Dunlap Spring 2024-03-17

Spring had sprung in the foothills of the Sierra, or at least that’s what Thorin would have you believe. After flying Tollhouse the weekend of the 3rd, he messaged the Dunlap/Tollhouse group chat that thermic flying had begun for the season. I was psyched.

The weather was shaping up for an amazing weekend of flying on the 17th and the 18th, and so I wrangled a group of my paragliding friends to make a trip out to Dunlap. Luigi, Nick, Muuo and I all made the long drive out on Friday night to “Spencer’s Place,” a campground which is also the official LZ for the site. Nick and I carpooled, and arrived just around 10pm.

In true spring fashion, nights were freezing cold. I slept in my car, wrapped up in all my layers and my lightweight quilt. While I was warm enough, it would be a stretch to say I was comfortable. Maybe I’m just getting soft. Morning brought sunlight, and as soon as I was awake I made a trip to the tiny coffee shop in town to warm up and refresh my knowledge of “Thermal Flying”.

Day 1

The forecast looked fantastic with a TOL around 7000’ and lots of instability. We joked in the morning about connecting Dunlap and Tollhouse, without much seriousness.

We drove up around 11am, with a group of ~12 folks. The moment we arrived I saw a number of signs that the day was already on. There were small cumulus clouds forming, light cycles blowing through, and birds climbing out front. I raced to get my equipment together, do my safety checks, and I launched far before anyone else. I immediately was able to climb above 2000m.

From there, I waited around in the same thermal for others to launch and get up, then flew out to Delilah. I met up with Muuo and Nick above Delilah, and we flew out to Bald Mountain together. We caught a climb there, and continued on to the ridge to the west. At this point we split up- Muuo turned around and completed a huge triangle. I though Nick had turned back as well. I continued on to the end of the ridge, where I hoped to find a climb in the prevailing northwest wind we were experiencing.

I spent a long time scratching and trying to catch a climb at the end of the ridge with no luck. After catching and then losing a small climb, I made the decision to make the crossing to the other side of the valley and try my luck on the other side of the ridge. Landing options were good there, and I thought I might have better chances to ridge soar if need be. When I reached the other side, I caught a great climb, giving me ~800m to play with.

With the reservoir to the north, I chose to try to push out to the west through the gap in the ridge and get out towards the valley. The prospects for climbs seemed better, and I could continue making progress or turn around and return to dunlap via the front range. The wind was primarily north, so I believed I could make the crossing with a crosswind. I had plenty of height, and I left the climb and went on glide in that direction.

As I made the valley crossing, I went slower and slower and sunk faster and faster. It seems that the wind was primarily from the west and I was bee lining for the lee side of the ridge. After realizing I wasn’t going to be able to make it over the ridge, I turned and ran back to other side of the valley. I connected with a ridge and tried to make the ridge lift work, but couldn’t make it happen and landed at the base of the hill.

I sent a message to our group to arrange a retrieve and started hiking out to the road. I had a lovely walk through a cow pasture, crossed a shallow river, and make a wide circle around a Bee yard.

Luigi picked me up, and then we drove further into the backcountry. As it turns out, Nick had flown over me on the ridge and crossed the outlet of the reservoir! Once we found him in the valley on the other side, we all drove back to camp.

Muuo left that evening, and the weather the next day wasn’t looking nearly as good. I nearly left as well. The 18th was forecasted to be southwest with 5000’ TOL. I went on a run to think about it, and eventually decided to stay.

Day 2

The next day had a similar start, with fewer folks on launch as a result of the forecast. Once again, I noticed signed of development right off the bat, and jumped off the hill immediately. I took a gamble on a developing cloud in front of launch, and was rewarded with a great climb to cloud base. I followed a string of clouds out front to Delilah, and waited for other folks.

This time, I left Delilah with Sasha (on a Peak 6) and a Blue Maestro I didn’t recognize. On glide I learned the pilot was named Scott. We went for Bald again, and Scott and I spent a while scratching before finding a climb and following Sasha down the same ridge I had flown the day before. I milked a few climbs along the way, and Sasha found a climb early and punched out to the valley. Knowing from the previous day that I likely couldn’t follow, I stuck to the back ridge and searched for climbs.

I made the same jump to the other side of the valley I had the day before, and worked my way down the next ridge. I knew that altitude was critical here, so I worked every climb that I could. At one point, I topped out a drifty thermal, pushed upwind and found the next bubble at the trigger, topped that out and pushed upwind to find a third climb at the same trigger. With the altitude I had, I crossed the outlet of the reservoir.

On the ridge to the west of the reservoir, I caught a long, drifting climb up and almost over the reservoir. From there I committed to making the crossing to the hills on the north side. I must have drifted with the bubbles, as my downwind line to the next ridge was very buoyant.

I had lost sight of Scott, but as I arrived at the next ridge I spotted him below. He didn’t seem to be having much luck. Shortly after, he radioed “I’m going to land”, and I saw his wind headed over towards a good looking LZ by the reservoir.

I found a climb on top of the ridge, and planed out my next move. I had lots of altitude, but I needed to cross over Watt’s Valley to get to Tollhouse. One option was to follow the ridge to the West-North-West, staying on the high ground, and look for a better climb before making the jump. The other option, which I chose, was to punt off the top of the climb and head downwind, hoping to connect with something in the valley or the ridge on the other side.

Around half way into the valley, I hadn’t connected with anything, and was in miserable sink. As I pushed bar through the crud, I realized the ridge on the far side of the valley had power lines crossing it, and I wouldn’t be able to come in low. I decided to bail on my crossing attempt and focus my altitude on finding a climb.

I made a left hand 90 degree turn to a large knob in the valley, sure that it would be kicking off something. I passed over it and turned upwind, finding nothing. I pushed forward to a lower break in terrain, hoping for something there. Nothing. I was low enough now that I was starting to look for landing fields. There was a closer one just below me and one upwind a ways on the far side of some trees and another drop in terrain.

I had almost decided to land in the closer field when I saw a bird out over the second landing field. As a last ditch effort, I chose to fly upwind and downhill to the second field. I was ~100ft over the ground, still in sink, and I was starting to set up a landing approach when I connected with a thermal.

“Lightly, gently, lightly, gently” I told myself as I very smoothly began to circle. To my delight, the climb had meat to it. It took me up and out of the valley, and I topped it out with plenty of margin to make it over the ridge on the far side of the valley. I punted downwind, and found myself in a lifty line all the way back to Tollhouse launch. I was psyched.

I didn’t find anything over launch, so I headed over to Squaw, where I found my favorite thermal out in front of the knob. I topped it out, and went down the ridge a little ways before turning around and heading back to land in the LZ.

Nick was a saint, and had gathered our things and drove my car from Dunlap over to Tollhouse to pick me up. In the air, I had predicted a long night of retrieve logistics, but we were able to start driving back to SF immediately.

Before heading out, I wanted to check in on Scott and Sasha. I saw quickly that Sasha had been picked up, but there were no signs of Scott. I knew that he had likely landed in an area without cell service, and we didn’t have any InReach info for him. After a nerve-wracking 30 mins, I eventually was able to get a hold of Spencer at the campground, who had talked with his wife. He had landed safely, and they were going to get him.