-Chris Erikson

BACKGROUND: Hi all I found another fairly decent slope site in eastern WA over the weekend. It's just east of Cle Elum, so it's in the Table Mountain region, yet is at about 1500' elevation so it's a heck of a lot warmer. Left town in the rain at 1:00PM yesterday, and was unpacking planes in the sun at 2:30, (I love rainshadows!) and it was WINDY! . I didn't have the heart to feed my Dragonette to the wind gods, even for one try. I could tell it would be like trying to fly a paper plate in a hurricane. So I dragged out the Silent Squadron ME163A. I couldn't even keep my ME163A in front of the hill, and when I could it was so choppy the small span was getting spun, pushed and hammered every which way. Believe it or not, the only thing I could keep in the air was my rud/elev TG3 with an 8" crescent wrench taped to the bottom With the wind being so strong and gusty, it was a pretty thrilling day of flying, when the gusts made it hard to even stand up straight, all I could do was hold the TG in a 30-40 degree dive and hope it would at least stay put and not lose ground, and it managed to stay put. When the gusts quit and it got to being just plain high wind conditions, it was a constant game of hold the nose down and let the plane rip at top speed or else get slammed all over in huge jumps and jerks. At one point the plane would get slapped sideways 10', then up 20', then a wing would get slammed from underneath and roll the plane into a knife edge attitude, all in about 3 seconds. Talk about having your hands full at the sticks! Once when the gusts were at a peak and I was just trying to keep the plane out in front, a powerful pocket of turbulence hit the plane and the entire 72" wing visibly flexed in 3 directions at once, it made the wing look like a "W" from behind, my buddy fell over laughing. In one spot the lift was so savage that every time I parked the plane there, I'd just start laughing as the plane shot straight up as far as I dared let it. My friend timed me on one trip up and the plane went from roughly level to us to about the height of an average hi-start launch in about 8 seconds. That's pretty good lift considering an overtaped, overglued TG3 with a wrench on the bottom!

SLOPE TERRAIN: 30% bowling ball sized basalt rocks half buried in sandy soil, extensive flower and tall grass covering. 100' back from the lip, it changes to almost all grass.

FLYING LOWER TABLE: Judging from it's location in the Yakima drainage upwind of notoriously windy Ellensburg, I'd guess that it's probably windy a lot here, probably always a west wind, which is good because you fly from the W end of a plateau and there will be zero lift with anything but a west wind! Lift: Due to a lack of really big exposure, it seems like about 50/50 sideways vs up. I'd bring a plane with good penetration. The small draw to the N provides an entertaining area of confined lift to fly across the basin and back. Landing area: View: Very nice, above a big bend in the Yakima river, lots of rolling green farm hills below (See above).

WEATHER: West Slopes Central Cascades weather, Moses Lake station, Pasco station.

GETTING THERE: Take I-90 E from Seattle to the last Cle Elum exit. Turn R (East) on Hwy 903 after exiting. You should now be on the N side of I-90 heading east. In about 2 miles turn right onto the old Cle Elum - Ellensburg Highway, Hwy 10. Follow for about 10 miles as it follows the Yakima River valley.( Don't even bother slope lusting about that huge, grassy mountain you drive past on the left, it's called Lookout mountain and it's all private land. I tried every road up already.) Keep your eyes peeled for a left onto a dirt road called Thorp Road. Turn left on Thorp road. After 1/4 mile you'll come around a bend and be within 50' of the top of a wonderful, west facing flower covered bench overlooking the Yakima River, this is it. You'll know it when you see it. If you cross the canal you've gone too far, this site is just a lower step on a much bigger but gentler hill, so you're not on the tippy top when flying this one. Time:  Wind:. Tons of flowers in May.

Approximate driving times: 1 1/2 to 2 hrs from Seattle. Depending on your right foot and your slope lust.

Information contributed by SASS's intrepid Eastern Washington slope explorer: Chris Erikson. 

Page designed for the SASS by RED, enthusiast and club member.

Back to Seattle Area Soaring Sites

Back to SASS Home Page

Last Updated 05/31/02, by RED