I’m not an expert on this but I have flown the north-south route through the Owens valley a fair amount in high winds and low, at night and during the daytime. It can get hairy, but it can also be benign. I don’t think I’ve ever crossed the Sierra in the vicinity of Mammoth or Whitney - just too high for the low powered, non-turbo’ed planes I have flown there.

Here are my thoughts: I would think really hard before ever crossing the crest between Mammoth and the 14’ers south of Whitney (or near Yosemite). For example, I always wanted to see Red Slate up close - it’s my dream ski line - but I never went there. That’s big consequence terrain and super high altitudes. The only place I’d really consider crossing is right past the ski mountain because it’s the lowest pass between basically Tehachapi and Bridgeport and is a simple drainage all the way to Fresno on the other side. This is also why Mammoth gets so much snow and wind - it’s a funnel - so consider that, too.

I have definitely found that it is possible to stay way down low in the Owens valley and have glass clear air while there are 75 knot winds and severe turbulence near the peaks. On a high winds aloft day, you want to see winds calm on the ground at Bishop and anywhere else that reports along the route. There’s so much relief there - over 10,000’ - that when the atmosphere is stable, you can get the winds ripping over the top and producing huge turbulence near the peaks, but that turbulence doesn’t really mix down to the valley floor (NECESSARILY - it might). If you’re going to try this, I’d recommend about 2,500 feet or less above the valley floor on the Whites/Inyo side. On those days, don’t get tempted to climb up and do some sightseeing near the peaks cuz I promise it is, in fact, ripping up there. I got turned nearly upside down making this mistake taking a look at Mt. Tom when the winds were calm at Mammoth and Bishop - and I knew the winds were high at altitude but it was so clear and perfect down low that my dumb self just had to take a look - and it hits all at once: WHAM!

Anyway, do be careful. There are people with a lot more experience than me in that valley, but this is my experience.

Oh, one more thought - it will sometimes appear when you’re looking at a forecast that the wind is coming from the straight west and therefore will go up and over the peaks, but what really ends up happening (I think) is that it’s hitting the mountains at an angle, if you will, and instead of going up and over the top, it will wrap around the sides and then funnel through the Owens Valley north or south, and when it does that it really blows. You can usually suss this one out by reading the forecast discussion out of Las Vegas carefully - they’ll predict dust storms in the vicinity of Bishop and you don’t want to fly or be tied down outside when these happen. One time, I had just bought a plane and on the second day of owning it I flew it to Bishop to visit some friends and this happened. It was parked outside and I felt horrible watching my brand-new-to-me plane bouncing off the tie downs and seeing the blowing sand take the paint off the fuse. Oh well.

THIS^

Last time I flew from Inyokern to Bishop a few years ago at 9,500 and got the ever loving crap kicked out of me. Not a good place to learn the hard way.

Flown up to Mammoth from San Diego a few times. Owens Valley is a crap shoot. Typically eastern side of the valley is smoother. But the restricted areas make maneuvering difficult. Sometimes really bumpy between Mojave and Kern Valley because the wind comes through the passes and down over the ridges and you are stuck on the Lee side because of the restricted areas.

Great Topic Kinetic38

I’m in San Diego and have the same concerns . I’m low time 300 hours / 150 tailwheel and have hopes of flying to Bishop/ Mammoth soon .
I say soon , he’ll I don’t have the nads to fly to Tehachapi yet so you are way ahead of me
I’m planning on taking a mountain flying course to get better insight to what I should be doing
I’m already taking it slow. And sometimes I think I will never get north of LA but I’m building time , learning what I can and try to pick up info for specific missions ahead
I think your going about it correctly
We will both get there.

Someday

sierrasplitter wrote:Great Topic Kinetic38

I’m in San Diego and have the same concerns . I’m low time 300 hours / 150 tailwheel and have hopes of flying to Bishop/ Mammoth soon .
I say soon , he’ll I don’t have the nads to fly to Tehachapi yet so you are way ahead of me
I’m planning on taking a mountain flying course to get better insight to what I should be doing
I’m already taking it slow. And sometimes I think I will never get north of LA but I’m building time , learning what I can and try to pick up info for specific missions ahead
I think your going about it correctly
We will both get there.

Someday

I don’t want to push you into something that you’re not comfortable with, but on a good day (morning!) you can fly from Mojave to Lee Vining without a single bump - you just have to pick your battles and go on the right day.

This morning looks excellent, as a matter of fact. The forecast discussions are all talking about clear skies and light winds, wind is variable at 4 knots at Mammoth and Bishop and is expected to stay the same through the TAF period, and winds aloft at Mammoth are exceptional - 12 knots at 15,000 and 13 knots at 18,000. Prog chart show high pressure and the isobars near the Sierra are loose. I’d post screenshots of all this stuff but it’s a pain to do from an iPad - pretty simple to see it all if you’re using ForeFlight. When you see this kind of thing, I say go for it (for the record I’m referring to flying north/south through the Owens Valley, not referring to crossing the Sierra except maybe at the ski mountain). Understanding DA is still important - your plane will still be a pig taking off from Mammoth if you’re used to San Diego, but the flight itself should be fine.

What you don’t want to see is something like...

“West winds will increase aloft overnight and into Sunday morning along with the potential for low level wind shear and mountain wave turbulence. A strong cold front will move through Sunday with the strongest winds aloft with frontal passage,” which is the forecast for tonight/tomorrow.

Edit: I don’t mean this to sound preachy - just trying to give an example of what I would look for.

Winds gusted to 209 mph at Kirkwood yesterday...probably a no-go day in Owen's Valley?

Must have been great surfing on Tahoe.