It's 10pm here in the resort and no one's around. Maybe they're all tired from the day - I am. The after effects of hypoxia?

A 90 mile task was called. Downwind, crosswind, headwind back to the resort. First start time was 2:15, and I launched third after Bill Soderquist. We eventually found a nice climb and took it up. Bill thermals like a frenchman, and I smiled at his antics. Banked up and pushed out inside of me twice while looking the other way. I'm sure he didn't see me :)

As the first start time approached, Davis was keen, so I thought why not. He mentioned that the scoring system would reward leading out, but we wouldn't have anyone to pimp off of. A lot of pilots were still on the ground or climbing up.

A couple kilometers past the start circle Davis and I got under a cloud and took it to 15,500ft. We continued down the ridge not finding anything good for a very long time. We stalled here and there in shitty lift, burbling down the range. Soon Davis and I would loose contact with each other and I'd have just enough altitude to head behind Black Cap over the ski resort and on to the next windward facing ridge.

Thankfully the ridge was working and I took my time in elusive lift getting back over 15,000ft. I saw no one behind, and I was nearing the crosswind leg, so I wanted to take my time and tank up on altitude.

After tagging the turnpoint, I headed NW to some nice looking clouds over a small desert ridge. The clouds were working well, and I moved quickly toward the second turnpoint. As I neared the turnpoint, I went upwind to a dark cloud street with virga beyond. It was hard to tell how far away the turnpoint and the virga was.

Under the darkest cloud, I hooked into 1000fpm, and took it up to 15,000ft. I didn't want to get sucked into the clouds as there were two more cu's ahead of me, so I pulled out at 15k. I was promptly hit with a wire slap that threatened to rip the bar out of my hand, then flew straight through 1700fpm on the averager. It finally "mellowed" out to 1000fpm. I was instantly over 16,000ft. I kept flying as fast as I could to stay out of the clouds, and was relieved to find 700fpm sink. Got to the turnpoint just before the virga and turned around to fly back through what I'd just survived.

Now I don't carry my testicles in a wheelbarrow, so I'll happily admit that I was rattled by the lift I'd just flown through. I was looking at 12 to 1 to goal from 30 miles out, I perceived some approaching virga on courseline, and I had two or three embedded cu's beneath the high cirrus layer that were on the way to goal. I decided to take my altitude and not mess with the cloud I'd just wrestled with. I should have.

The correct move would have been to tank up and get to cloud base near 17,000ft. because the shade would move in quickly and supress all the lift. I left at 15,500ft. I had a 27 mile final glide into a light headwind and landed 2.5 miles before goal. I had hoped the shade would prevent others from making it through, but 15 minutes after I landed, I saw two pilots on the horizon with enough altitude for goal. It was Zippy and Soderquist.

I packed up and as penance, walked to goal to fetch my truck. Zippy took the last start time, and probably would have won the day even if I'd made it in. I didn't have 30 minutes on him and I don't know about leading points. They had cook your own burgers back at the resort, I had a dip in the mineral hot pool, and all is well.

Airtime: 3:30. Flights: 1. Miles: 87. Max. Altitude: 16,300ft.