Opening Day at Skinner State Park

I flew Mt. Holyoke in Skinner State Park South Hadley, Massachusetts, for the first time last year.  It is a great little ridge that can handle a WNW to NNW direction.  This flying site spent years not being flown, and last year a group of pilots got together and cleared the launch so we could fly there again.  After years of limited use, trees start to grow in and the launch becomes blocked.

Many pilots stopped flying there because the same wind direction is found at Mt. Ascutney in Vermont.  Mt. Ascutney promises X-C flights that are complicated at Mt. Holyoke by Westover AFB' over the back - illegal airspace for us.  It is not impossible to go X-C from there, but, it would be quite a challenge.

One of the reasons I like this site (aside from the 2 hour drive versus 3 to 4 for most of our other sites in New England), is that high winds at 3000ft., mean Ascutney is blown out.  Mt. Holyoke range is only 900' MSL, so if surface winds are low, and 3000ft. is too high, you can get an in between there, and launch and fly when Ascutney is off limits. 

I had a work commitment on this particular day so I did not arrive until 2:30pm, shortly behind John B, who also had other commitments.  I was chomping at the bit to get there, but not as bad as usual as the weather forecast called for conditions to be unsoarable before 2pm anyway.  This day, the forecast was actually accurate, and Jeff C., who launched before 2pm, sunk out.

As if on schedule, we arrived on launch to find the winds picking up and conditions getting better and better.  John and I set up our gliders and ran through the pre-flights.  Doug B. was ready to go but waiting a bit.  Four para-glider pilots sat on launch in dismay, as the winds were too strong for them.  Rodger was put off by the crossing winds on launch, as well as it being a new site for him, so he decided to hike his glider out and not fly.

John and I finished our setup, in the meantime Doug B. prepared for launch.  The park gate closed at 4pm so the everyone else bugged out to get down to the base in time.  The para-glider pilots had hiked up so they were available to assist us on launch.  John and I joined Davidson and the other para-glider pilots, and we wire crewed Doug off the launch.  Doug climbed out and John and I made final preparations.

Davidson and crew assisted me to launch, and crewed me off (THANKS!).  The wind was blowing straight in on launch at this point and it was 2 steps, and into the air.  I turned right off launch and climbed immediately out.  I soared the ridge gaining more and more altitude and John came up to join Doug and I for all the fun.

We soared for hours all over the valley.  Mt. Holyoke has a unique attribute that I've yet to see at our other flying sites - lift lines.  You can leave the ridge in multiple places, and travel out into the valley, climbing the entire time.  I only have 3 or 4 flights off Holyoke, but each time these have been consistent in location, but varied in length/strength.  Two times I learned of these by watching a Bald Eagle use them.  Last year I followed him out from the ridge, all the way to the river climbing hundreds of feet in the process. 

Even though we launched pretty late in the day, the thermals were everywhere and good climbs could be relied upon.  I maxed out at 4200' MSL.  Once I reached that altitude I headed out across the river and halfway across the giant farms before turning and heading back.  Although I was not losing a ton of altitude, there were no thermals to be found and I wanted to maintain as much altitude as possible.

I continued into the evening getting a ton of thermaling practice.  Once the evening rolled in, lift decreased and I played in front of launch and the hotel on top of the mountain, doing a few wangs, and high speed passes.  Unfortunately, things were pretty turbulent down low, and the wind changed direction to a more northerly flow.  I lost altitude on a pass in front of launch and made the call to go in and land rather than scratch in the turbulence.

John followed shortly after, Doug had been on the ground for 45 to 60 minutes.  As I was breaking down Davidson tried to launch his para-glider and after almost being pushed backwards off launch, was able to escape the hill and come in to land.  John decided to assist the farmers with some plowing before we called it a night.  Great day finished off with a nice dinner on the way home.

Flight Time: 2 hrs 25 min