Robert M. Gary wrote:


My Mooney rides happy between 16,000 and 17,000 feet. No
pressurization, just O2. 14,000 are peaks. Of course I've never tried
it IFR. My IFR route is to cross into the LA basin via Blythe and then
up Gorman area, or if ice is a real issue up the coastal airway to SF.
However, its very rare to find ice over Gorman and solid IMC over the
Sierras. Maybe a few days a year you get that type of wx. Storms don't
sit around long in California and they're usually easily predictable.

-Robert

I know all those routes and areas very well. As you know there isn't
any Victor airway that crosses the crest of the High Sierra at its
higher area. One jet route does (J-110) but it often is not available
because of R-2508.

The highest non-jet routes in that area are the two terminal routes onto
the KBIH VOR-A IAP. Those are deadly when the weather is bad in that
area. The routing from the north onto the KBIH VOR/DME-B is far more
forgiving.

I just don't know where I would want to take on the Sierras in a light
aircraft when the GMN/LHS area is iced up and IMC.