son_of_flubber wrote on 7/22/2020 10:03 AM:
On Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 7:18:33 PM UTC-4, Eric Greenwell wrote:

The situation we've been discussing is thermalling close to a mountain because
that's where the thermals are, with the intent of getting above the ridge and
thermalling higher.


Does this happen often because the tops of the ridges in UT are higher than the typical aerotow?

Are SW USA slopes steeper than NE USA slopes and would the thermals put you closer to terrain?


According to an early post the accident happened on top of the ridge

On Monday, July 13, 2020 at 1:08:32 AM UTC-4, 2G wrote:
...It is thought by another pilot that he was thermalling just above the ridge top and got blown to the lee (east) side of it and attempted to glide across to the windward side unsuccessfully.

Generally, the ridges are a lot higher than an aerotow. Take look at a sectional
for places like Minden, NV, Ely, NV, Parowan, UT, Nephi, UT. TAke a look at how
steep the mountains are, but I'd say the big difference is the smaller ridges
sticking out from the main ridge, so you don't get a relatively uniform sheet of
air flowing over the main ridge. The thermals often form in the "bowls" between
these minor ridges, so a circle is close to rocks over more of it's circumference.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1