One of my old hang gliding buddies sent me this. I had to laugh as I fly the area all the time, in fact maybe tomorrow AM on the way to my ranch solar water pumping job, but I NEVER see it from this altitude! 16K is low for these guys these days, and yes they fly with oxygen. In fact, in some of the vid I can see my ranch job, or at least the area it lies in, some 30 miles away.

This is now a world famous site, and it makes me proud my old flying partners were the one to pioneer it. Lost River Range has Mt. Borah, Leatherman, and many other iconic peaks in the 12 and 13 K range. The area has often been used as a comparision to the terrain in Afghanistan, extremely rugged, dry, but the natives are lots friendlier!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSdRVHEvjGY

That's pretty cool but the heck with O2 I want to know do they have a transponder?

That's the last thing I want to see out my front window in cruise flight. I don't think ATC can see them either correct?

not sure i'd be up there on a convective day like that.....

I believe these guys have a clearance for above 18K flight without a transponder. I have been told that anyway, don't flame me if that is not true or possible!

I know for a fact they reach flight levels in the area above 18K pretty routinely. All of the seasoned hang glider pilots nowadays are cognizant of the FAR's, for what that is worth. Most are middle aged professionals, one of the "baddest" in our area is a emergency room physican, another a long time nuclear engineer. I gotta think they are doing it right....?

That is an awesome vid!

Ever heard of light soaring term called "cloudsuck?"

Zed, oh YEAH! I've experienced cloud suck. Under the dome, full dive brakes once, another time had to do a spin to stay out of cloud. ROC was double pegged.

I'm hoping Mark Grubb will post some solid information, he's got LOTS of expererince with this stuff Or Bumper

Thanks. cubscout

Not sure exactly where to put this link (because I'm too damn lazy to find the proper thread!!.... on me) This thread is the latest on soaring. So I'm putting it here.

A friend of mine sent this to me:

http://gizmodo.com/5608478/sailplane-launches-itself-with-retractable-jet