Ben Loman Peak September 1

Mike Gretta and I flew Ben Loman Peak (or Willard Peak, not sure which it is) north of Ogden this afternoon. This is a shot looking down the south facing launch. I call the large rock point that is slightly to the left of center "The Intimidator." Standing on launch, it looks a lot closer than the 1/2 mile away it is.


Above is Mike Gretta ready to launch, and after launching. You can get a better idea from the "after launch" shot of why I call the point out front "The Intimidator" The three below photos are me before launching, and 2 more after I am out, but still between launch and "The Intimidator". These really give a perspective of how far out the big rock point is from launch.

These 3 photos are in the order they were taken from left to right, and down. On the lower shot, I am still between launch and "The Intimidator." It REALLY is a long way out to the big rock point.

The LZ I chose was an elongated bowl between two sets of powerlines. The bowl was about a quarter mile wide from east to west, and about a half mile long from north to south. I didn't take any photos of the LZ. (I need an emoticon here, and haven't figured out how to put them in yet!) The bowl was about twenty feet higher on the north end than the lowest point, and about fifty feet higher on the south end than the lowest point. The lowest point, where Mike and I actually landed was at about the two-thirds distance point from the north end, with the last third of the LZ to the south of us. This was my "first" time to pick an LZ from the air that I knew wasn't flat, and only my second time to pick an LZ from the air, which I had not checked out on foot before the flight. I chose the LZ for relatively easy access for retrieve, and because I was sure I could end up heading uphill at the moment of touchdown. There were also some leafy trees over the very north end that I could fly over to check wind direction by looking at the leaf movements, and still be high enough to land to the north or across the LZ if the surface wind was not still out of the south. My skydiving background helped with this, and my ballooning background helped with a "guestimation" of wind speed. I was pleased with my LZ choice. You pilots who have lots of XC time may not remember what it was like on your first few flights when you had not actually picked out your LZ before launching. This LZ was not visible from launch, as "The Intimidator" and the ridge it was in kept us from seeing this LZ from launch. Next I have some photos I took after we landed, but none of the actual LZ itself. This gives a whole new meaning to "going in the bushes!" The LZ was behind "Willard Bay Nursery"

This photo shows my harness, helmet and "packing tool" in the shade behind one of the shade bushes in the area. I have a close friend who gives me a hard time about my not caring for lots and lots of trees. He likes lots of trees for the shade available from them, and I tell him you don't need so many trees to be able to find shade. This shot is for him. I'm not sure if you can recognize the packing tool is a bottle of NewCastle.

As you can tell, I'm still learning how to place my photos in the blog, so some are not as nicely placed as OB1 or Jamie Shelden do theirs, but at least I do have some photos. It was a good day. This flying site, could be a H2 site, except for "The Intimidator", the power lines on both sides of the LZ, and the fact you can't see the LZ from Launch. The day we flew it, I don't think it was a "Big Air" day, but the site definitely has the potential to be a good XC site, and a good "Local Big Air" site, with lots of available altitude. The drive up is longer (and definitely requires 4X4 with good ground clearnance) than the drive up Francis Peak (which is driveable with almost any two wheel drive), but there are not the altitude restrictions here that Francis has. Mike and I have discussed the day, and both came to the conclusion it was a good exploratory day, learning some of the areas to be able to get good lift, and some of the areas to avoid, unless you are wanting some sink. I'm not sure exactly how much vertical launch is above the LZ, as I didn't check altitude before starting up the hill, and didn't zero my memo altitudes before launching. I think it was around 4500 feet vertical from launch to the LZ. Also, Linda Watkins (my wife for those of you who don't know her) took the photos shown on this post.