King Mountain Nationals

Last week Mele and I made the trek up to Idaho for the Nationals at King Mountain (Dan Gravage's image above). This is an annual six day cross country flying event. Each day one of the four routes is called based on the wind direction and John Kangas' weather voodoo. This year (my first) served up some challenging weather patterns. Each blue bird morning quickly developed, and overdeveloped along our routes with thunder clouds, virga and gust fronts.
Above: Pilots set up on the lower launch. Winds were often light and/or cross and the launch is shallow but good thermal cycles were coming through if you had patience. (Mele's photo)
Below: King Mountain (10,600' or so) from Moore. You can make out the gliders halfway up the mountain. (Mele's photo) click all to enlarge.
Below: You can't quite make out the gliders on this one, but there are still some up there. Mele and I decided to give up before the weather took hold this day and headed South toward the Sawtooths for a swim and some fly fishing.There were some great flying days though. Everyone talks about how much you can improve your skills by attending a competition. After flying in big, adverse conditions and being around so many great pilots I have to say I agree completely. The community at King was one of the best I've experienced anywhere and in one week I aquired insights from fellow pilots that I will draw upon far into the future. (not a lot of aerial photos this trip, most of the time I had a death grip on the base tube)
Below: fellow Bobblehead and Ace pilot, Bruce Bousfield, points out to me the shortest route to the bailout;) (Mele's photo)Below: over King Mountain looking NW to the Lemhi range in the distance.Below: Leaving King, over the back, heading over the Howe Valley on route 3.Below: overlooking Mr. Nasty (a well deserved name) and Sunset Ridge. around 14,000'.Mele was my chase driver throughout this competition and did some serious wheelin' on a couple retrieves as well as keeping me organized in the mornings. Thank you, thank you, thank you!There is so much more to this place, competition, and group of people that I could go on about. Better for you to just go see it for yourself. I can't imagine missing it again.
www.flykingmountain.com