Presentation on mountain and ridge soaring in Northern Utah by Tim Taylor and Bruno Vassel at the 2012 Soaring Society of America convention in Reno, Nevada. Visit SoaringCafe.com to see the accompanying videos.

1. Mountain and Ridge Soaring in
Northern Utah;
The potential for fast cross country
and 1000 K flights
Tim Taylor (TT) and Bruno Vassel IV (B4)

2. Mountain Soaring Rocks!
Video

3. Northern Utah provides a unique opportunity in
the USA to truly fly “in” the mountains. Logan
has often been compared to Rieti, Italy, Saint-
Auban, France, and Omarama, New Zealand
for the true mountain and ridge flying
experiences.
The skills and techniques required as well as
the potential for long cross country flights will be
explored in this presentation.

4. Mountain Soaring Overview
• Skills required
• Safety
• Techniques
• Northern Utah (Nevada, Idaho and
Wyoming flying area overview)
• Example flights
• Potential flights
• Summary

5. Skills Required
Ability to fly a sailplane without thinking about
it:
– Able to fly true 45 degree banked turns
– Excellent speed control
– Speed and situational awareness at all
times
– Able to think in front of the sailplane
– Mountains sometimes don’t offer second-
chances

6. Thermalling Skills Required
If you can't thermal decently you will have problems
– Will not have fun
– Waste lots of energy
– Won't be safe thermalling near mountains/other
gliders
– Will cause frustration with other pilots
– Must keep your eyes outside - audio vario
– Always remember: extra airspeed is life!

7. Skills Required- Willingness to land out
– Have a good road-worthy trailer! :)
– Ability to pick fields and land out - whole other
lecture on how to do this well
– When your mind is made up that it is ok to land out
– its incredibly liberating!
– 1:8 land out ratio is healthy and makes it FUN!

8. First Safety Item:
Review Best Materials About Mountain Flying
• Gavin Wills (Mountain Soaring Tips - Ridge
Running)*
(Cloud Huggers and Rock Hoppers)*
(Outsmarting the Sirens)*
(Norm’s Last Flight)*
• JJ Sinclair (Don’t Smack the Mountain 101)**
• Henry Combs (That Beautiful Mountain and Her Sinister Trap)*
• Kempton Izuno (Working Ridges)**
*Soaring Magazine
**PASCO

9. Mountain Soaring Safety
• Get training – Please don't try to learn on your
own. Fly with local mentors
• Know your limits
• Make decisions before takeoff - set personal
limits
• Rule #1 Don't hit anything or anyone else!

10. Mountain Soaring Safety
– Speed is life
– Situational awareness is critical
– Know where you are and where your safety zones
are at all times (sometimes they are out of sight
through a canyon)
– Flying down on the terrain means you don’t have
the normal “big picture” perspective
• With higher speed you can get “lost” in a hurry

11. Mountain Soaring Safety
– Respect but don’t fear the mountains
– This is higher risk flying but the rewards are incredible
• 1000’s Amazing Views – ground rush, wildlife, mtn
ranges, the list goes on and on…
• Amazingly strong thermals, 20+ knots!!!
• Overcome challenges to achieve satisfying end-
goals

12. Mountain Thermalling Safety Tips
– Don't thermal near terrain at highest bank angle.
We keep airspeed reserves of course, but also
keep extra bank reserves in case you need to
tighten up.
– Figure 8's are much less work and safer than
trying to do 60 degree bank circles close to the
terrain.
– Wings parallel to mountain and dive away as a
last resort if you get too close.
Video Examples

13. Techniques

14. Mountain XC Techniques
• Know the wind and sun direction always! Keep a
mental picture of wind and how it should interact
with the mountain.
• 50/50 rule looking up vs. down
• The fastest route along a windy mountain ridge
is at the ridge's crest.
» Here the wind direction and strength often are of most
use
• When ridge top is sinking in good wind try
moving out away from ridge a little bit. – Gavin
Wills

15. Mountain XC Techniques
• If you are in a hurry, use surges of lift to build
speed rather than altitude. If a ridge is working
from low down it is generally fastest to climb
gently on track until the crest is reached and then
accelerate to stay there.
• It is faster to fly along ridge crest than try to
thermal and cloud jump a few thousand feet
higher.
Circle vs Ridge

16. Mountain XC Techniques
Lift often pools together riding up the slopes
and creates columns of thermals off the
peaks. Lift tries to stay attached to rising
ground as long as possible. The highest
peaks most often have strongest thermals.

17. Lift Forming Over Mountains
Wills, 2002

18. Cloud streets line up along the mountains

19. Transitions and Patience
• The key to successful cross country in the mountains is
planning for transitions and having self-discipline to actually
execute them.
• Jumping from one ridge to the next or to a cloud street requires
preplanning. Always leave yourself multiple options.
• Every flight, plan to transition from cruising at 100 kts to best
L/D.
• Patience is critical, sometimes you must stop and go 90
degrees off course, or go backwards to find lift to get high
enough to cross a valley or unlandable area.
• The fastest flights always are the guys that
didn’t get stuck! Transitioned the best.

20. Big Course Deviations Can Sometimes
Work in the Mountains!

26. Northern Utah (Nevada, Idaho and
Wyoming flying area overview)

27. Map
produced
by Jim
Darke

28. Summer Cloud Streets

29. Many valleys with landable fields

30. Logan Common Tasking Area

31. Landable Areas

32. Transitions Over Unlandable Areas

33. Comfortable Heights for Transitions

34. Many valleys with landable fields

35. Glider view of Cache Valley

36. Example Flights

37. Thermal and Ridge
Combined
July 5th, 2008
First ridge run on
the Salt River
Range

38. Thermal and
Ridge Combined
July 5th, 2008
First ridge run on
the Salt River
Range

39. Ridge and Wave Flight
October 3rd, 2007
700 km
Dawn Launch

40. Ridge and Wave Flight
October 3rd, 2007
700 km
Dawn Launch

41. Potential 1000K Flights
• Zig-Zag northeast to west
• The triangle using the Wind River, Uinta and Teton,
Salt River and Bear Ranges.
– Unique geography with three mountain systems
that form a triangle
• Ridge only during the fall through spring time periods

42. Zig-Zag Northeast to West
Standard Cloud Street From Nevada to Montana

43. Zig-Zag Northeast to West

44. Triangle using the Wind River, Uinta and
Teton, Salt River and Bear Ranges

45. Ridge only
during the Fall
through Spring

46. Summary
• Mountain flying offers whole new enjoyable way of
looking at cross country
• Take the time to learn carefully
• Respect but don’t fear the mountains
• We invite you to come to Northern Utah and come
fly with us! 4 airports to choose from:
– Logan, Morgan, Heber, Cedar Valley
Be careful, it is very addictive!!!