Hi All, I am forwarding this email from Michael Stockhill, a fellow Dimona operator in Montana for your interest. Certainly worth checking the area out on Google Earth
check of Google maps would show you Polson, Montana as being at the south end of a 30 mile long lake, with the lovely Mission Mountains to the east. (We are a couple hour drive from Glacier National Park, which will be glacier-free by the end of the century.) I've always thought that mountain range would provide great soaring, but the Dimona's sink rate is just a bit too high. If our winds are strong enough for ridge soaring, the crosswinds are too strong for operations at our airport. We're at about 3000 feet MSL. I typically shut down the engine climbing through 6000 feet when in good lift from my house thermal. I need to get to 8000 feet in order to make it to the next good thermal. Most thermals here seem to average six to eight knots (pretty strong, considering the Dimona's sink rate), but they sure seem far apart. And many days the beautiful, puffy CU have no thermals--What generated them? Sometimes I think they just drift in from the west. DOG folks would always be welcome for a ride. Regards Laurie Hoffman
