Jumping the Gap

During previous flights at Woostock I had made about three or four attempts at jumping the Edinburg Gap but had never made it all the way across to Short Mountain. On February 21, hoping to get another run at the gap, I arrived at Woodstock with brother Jim and found four or five gliders already set up. Initially, it looked like a typical Woodstock sucker situation (winds of 15-20 forecasted; stiff winds on 66, but dead at Woodstock launch). However, when Bacil launched in light lift he maintained for a while then climbed to about 1,000 over. By then there were lots of pilots arriving, precipitating a rising premium on any set up space, and the wind picked up nicely.

I got Jim off, launched, and climbed to about 1,000 over in a fairly strong west cross. After going north a few hundred meters, I decided not to go to North Point, near Strasburg and lose time fighting the west cross on the way back. After turning south it took about 20 minutes to get to Edinburg Gap, where I saw someone make an attempt to cross but come back. I made a run from 1,500 over, and started for the field out front when about 3/4 way across and low, however, zero sink prompted me to turn around and find light lift all the way back to the ridge.

Patiently working up to 1,800 over I tried again, this time making it across, and although arriving low on Short Mountain found good lift once there. After that I was between 1,000 and 2,000 over and made reasonable progress with full VG against the building west cross. At the end of Short Mountain, I was struck by the expanse of trees stretching well out into the valley, and noted the distance to landing fields would increase as I jumped east to work south along the smaller Kerns Mountain. The thought occurred that this not a routine ridge run; avoiding the trees in a flush cycle would require a lot of altitude.

At New Market Gap I stayed out front to partly avoid the strong venturi and turbulence; got low, but once across again found ample lift. Eventually I saw the ski runs on Massanutten Peak, and hung around in the strong lift over the peak, looking at the skiers about 1,500 ft below. I looked, unsuccessfully, for a town or village to land near. Despite an altitude of 2,000 ft. over the valley floor and excellent visibility, there was nothing but the bucolic rolling hills, large fields, and an occasional farmhouse of the Shenandoah (where are all the strip malls, neon lights, and egalopolises when you need them)? I glided about 2.5 miles south east and landed near junction 33 and 649.

With the promise of a ride by radio, Mark Fink landed beside me about 30 minutes later (Jim had called me on the cellular phone and knew where I was) followed by Larry Ball who had also jumped the gap for the first time. John McAllister was last to join us.

Jim, Mark Gardner, and Greg Tartisel (former CHGA member now living in Alaska) arrived with vehicles to share a beer and tall tales. Jim got two hours, five minutes, his longest flight. The wind had evidently picked up and made it difficult to cross the gaps, and some pilots had to land at Edinburg and New Market (Mark F. had barely made it across).

The dearth of landing areas between Edinburg Gap and Massanutten Mountain is fairly intimidating, and I would not attempt this run unless I was stinking high or on a relatively-constant strong-wind day.

Three hours, twenty seven minutes, 2,400 over, and forty miles. What a great day to be involved in this magnificent obsession!

John Dullahan