Plans and Decisions

Popping out of the clouds trying to not get sucked in over Tiger I decided to head out on glide, 5500ft or so and clouds ahead of me to the East. Classic. Another pilot, Matty, in the vicinity cool, looking at some options. I decide to head in over the terrain on a nice glide line to some clouds out over towards the first Rattlesnake. Getting there bobbling around trying to find a nice core, good enough and glide straight to the next Rattlesnake on a death glide to the low angled ridge without hardy any landing options. I glide in just barely over the top and work the ridge with plentiful lift, back to base. Following a cloud street and some nice lift lines deep past Rattlesnake over the real Rattlesnake summit I go in further South to follow the line. Topping up there I went on a long best glide towards Mt Washington. Matty in tow, I arrived at the lower ridges of Mt Washington and proceeded to climb up the face in ridge and thermic lift. Sweet! Ridge soaring up towards the summit a leeside climb was going up nicely and drifting to the South. Matty and I diverged there. This is where the decision making process either pays off or it doesnt. I decided at the time that it is a safer option to stay on the windward side and stay out front since drifting over the back of Mt Washington in the lee is not a necessarily safe route. Anyway, I decided to stay out front and work the windward faces of the mountains along to the east. Not really having a plan at this point just excited to be here over the mountains finally from Tiger. Gliding and drifting into a ridge climbing out and then gliding across the cirque basins to the next ridge was like flying in the Alps where you fly ridge to ridge. My favorite kind of alpine flying. But now, going off to lala land back here, well I kinda messed up. This route was supposed to be safe or at least I thought it might. I didnt give the venturi effect much credit until now where I was. Gliding fast with a tailwind and working lift I crossed Banderra airstrip and kept going along the ridges and hot sunny rock faces. Fun. The wind was getting stronger now, in, the deeper I went up the pass. Looking at no landing options past exit 47, just before you round the corner of the top of the Pass I have to turn back in to wind to land. Thinking I might be able to glide in to the gravel pit below Granite Peak, i point it there and start going backwards. The lower I got the rougher it was with thermic lift and semis coming from I-90. Just hoping the glider stays open. Lower down I am getting pummeled and get pushed backwards in towards trees with no forward ground speed. I finally put it down safely in between a light post and a wall of trees behind me right next to I-90 and the Granite side road with no mishap. Lucky. Anyway, a great flight, a bad decision on the last leg put me down but I learned that my decision at Mt Washington to fly the safe route actually turned into the worst and most dangerous decision rather than drifting in to the lee and back to cloudbase as Matty did. Lesson learned. A good decision Matty took and a plan he followed. Good job. Every flight is a lesson learned. I know I spend a lot of time admiring the scenery after working for it, but that is what I love about flying until you get lazy or lax or whatever and it gets you in to trouble. All in all an awesome flight.
Peace. SM