North East US ridge flight resources

I'm interested in doing some ridge flights in the Northeast US at various sites like Blairstown, Wurtsboro, Springfield etc... while bringing fellow club members along to share the new experiences. Can anyone point us to specific information and resources for the different sites? I've been able to locate a few general briefings for Ridge Soaring and some older info in ACA's Blue Fly series but would like to get some more recent information about the current tow operators, suggestions for Silver, Gold, and Diamond distance tasks, recent land out area info and basically anything that will help some newbies get on the ridges safely. Any help with upwind ridge transitions and the best places and techniques to make the transitions would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance.

Greg
DY

Hi Greg,

Feel free to contact me directly. Not sure there's that much written down (I do have a couple of general ridge briefings) but the obvious thing to do is to go download a bunch of flight off OLC (flights longer than about 400K tend to be ridge missions around here) and look at them carefully on SeeYou. I find it useful to load several flights from different pilots and watch the transitions, as there's usually more than one way to accomplish some of them.

Erik Mann
NJ State Record Keeper/ACA Member/Ridge Runner

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... while bringing fellow club members along to share the new experiences. Can anyone point us to specific information and resources for the different sites? I've been able to locate a few general briefings for Ridge Soaring and some older info in ACA's Blue Fly series but would like to get some more recent information about the current tow operators, suggestions for Silver, Gold, and Diamond distance tasks, recent land out area info and basically anything that will help some newbies get on the ridges safely. Any help with upwind ridge transitions and the best places and techniques to make the transitions would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance.



Greg

DY

Greg,

Blairstown is a great place for fall/winter/spring ridge soaring. Field
conditions permitting, we fly through all of winter and any day of the week
since we have a commercial operator (Yard Creek Soaring) doing the towing.
The tows are standard to 2000-2500ft AGL over to the ridge, which is 4
miles away to the NW. In higher performance, you can easily make it back
from the ridge, though if there is any discomfort in making it back, we
have a model airplane at the base of the ridge to land in as our primary
land-out option.

The section we fly is Blue Mountain, primarily a 60 mile section, though it
continues both to the NE and SW of those two extremes, with certain
sections more or less flyable than others. The primary section has several
gaps and discontinuities which make it very interesting experience to fly.
Just once you start getting settled down and going fast, there's another
small transition ahead to start thinking about, which is a great learning
experience. Also, while our ridge on the better days is very solid, it is
not the best shaped ridge nor the highest. If you learn to the fly the
Blairstown ridge, you will be most likely comfortable flying any other
ridge along the Alleghany system in places such as Mifflin, etc.

In terms of badges/XC flying that can be done out of Blairstown, all of the
distance legs can be reasonably achievable depending on the conditions and
the skill level of the pilot. A Gold Distance can be relatively easily
achieved on any solid post-frontal ridge day just on our 60 mile section of
ridge if done with 4 legs. Diamond Goal/Distance require transitioning
upwind to the next couple sets of ridges which requires its own
considerations and better thermal conditions, and is usually possible more
in fall/Spring rather than the Winter. Blairstown also has wave conditions
set up fairly frequently, but it tends to be fairly elusive. There have
been Gold Climbs done out Blairstown, with the highest climb past 16,000ft,
but its not something to count on contacting on a consistent basis, like at
certain wave sites. Also, it is worth mentioning that we occasionally get
really special Southeasterly winds that make the "Backside" ridge work.
Since the wind comes in from the ocean, it tends to be a stable system
which dampens convection which makes the ridge super smooth. It is also
very steep and works with very little wind and is almost a wave flight
experience. I have noticed on multiple occasions that we will have a NW day
as a high pressure moves in, and then we will get a SE wind on the second
day as the high moves through. These days are relatively rare, but when
they happen, they leave a grin on everyone's face that has flown.

Some flights done out of Blairstown on the ridge:

Ron Schwartz-
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...ml?dsId=758843
Bobby Templin-
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=2300433
Ryszard Krowlikowski-
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=2300438

Something most can do on a "typical" NW day-

Imre Bocskay in the club 1-34-
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=2833799

If you have any further questions, you are more than welcome to contact me
at daniel AT sazhin dot net. We'd love to see ya out here!

Best Regards,

Daniel Sazhin
Aero Club Albatross/ 1-26 Assocation

At 19:36 17 September 2013, Greg Delp wrote:
I'm interested in doing some ridge flights in the Northeast US at various
s=
ites like Blairstown, Wurtsboro, Springfield etc... while bringing fellow
c=
lub members along to share the new experiences. Can anyone point us to
spec=
ific information and resources for the different sites? I've been able to
l=
ocate a few general briefings for Ridge Soaring and some older info in
ACA'=
s Blue Fly series but would like to get some more recent information
about=
the current tow operators, suggestions for Silver, Gold, and Diamond
dista=
nce tasks, recent land out area info and basically anything that will
help
=
some newbies get on the ridges safely. Any help with upwind ridge
transiti=
ons and the best places and techniques to make the transitions would be
app=
reciated too. Thanks in advance.=20

Greg
DY

Erik and Daniel,

Thanks for all the info. I'm really looking forward to some ridge flights. If y'all ever have big plans for a day of ridge work let me know and I'd love to tag along or even stick around close by for possible retrieves.

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

Ridge Soaring's page has a "ridge tour" video that uses Google Earth to show landout options for the northern part of Bald Eagle ridge. Tom narrates it and its worth checking out. I'll admit to being biased but you'd have a hard time beating Ridge Soaring for ridge/thermal/wave conditions. Not to mention the bunkhouse atmosphere, group dinners out and the steady stream of interesting characters that fly there - all of whom are ready to share their knowledge with rookies and experts alike. The GPS numbers for various tasks are in a binder in the bunkhouse and his book Soaring the Bald Eagle Ridge is highly recommended (mandatory) reading and has most of the GPS numbers for badges etc. Lots of info about crossing gaps, tips and things to watch out for. The bottom line is that the Bald Eagle ridge has something for everyone. First timers to record setters all have a great time.

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

Deane,

Nice to meet you as well. Your glider definitely inflames my self launch envy. I flew out of Springfield several weeks this summer and had a few days on the "local" ridge there with the winds working out of the SE. I'm looking more for extended ridge work most notably transitions to other ridges since the local ridge is much shorter distances than say Blairstown.

I will definitely be making my way to Bald Eagle Ridge at some point in the future and have reviewed the ridge tour video. That's what got me searching for information on the more local ridges. It is an excellent resource and I've had multiple pilots suggest a trip out to fly there. I think I'll order his book if it is available. Thanks for the suggestions.

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

Another vote for Ridge Soaring. Tom & Doris are warm and welcoming, the
bunkhouse atmosphere fun and being a commercial operation, the availability
of tows is excellent.

The book:
http://www.eglider.org/books/flight-...gle-ridge.html

The e-tour: http://www.eglider.org/videos/RidgeTourMovie.wmv

Ridge running guidance: mufflin.ridgesewing.com. Click on the 'Ridge
Running' link. This guidance is aimed at visiting competition pilots but
there's much benefit to be gained for a newbie.

Good luck and hope to see you there.

Brgds,

Casey
B3


Greg Delp wrote:
I'm interested in doing some ridge flights in the Northeast US at various
sites like Blairstown, Wurtsboro, Springfield etc... while bringing
fellow club members along to share the new experiences. Can anyone point
us to specific information and resources for the different sites? I've
been able to locate a few general briefings for Ridge Soaring and some
older info in ACA's Blue Fly series but would like to get some more
recent information about the current tow operators, suggestions for
Silver, Gold, and Diamond distance tasks, recent land out area info and
basically anything that will help some newbies get on the ridges safely.
Any help with upwind ridge transitions and the best places and techniques
to make the transitions would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance.

Greg
DY

On Saturday, November 16, 2013 1:10:49 AM UTC-5, CJ wrote:
Another vote for Ridge Soaring. Tom & Doris are warm and welcoming, the

Thanks. But for Greg (and me) it is 7 hours where Blairstown is under 3.