High Snowy Day
updated: Dec 08, 2009, 4:51 PM

by John Wiley

With the air so cool, clear and calm just before noon it seemed likely there would be some great flying scenery so I went for it. I wish everyone could have come along, because it was absolutely stunning. I hadn't noticed any Edhat mention of snow, but soon after takeoff everything beyond Santa Ynez Valley seemed to be dusted with white. By now maybe someone in Ojai or Santa Ynez has sent in some pix?

The slight haze made me regret leaving the polarizing filter home, because the views from harbor to mountains were the stuff of postcards. We took a couple of hundred photos, and I've put a few different and larger ones on my Photo Page. This next one though gives a little better idea of how glorious the snowy Sierras were.

It was fun to see a dozen or so hang gliders and paragliders enjoying the gentle ridge lift, though this long telephoto shot doesn't give much sense of what fun they were probably having soaring the snowy hills.

There's a small pond way up behind Summerland next to the road, where we could make out ice on the edges. I like how the rock ledges are accented with lines of snow.

We didn't fly much above 5,000 feet, but found ourselves gasping frequently - from the views! I hope these few pix convey some sense of the magnificence out there today. I'm excited to get online now to check Edhat for other people's pix after I send this.

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