Pemberton July 23

After yesterday's epicness both Alex and I were feeling a bit tired, and given that today's forecast was calling for possible thunderstorms in the evening we didn't feel like doing a huge flight.

Building cu's on Owl Ridge after most people had landed.

The winds were light again, but with a bit of south rather than north, and by mid-morning the cu's were already forming and getting a bit tall.  So it was time to launch early, fly, and land early before it got too good!  Once in the air it was definitely industrial-feeling with lots of abundant lift, but sharp and rough thermals on Owl Ridge, and it was feeling a bit on the edge since it was *so* easy to get high, and with the building cu's it would be easy to get sucked into one.

I wasn't impressed with the conditions at Owl Ridge so I crossed over to Miller Ridge with Alex, since usually that side of the valley feels "nicer" than Owl.  But not today...it was just as rough and industrial over there as at Owl.  So I decided I had enough and flew out to land.

Most everyone in the air also landed early and I don't think many people who launched from Mackenzie flew very far, since we were so leery about getting stuck on the wrong side of a cloud if it went big while on XC.  After landing we watched as the many small cu's coalesced into several large cu's...the air was showing lots of energy today.  Definitely felt like a day where you wanted to give yourself plenty of outs and not tempt fate too much!