Days of possible Good XC or better Tandem Conditions from La Malinche – 9 days
Days of possible Soarable Conditions from La Malinche, including the above XC days. – 31 days
Non-Soarable days from La Malinche – 0 days
(Once in a while I might mark a single day as both Soarable and Non-Soarable, like when part of the afternoon is soarable, and the other part is not.)
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Weather Graph click to enlarge
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Saturday, December 31st
Strong thermal conditions with blue skies and cumies but dominated by over-development to the north. Apparently both Peter and Florian had long flights.
I was hiking up to launch at 2 when I saw Florian flying over the back to Tenancingo. I saw conditions switch up in intensity and the looming dark clouds to the north and decided to not fly.
XC potential and also the time window were practically limited due to the heavy northerly activity, with Tenancingo falling right at the convergence of the two air masses.
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Friday, December 30th
It looked like an awesome flying day with thermal induced cumies and streets in blue skies, although it did OD a little and even a few rain drops late in the afternoon. It rained in the evening a little too.
There was also an unusually powerful geo magnetic solar storm event all day and I stayed more indoors in the afternoon, watching at times the real-time event on the internet, and saving my wing and body from the heightened UV and X radiation that sometimes penetrate more through the atmosphere when the magnitosphere is under stress.
http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/
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Thursday, December 29th
Florian and Peter launched around 11 am and had good flights, Peter says he flew to Malinalco and back to Tenancingo. Florian went for another flight later, don't know the details.
But skies were blue with nice cumies and looked like good XC and tandem conditions.
I got called for a tandem flight in the afternoon. We launched at 3:21, flew up and down the ridge lines for some 20 minutes, and then headed out to near the clients home in the valley. In route we got some strong lift near the margin of an overdeveloping cloud that was already raining a few kilometers away. I played with the lift for a few minutes but did not want to risk gust fronts from rain activity so we landed near the passengers home 3:54 for a 33 minute flight.
My GoPro failed to work, or better said, I failed to check it well enough on launch, so unfortunately I missed a good video for the client and this blog.
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Wednesday, December 28th
Florian flew in the early afternoon and reports strong thermals with small cumies. He flew 2 1/2 hours all over the region, and Peter flew later and also had an extended flight. It was also reported that some Mexico City pilots flew, possibly Marco, and had several hour flights.
Good XC and better tandem conditions it sounds like.
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Tuesday, December 27th
It was an odd day because high clouds generated from the cloud street over Ixtapan the earlier days was impinging on the Tenancingo region, but the air was surprisingly stable in the afternoon.
Toronto pilot Florian arrived and we flew around 3pm and both had sledders.
I'd be willing to bet that it was soarable several hours earlier though. Soarable.
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Monday, December 26th
Blue skies with no cumies in the Tenancingo region until late in the afternoon. Definitely soarable with probably strong thermal conditions. Once more Ixtapan had a great cloud street heading to Toluca and Valle de Bravo, most of the afternoon.
I flew late in the afternoon, like around 4:30. I did not quite attain the altitude necessary to arrive in the Tenancingo Valley restitution air, which was my goal.
I flew the ridge-lines for about 40 minutes and at least I landed in my favorite LZ by the Zumpahuacan Highway and was back in Tenancingo very quickly afterwards.
I heard that Peter flew around 2:30 and did very well, flying around in the Tenancingo Valley.
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Sunday, December 25th
Blue skies no cumies in the Tenancingo area. I flew in the afternoon around 2pm and there was very strong thermal activity, sending me quickly to over 2700 meters, to where I flew towards
Tenancingo, flew around the east side, and landed at the Insurgentes soccer field for a 40 minute flight.Over at Ixtapan for a second day there was an awesome cloud street extending all the way to Valle and Toluca. In the Tenancingo region there was moderate to strong soaring but no clouds or even any dust devils that I could notice.
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Saturday, December 24th
Blue skies, no cumies, soarable but probably not the best conditions. However over from Ixtapan northward towards Volcan Toluca, Toluca, and towards Valle de Bravo, there were impressive, if not too powerful cloud streets, so for Ixtapan de la Sal it looked like excellent XC conditions.
Peter flew LM before noon and reported that he was soaring the ridges but lost it when he left the ridgeline.
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Friday, December 23rd
Blue skies with no cumies. I did not fly. I did see once at midday the sign in a column of haze or dust from a thermal over Tenancingo. Also far away to the north there were cumies. Could have been a little more unstable than yesterday, but still, I'll call it soarable, but not the good conditions.
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Thursday, December 22nd
Blue skies with no cumies. Unfortunately it was a weak-ass stable day like the prior weeks. I did some ridge soaring around 5pm, hoping to catch restitution in Tenancingo, but landed by the Zumpa highway. Peter got a sled ride. Daniel Pedraza was on launch all day working on his retirement cabin and reports that it was very weak all day. Soarable, just barely.
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Wednesday, December 21st
Blue skies with just the right amount of small cumies and cloud streets at around 3000 meter base. Excellent XC and tandem conditions.
Peter and I hiked up to launch around 3pm. Peter hired well known local Philipe (the Filipino) for 30 pesos to carry his pack, and we also spoke with a number of locals about having a donkey for hire in the future to carry up equipment for other visitors. However Peter did comment when he got to the top how the hike felt a lot shorter than he thought, and would just assume carry his own equipment. I think all the twists in the road make the vehicle ascent seem longer than it really is. But then it is at over 2000 meters altitude and there is the question of getting acclimatized if arriving from lower altitudes.
Peter launched first at around 3:30 and I launched later at 3:45. Peter got high up pretty fast and I did too but it was rowdy air and when I got up to 2600 meters and it was getting even crazier I decided to bail for the Tenancingo Valley.
In doing the 6k crossing I was doing all I could to prevent the wing collapsing in heavy turbulence, and did not pause much to try to work the lift to gain altitude, so I arrived lower than I started.
I found out later Peter was following me, and he also experienced heavy turbulence and got 100% total collapse of his wing, the whole thing going into a tiny wad he said, and was pleased to find out that his brand new but somewhat over-sized Dudek wing automatically recovered flight with very minimal oscillations.
Anyhow the turbulence bothered me so I instinctively took the path where one finds maximum sink, landed at the Insurgentes soccer field at 3:59 for a 14 minute flight. Peter flew over the city to Cristo Rey and back and landed a few minutes after me.
Afterwards it looked like the classic late afternoon restitution "magic air" developed over the center of the Tenancingo Valley.
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Tuesday, December 20th
Blue skies with high well defined cumies and streets at approx 3300 meters altitude to mark the thermals.
I hiked up alone and launched at 2:28 and got yanked straight up into a spine tingling elevator ride in full-on La Malinche powerful thermals. In 3 minutes I was 407 meters over launch, and doing all I could to keep the wing inflated and not going into full frontal collapses. The thermals were so strong and sharp-edged I was scared $#¡tless and flew directly towards the middle of the Tenancingo Valley, hitting heavy lift, heavy sink, severe
turbulence, but more lift than sink.I flew against the wind east along the valley with the intent to land at Las Causerinas. I got lift and turbulence all the way, but just when I arrived hit heavy sink and landed, heart pounding, at 2:46 for an 18 minute
white knuckle flight :)The strong lapse-rate conditions have returned. Powerful XC and tandem conditions.
Perhaps just a little lacking still in cumie development IMO for a "gold star" day but it was was probably more enjoyably mellow, developed, and buoyant later in the afternoon. Peter flew later I think. Will add if I find out.
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Monday, December 19th
Blue skies with high well defined cumies to mark out the thermals. It looked like excellent XC and powerful tandem flying conditions.
Peter was taking Andy and Andrew to the airport, so they didn't get to fly today, and I had work to do.
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Sunday, December 18th
There were very small cumies in blue skies at midday. I sent my equipment up with the CDP pilots in Daniels truck at noon, and took my time in the market and hiked up to kill some time and buy some food. I knew that if the day would have half a chance that I would need to fly rather late in the afternoon.
At launch we did wait, but Andy finally launched around 1pm, struggled a while, and finally landed at the Cabañas. Peter launched, got real low after a while and landed by the cabañans.
And I, like a lemming following the expectations of spectators on launch, launched after Peter at about 2pm, struggled in the weak air to the left and to the right, and landed at don Pablo's emergency LZ after 10 or 15 minutes. I don't have a chance on my small wing in these conditions, but I did get some wickedly nasty collapses from thermals that were strong, but way too tiny and broken to circle in.... so I am still happier with stability, even in less than optimal conditions. I would have been in serious problems and close to the ground on a larger wing. Peter got some real wicked collapses too.
Then later of course the cumies develop better (but they still had an easterly drift which is not good for the LM), and I was thinking that I should have waited till 3pm.
I've got to remember to ignore the effects of the people on launch on my decisions, a mistake I think that all experienced pilots continue to make. Shouldn't fly La Malinche on SE days either.
I'll call it Soarable, but just barely.
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Thursday, Friday, Saturday, December 15th, 16th, 17th
Continued cool, cloudless, stable skies, except for Saturday when there was a little high cirrus, with stable skies. Andy got "rather high" over launch on Friday on his comp wing, but none of the 5 CDP pilots have been able to do any cross, not even to Tenancingo. Soarable, barely.
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Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, December 12th, 13th, 14th
Continuing relatively stable cool cloudless skies. Medium and longer flights for the CDP pilots on larger wings when they get up above the ridge lines into the stronger lift zones, and a few sled rides for me on a smaller wing when I drop immediately below the ridge line. Soarable.
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Sunday, December 11th
Conditions were gentle most of the day, only building to moderate strength around 3pm. Soarable for those who got well above the ridgelines, and a struggle for those below the ridgelines. Of the pilots on comp wings it seemed 2/3rds on comp wings got high and long flights, and 1/3rd hit weak cycles and got too low, landing in the emergency LZ's at the base of launch.
Here are some photos from Andy.
Bridge nearing Ixtapan, photo Andy
Tonali Estate, San Antonio, photo Andy
More pics by Andy
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2753037223564.2146664.1186650450&type=1&l=4bddbb57c9
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Saturday, December 10th
Conditions were not as strong as I hoped yesterday and there was no cloud formation even in the afternoon. Skies were clear blue and relatively stable. Soarable, with a little effort, and luck.
Not very many pilots showed up this Saturday compared to prior years, but top Mexican pilot Shaq of Mexico City, and Leonardo of Valle de Bravo were here, along with Peter, Andrew, and Andy of Casa del Piloto, and also Joel was here, and hope I'm not forgetting anyone else.
Leonardo launched first and got up to around 500 meters over launch, but he had to work for it. Shaq launched at some point, don't remember when. Later Andy (paraplegic) was launched by the uniformed Tenancingo fire department ;)
I launched with Perla of Tenancingo around 1:30pm, and we flew for some 10 minutes, but the thermals were just a little too light, and we had to put down in don Pablo's emergency LZ.
I made it back up to launch by 3pm and I flew with Favian of Tenancingo, but that turned out to be a short sled ride and we ended up landing next to Andrew at the Cabañas LZ.
I hiked out with Andrew and then with the help of a taxi driver and some GPS coordinates we tracked down where Andy had put down and had been waiting for several hours.
Here is a photo by Andy of the Ixtapan de la Sal water park and country club.
According to Andy, he had followed Shaq and Leonardo in crossing the San Jeronimo Valley towards the other ridge line and Ixtapan de la Sal further to the west.
Here is a photo by Andy of crossing the San Jeronimo Valley to Ixtapan.
But Shaq and Leonardo did not make the whole crossing and Andy did, arriving at Ixtapan, but then he crossed the valley back to Tenancingo landing in San Antonio.
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Friday, December 9th
Skies were clear blue but with just the tips of high altitude cumies forming around 11am, then disappearing and then reappearing around 3pm.
Daniel Pedraza drove us up to launch, Peter, Andrew, and Andy. We got to launch around noon, and Daniel also had a work crew of the local kids, and we did some prep work at launch for the event tomorrow, while we waited for some clouds to form. Finally by 1:30 the cumies I wanted still were not forming, but cycles were strong at times, and dead at others. I decided to sacrifice myself as wind dummy.
I hit no lift after launching, until getting real low by the far end of the western hook, just minutes from landing, where I caught a small diameter thermal, and worked it up to the main La Malinche thermal and up to 2920 meters, about 700 meters over launch.
I got decent rowdy thermals over the city of Tenancingo, but rowdy thermals over a city scare me so I bugged out of there and landed at the Insurgentes Soccer Field for a 26 minute flight.
I found out later that the 3 CDP pilots flew and got real high and flew to Tenancingo, and Shaq (top Mexico pilot) showed up in the afternoon almost flew to Chalma, but returned to the Tenancingo Valley, and over the city of Tenancingo he attained a maximum altitude of 3700 meters (over 1 1/2 kilometers above the valley floor).
Strong XC conditions, but with blue skies around midday, and nice high cumie marker clouds in the afternoon.
Tomorrow and Sunday for the La Malinche event it looks good, with a little more cloud activity than today.
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Thursday, December 8th
Skies were clear blue with nicely defined cumies and streets at midday, when it looked best. I hooked up with Daniel Pedraza and we both flew, a little late.
I launched at 2:54pm, the house thermals were a little weak, but still working. Best of all there were small high cumies to mark where the lift was.
I got my highest lift over the city of Tenancingo of 2829 meters, and landed at the Insurgentes Soccer Field at 3:37pm for a 41 minute flight.
Daniel P struggled in up and down conditions but lost it when he got a little low on the San Antonio side and landed over there.
Good XC and tandem conditions, although a little weak in the late afternoon.
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Wednesday, December 7th
Blue skies with small mid-level cumies and streets around midday.
Daniel Pedraza reports that Marco and some others flew from La Malinche to Malinalco this day. Good XC or better Tandem Conditions.
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Tuesday, December 6th
Slightly hazy skies, with cumies and cloud streets for the first time in several weeks!! I did not fly today and don't know if it was good XC conditions, but will call it soarable, and hopefully it shows a trend towards some good XC conditions now after several weeks of rather weak stable air with no cumies.
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Monday, December 5th
Clear skies with no clouds, but mild thermal conditions for soaring.
I flew a short tandem flight going to the right along the ridge-line, got a single moderate thermal up to moderate altitude, but the other nearby house thermals were not working, so we soon had to put down in don Pablo's field.
Of course to myself, as jaded as I am with my own site, and for sure for the passenger, any flight is a spectacular experience, so here I edited together parts from today and yesterday with the same passenger.
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Sunday, December 4th
Clear skies with no clouds, but moderate thermal conditions for soaring and tandem flying.
The CDP pilots were at Valle de Bravo. Daniel Pedraza drove myself and a passenger up for a tandem flight. We launched at 1:55pm into moderate thermals and soon got up to 600 meters over launch. Within easy reach of all the Tenancingo Valley. I chose to try flying to the south towards the antennas, (and a possible jump to Malinalco), but got low, and did not catch anything substantial in the way of lift on the return, so we had to put down in the Cabañas LZ at 2:25, for a 30 minute flight.
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Saturday, December 3rd
Clear skies with no clouds, but probable moderate to strong thermal conditions for soaring and tandem flying.
The CDP pilots were at Iguala
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Friday, December 2nd
Clear skies with no clouds, but probable moderate to strong thermal conditions for soaring and tandem flying.
The CDP pilots went to Ixtapan in the afternoon, but did not fly (Ixtapan is generally not a good afternoon site.)
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Thursday, December 1st
The CDP pilots went to Ixtapan de la Sal in the afternoon. I'll find out later how they did.
It looked like powerful XC soaring or tandem conditions, with a cold night, warm day and clear blue skies, but just lacked any cloud formations to mark thermals and moderate conditions.
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