"John T" wrote in message
...
Mountain flying courses aren't too common in WI.

but, I may not be making such a trip for a long time yet, as I'm just a
renter so far. I will keep my eyes out for a local course, FWIW, and I
know there are seminars at Oshkosh.

I seem to recall that there's a hill in Minnesota, not too far from you. I
think people have even been known to ski down it. (I know, it takes two
hills to make a pass...oh well).

Anyway, as far as finding mountain passes go, they are pretty apparent when
you actually look at a sectional. They are where the terrain goes down
between two high spots. Some are named, and of course the larger the
pass the more likely it is to be a reasonable and safe way through the
mountain range. Note: something that looks like a pass but which leads to
higher terrain rather than lower is called a dead-end. Don't fly down
those.

That said, you may want to consider focusing on routes that take you over
the interstate highways. They tend to cross the mountains in the easiest
areas, as well as keep you near civilization in case things don't go quite
as you'd hoped.

If you do want to try some more challenging mountain flying, then on your
way west you might stop just short of the mountains to take in a course.
The web site Blanche mentions has good contacts, including a complete list
of instructors. One of them even posts here regularly...here's his web
address: http://users.frii.com/jer/

Pete