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Vítek´s Aerial Treks
Mountains, Mountains!!!

On Saturday, August 13, as Emily and I drove from Oregon we noticed the high clouds over the Cascades, and then nothing east of them. I commented; it would be a day to go soar in the mountains!

The next day no clouds were developing in the morning, so I struggled instead with a broken irrigation pipe and when I finally got it fixed, it was way past noon. In the meantime small clouds started popping over the Cascades, extending to the west, with apparently rather high cloud bases.

By the time I got finished assembling the glider and with Tim Holiday's help launched, it was already two o'clock. I briefed Tim on the ground to tow me directly to the spine of Mission Ridge, for only there I expected to find any lift. The tow indeed proved my expectation, we didn't hit a bump until we got way out over the Four Corners mountaintop airport (where Jumpoff merges into the main ridge leading to the ski area). I released in a for me uncharacteristic high 6,800' MSL.

Within minutes I was at 9,000' and my mountain ride of a lifetime had just started. Looking at the clouds to the west, I could see that their bases were well above 11,000' if not higher, more importantly, the clouds extended that high very far to the west. Most of the time, within a few miles west of Mt Stuart there is a staircase cloud base drop and the path farther is blocked. But not this day.

This photo was taken from about five miles west of Mt. Stuart, looking east. The huge cloudbases dimunitized the otherwise impressive peak. Here the bases were at 12,500'. After reeling in most altitude, I decided to strike out farther west, to a new for me territory where I had previously never been in a glider.

Cle Elum Lake was quietly passing under the wing; I noticed the lake was heavily drained of its water in this drought-stricken year. On the right was the Kaches Lake, extending deep into the mountains, rising high on the right. I didn't take a picture of those mountains at this point, for I would have to shoot through the canopy glass and get a bunch of reflections. I thought doubtlessly I would soon chicken out and retreat by the same route; I told myself I'd take a picture of them then. Later I regretted not at least taking a circle to capture their image. The mountains I'm talking about are the Chimney Rock, Summit Chief, and many other jagged peaks of the Alpine Wilderness northeast of the end of Gold Creek Valley.

In the meantime I concentrated on following the most optimal path so as not to get low. The cloudbases started dropping. By the time I was approaching Snoqualmie Pass, they were at 11,000'.

But there were more clouds to the west, indicating that lift must be under them. I decided to ride on, directly over the Alpental ski area, where I banked to take a picture of the scenery we never see from the freeway. For example, I never knew there was a lake directly west of the Ski Acres summit, between it and the eastbound lanes of the freeway. The white line on the right are the westbound lanes. The freeway then re-emerges in the most extreme left top of the picture, then by Ski Acres.

Here the staircase effect is demonstrated. The cloud bases are dropping; and then nothing - no clouds. The ride west dead-ended. I was almost over the emergency airstrip at Bandera then, looking along the freeway towards North Bend, Mt. Si in the right upper of the picture, and on the horizon the good ole' faithful Tiger Mountain above Issaquah, the site of many of my past glider rides when the airport by the Lake Sammamish was still in full swing.

I turned around but did not go directly back. Instead, I got on the other, northern side of the Chimney Rock, Summit Chief, and many other jagged peaks of the Alpine Wilderness northeast of the end of Gold Creek Valley. Mt. Stuart was then a distant sharp peak on the horizon, in the upper left of the picture.

At this point I had set course for my next destination, Glacier Peak. But first, I was admiring the views of the hundreds of lakes of all shapes and forms, nestled in the rocky heart of the Central Cascades, very rarely visited by motorless gliders...

I regretted I did not know any of their names, but now, with the help of a map, I can attach the names to the images - the large lake on the right is the Chetwoot Lake, which drains into the lower left Angeline Lake. Just barely visible in the middle bottom is the tip of the Big Heart Lake, and in the left margin is the Azurite Lake.. Photography is great, but it can hardly express the sensation you get when you are up there and see what is hidden here - views beyond the margins, unobstructed, all around! On the left is the continuation of the previous view, in a panorama showing the spiky Mt. Stuart on the horizon, the bright flat spot are the almost totally melted snow fields of Mt. Hinman, only a few glaciers are left. Turning my attention to the left,

I pass over the town of Skykomish to another familiar spot; where I feel somewhat safer - the mountain in the lower left to where I got towed once when we had a camp at the emergency airstrip at Skykomish. All I could do then was just hug the hilltops; this time, I was realizing the expectation of then to hopefully make it to Glacier Peak. The jagged three peaks are the Grotto and Baring Mountains. I arrived here after a long glide across a blue hole, at the so far lowest spot of 8,500' MSL. The mountain below me, Alpine Baldy, worked sending an invisible broken plume up. Ten minutes later I was back to 10,000' and could resume cruising. But first I took several more pictures (I omitted showing them here for lack of space), but the one I do show includes the Monte Cristo Peak and Mount Sloan on the right. Then I started to pay more attention to the way clouds were behaving. There were larger gaps to bridge, and the terrain below me started rising. Glacier Peak was still in the far distance.

Usually, if there are clouds here (which is most of the time), the area below is socked in them, leaving no gap for getting through. But this time the clouds were sky high even far to the west of "Glacier" (as we nickname the peak in gliderspeak).

From this vantage point, the path toward Glacier looked good. Its top did not poke into any clouds, there even seemed to be enough space for a glider to sneak through...

As I was getting nearer, the distances became more obvious.

As I ran out of time here writing this blog, I will reduce the text side but continue with more photos....

The approach to Glacier was very exciting, for the clouds which seemed to top it weren't long lasting, and cycled quickly. There were big gaps and I had to retreat a few times.