XC Scoutin!

Always look hardcore. Even when you know your not.

Eric H was kind enough to take a few of us on a little XC scouting trip last weekend. We checked out the first crucial bailout options for XC South from Mission/Ed Levin, and XC West from the same.

South requires some good top landing skills for the first 15 miles or so. The rolling hills we must land on are hard to judge from the air, so it was great to drive the route and find good LZs with easy road access. After about 10-15 miles the houses stop coming right up to the hill so the landing options open up wide.

West takes you over the back towards Livermore, Tracy and beyond. It looks like we will need to stay pretty far out on the foothills as the landing option in deep near the mountains are sparse to none. It would be a kick to thermal up at the Altamont pass and fly downwind over the sea of windmills.

This is the season for XC from these local sites. It doesn't happen a lot, but I'm eager to try.