Deane,

The ridge we fly is the same at Wurtsboro, but there are substantial sections in between which are dangerously low/flat. It has been done in the past, in fact Barringer flew from nearby Ellenville, which is just NE of Wurtsboro all the way down to Harrisburg right through that section. However, back then there used to be a lot of fields there, whereas now it's very forested. It is feasible to fly from Blairstown to the NE up through Sunrise Mountain, which is nearby High Point, close to the border of NY. However, this is generally considered for experts and the vast majority of Blairstown pilots avoid flying the ridge significantly past the "Millbrook Powerlines", which are maybe 5 or 6 miles to the NE of the "Local" ridge. Any flights done between Wurtsboro and Blairstown are generally flown exclusively on thermals, with no interest in even some of the workable sections of ridge below.

In terms of flying out of Wurtsboro, the working section of ridge there is maybe 15-20 miles long, but it is much more of a slope rather than a ridge. Wurtsboro has some unique characteristics in that while the mountain is not very steep, it tends to consistently work, even in a very light wind. The pilots there generally avoid flying down on the trees, but rather up higher and floating through. It seems that those who are down on the trees are going no faster than the guys up higher in the thermallywave/ridge dynamic that is going on in that valley. It's definitely a very fun place to fly, and I'd highly recommend it for its regional, but the ridge they have is not very representative of what you will see along most of the ridge system.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

On Thursday, September 19, 2013 1:08:06 PM UTC-4, Soartech wrote:
On Tuesday, September 17, 2013 3:36:13 PM UTC-4, Greg Delp wrote:

I'm interested in doing some ridge flights in the Northeast US at various sites like Blairstown, Wurtsboro, Springfield etc...





Hi Greg,

Nice to meet you on Saturday. Funny, but I was about to ask the same question here about New Jersey's long ridges. Daniel, thanks for the good info. Can you start at Wurtsboro, NY or does the ridge get too low to soar between there and Blairstown, NJ area?



Greg, about Springfield, VT; The ridge is reachable from a 1500 foot pattern tow and faces South to Southeast. Winds of 10mph or better are good. It is about 2.5 miles from the airport and if you leave at ridge level you can easily make it back in a 2-33. The ridge is about 1000' vertical. It is not very long, maybe 2 miles. Hope that helps.

Deane