Looking back across the desert over the fog deck that morning. To add insult to injury, I had a pretty good headwind so the already interminable time spent over it stretched out even longer. My place is about 65 miles away, in the clear.
Monitering the Hailey tower freq, I heard the controller comment to the landing jet "nice contrail", and as the runway came into view I could see why, the fog had persisted up the valley (so no stop at Picabo this time) right up to the runway numbers on the south end!You would think with what they charge for a lift ticket, Sun Valley could do a better grooming job
Good thing they have the world's most extensive snowmaking setup, the surrounding mountains were pretty bare.
The summit crossing at Galena was the most interesting I've ever had, as the up high wind persisted, and as I was landing Smiley Creek I always cross at a min. altitude, I nibbled at it until I figured out the best angle to cross, getting some lift instead of sink. Immediately on crossing the air smoothed out and seemed to be dead calm. After a great breakfast the short flight to Stanley and the impending excitement of the curling match, was almost too much to bear, after the obligatory overflight of Redfish Lake finally the reason for my flight that day came into view.
It was all I could do, in my excitement to get to the scene of the action, to not land in a closer nearby field, but the snowed in airstrip as is usual.
Once landed, I quickly realized that I was not up to it, getting any closer to the event seen in the background, I was almost giddy as it was just watching from a distance. I was afraid of making a fool of myself, acting like a little kid in front of these curling superstars, I decided it would be better to leave before that happened, and I could always watch the match highlights later at home when they release the video..
After that the rest of the flight home was anticlimactic. Getting flushed down the canyon road toward Clayton (high up the wind was back, still there, and short of climbing up real high above all the peaks I kept it low where the breeze was minor), and pretty much following the canyon up to Challis, then a southbound turn now in the openness of the Big Lost River Valley. Then a few hill side landings at 7 to 8 K, below some 12 K peaks, all pretty boring after the Big Game in Stanley, even the Super Bowl will be pretty tame after that
Pitching horseshoes comes to mind as the other beer sport!
