Flew at Truckee for 3.9 hours. The smoke wasn't as bad as 2 weeks ago when I dropped my glider here. The visibility was around 10 miles.
Caught the first thermal over the construction area north of runway 19, but it topped off around 11,000 ft. Headed to Mt Rose, and caught slightly higher thermal which brought me up to 13,500 ft. But then the lift became unreliable, and I kept going up and down between 12,500 ft and 13,500 ft for a while. Then I decided to go south along the ridge on the west side of Lake Tahoe. Shortly later, after I passed Brockway, I contacted a weak wave (1-2 kts) at 11,500 ft, and backed up to 13,000 ft. I kept going south, and contacted another weak wave over Tahoe City at 12,000 ft, which backed me up to 13,000 ft again. I kept going south again, and hit a stronger wave (2-3 kts) around 8 miles south of Tahoe City over the Lake water surface. I stayed there for 35 minutes, and climbed to 17,000 ft. The wind was 25-29 kts throughout the flight. I again headed south, and flew 4 miles or so without losing or even slightly gaining the altitude. Then the air started to sink, and kept sinking until I turned north over the city of South Lake Tahoe. By that point, I had heard other pilots' reports of Minden wave on the east side of the ridge on the east side of Lake, but decided to just fly straight north over the lake to Brockway because it was already 6pm. I enjoyed a great view while flying over the lake. Arrived at Brockway at 13,000 ft, and hit the same first wave I used today. Climbed there a bit, flew over Tahoe Donner XC ski area, and landed at 6:50pm.
After I landed, I found that Truckee's annual BASH BBQ party had started. I had a fun chat with Tony, who was also an LS8 owner, and his wife Nancy. Thanks Silverado Soaring for hosting a great event!
More pictures can be found here.
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