I arrived Cliffside at 9am this morning alone. The winds were light ( 0-5 mph ESE ) , ground temperature was about 28°F with overcast skies and cloud ceiling was above the Windmills.... The snow on ground was pretty thick that my Toyota Sienna van couldn't make the drive to the parking area. I had to park the van on the shoulder of the road and carried the gears to launch. Snow was hard and crunchy, sink down 5-6 inches deep when l walked on it, with some parts even slippery. Fortunately, l had on my PVC water boots so l was able to keep my feet dry. My kayak cart was useless in this condition so it wasn't easy carrying my 60 lbs hang glider on the shoulder hiking up to launch. I think l made it in 45 mins. Mark R showed up right after I dropped off my gears at launch and I helped him with his stuff as well. We were ready to launch at 12pm, and it was light wind still ( 2- 4 mph or less at launch). Mark launched first and surprisingly there was plenty of smooth thermals better than we'd expected. The air was reasonably smooth and lifty. One thermal took me up to 1800 AGL (temperature was 21°F at that altitude). l generally felt warm, although toes got a little cold. Gabe arrived when we were in the air. Mark landed first by the river after 30 mins of air time, so I headed out to land after an hour of flying.
We went up to the old hang launch to join Gabe for a second round. Also two paras arrived around 1:30 and played with the ridge lifts while we were setting up at the hang launch. Mark launch first, followed by myself and Gabe. The winds got stronger (approx 10-13mph) at the hang launch so we all soared. I flew from 3-4pm on my second flight and topped out 1500Ft AGL. It was another great day, one of the enjoyable flights I have had. We were all pretty happy flying Cliffside today with the beautiful snowy scenery.
