondary wave and then to the
primary wave
- then you were qualified to be in that big wave.

I recall it took quite a few steps from the ridge to the primary. Lots
of
fun!
I also remember that early tows to the primary had gone,
shall we say, not so well...

See ya, Dave


YO,

Yes, the early tows were an adventure. We learned a lot on the first
day - 8 Oct 1966. It was a great wave day, and the only cloud in
the sky was a single lennie over Mt Washington. All of us early ones
got to tow right through the Moat range rotor because we didn't
realize what it was at first. 23 miles of just getting kicked around
and barely being able to hang on. I released at 4,200 MSL (2k Ft
above Pinkham Notch, and 2K Ft below the mountain top) because
Alan MacNichol and his L-19 were in a 45 degree left bank (with full
opposite control inputs) while I was in a 45 degree right bank (with
full opposite control inputs on the 1-26). My 45 degree banked turn
to the right continued (while holding full left controls) for about 270
degrees of turn until I came to a West heading into the wind. When
I got to look at the vario, it was pegged at over 1500 fpm up. It spit
me right up into the primary wave. At that time, the (now) Class A
airspace did not start until FL240, so that's as high as I went that
day. I still had 300 Ft/min climb when I broke it off, but this was the
first day of the expedition, so we had no wave window worked out
with ATC in advance. I had my Diamond gain with almost 20K Ft in
the bag, so I went back to give another club member a chance too.
After I landed, another club member showed up with his Ka.6CR and
got a tow around noon. He went to the same place I did, but
released in heavy rotor sink, tried to set up for a landing in the
Wildcat ski area parking lot, but was thrown into the trees by a rotor
gust on short final. He went down through the trees, the glider
splintered, but he was able to walk away with just a bump on the
chin. We got that news by maybe 2 PM. Alan immediately
determined that all subsequent tows would be to 7K Ft in the wave
over the mountaintop (still leaving room for a diamond gain up to
FL240) and out of the rotor ASAP. I was dispatched to help get the
wreck out of the woods. Mt Washington and surrounding area
provided a very steep learning curve for all of us that day, especially
for me being a 15 year old kid who had just completed his Silver C.
I have to give Alan and my father credit for trusting in my abilities to
let me go in that environment. It certainly had my full attention.

RO

On Monday, October 15, 2018 at 2:10:08 PM UTC-4, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
We "can" do that out of Middletown, NY or Wurtsboro, NY.
For me (looking for last Diamond from Middletown, NY.......K06N), we can tow to Wurtsboro ridge, if ridge is working, yes....... high speed pass low (did it for my go.d climb on a crappy day in October....several tries beforehand....).
Then ridge fly up, big air intake, dive around the knob before Ellenville, find a thermal, get into the wave.

I have been in the wave in a C-150 on glider freq. told gliders I knew they were there, I would stay out of the way.
When I did my gold climb, it was a fluke, Chip Beardon (JB) was up as well. It looked doable, Hank (the real UH now) said, load a barograph, go for it.
I got my climb.
I still want a diamond climb from Middletown, NY. Then I can have all SSA badges from one site ("A" through 3 diamonds).
Hank (UH) did the same but diamond climb, then again, he was part of the "mass 1000K" at Newcastle a few decades ago.

So yes, it can be done, it just adds to the level.
Frankly, doing a diamond climb in the NE US is tough. Some tougher than others.

BTW, my badges were done by the log, photo proof (killed my 1st diamond distance) or Replogle barograph.

Hey Charlie,

If you would like some materials to help in pursuit of your Diamond Climb in the Catskills, send me a note at usnightlysoaring at gmail.com and I'll send it your way.

All the best,
Daniel

On Monday, 15 October 2018 15:30:05 UTC-4, Michael Opitz wrote:
At 17:26 15 October 2018, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Monday, October 15, 2018 at 11:39:04 AM UTC-4, Roy B.
wrote:
Mike's post brings back some good old memories.

Yup, brings back some good memories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_...rport_(New_Ham
pshire)
Became a shopping mall 25 years ago now.

...If you could figure out how to jump from the little ridge, to the
Mt. Kearsarge ridge, to the secondary wave and then to the
primary wave
- then you were qualified to be in that big wave.

I recall it took quite a few steps from the ridge to the primary. Lots
of
fun!
I also remember that early tows to the primary had gone,
shall we say, not so well...

See ya, Dave


YO,

Yes, the early tows were an adventure. We learned a lot on the first
day - 8 Oct 1966. It was a great wave day, and the only cloud in
the sky was a single lennie over Mt Washington. All of us early ones
got to tow right through the Moat range rotor because we didn't
realize what it was at first. 23 miles of just getting kicked around
and barely being able to hang on. I released at 4,200 MSL (2k Ft
above Pinkham Notch, and 2K Ft below the mountain top) because
Alan MacNichol and his L-19 were in a 45 degree left bank (with full
opposite control inputs) while I was in a 45 degree right bank (with
full opposite control inputs on the 1-26). My 45 degree banked turn
to the right continued (while holding full left controls) for about 270
degrees of turn until I came to a West heading into the wind. When
I got to look at the vario, it was pegged at over 1500 fpm up. It spit
me right up into the primary wave. At that time, the (now) Class A
airspace did not start until FL240, so that's as high as I went that
day. I still had 300 Ft/min climb when I broke it off, but this was the
first day of the expedition, so we had no wave window worked out
with ATC in advance. I had my Diamond gain with almost 20K Ft in
the bag, so I went back to give another club member a chance too.
After I landed, another club member showed up with his Ka.6CR and
got a tow around noon. He went to the same place I did, but
released in heavy rotor sink, tried to set up for a landing in the
Wildcat ski area parking lot, but was thrown into the trees by a rotor
gust on short final. He went down through the trees, the glider
splintered, but he was able to walk away with just a bump on the
chin. We got that news by maybe 2 PM. Alan immediately
determined that all subsequent tows would be to 7K Ft in the wave
over the mountaintop (still leaving room for a diamond gain up to
FL240) and out of the rotor ASAP. I was dispatched to help get the
wreck out of the woods. Mt Washington and surrounding area
provided a very steep learning curve for all of us that day, especially
for me being a 15 year old kid who had just completed his Silver C.
I have to give Alan and my father credit for trusting in my abilities to
let me go in that environment. It certainly had my full attention.

RO


I was lucky enough to enjoy a fantastic wave flight from North Conway in Bob Gairn's H-301 in the early 80's. It was a beautiful area, with many great and friendly pilots. Any chance someone is writing a history of the soaring in this area? Many of you have some great stories which would be enjoyable reading for a lot of us....

There is a short history on the website from the dedication as a national landmark of soaring.

http://mtwashingtonsoaring.org/

Any chance someone is writing a history of the soaring in this area? Many of you have some great stories which would be enjoyable reading for a lot of us....