I found two AWESOME north, to north-east, spots today..

Anyone know if these are legit sloping sites? Do I git' to name them?

One is confirmed "crunchie approved" and should have lift at least as good as, or better than the upper ruins. There is a HUGE, and I mean huge considering location, grassy landing strip with ankle high plane catching bushes, and not a rock in sight. About 1500 feet to the canyon floor below with not a "turbulence creator" hill around. You can stand about 10 feet away from the front side "drop" so toss off will be a piece of CAKE! It is about 2 miles from the end of Gibraltar before it turns to dirt.... Right above Montecito. Google earth goes cloudy so no file to show.

Second site is right after the Gibraltar fork going south. After taking the fork, you go about 1.5 miles and park at the first spot where you can see both sides of the range. I flew here(from the road) a few days ago and it was UNREAL. This site will favor a true NNE wind. I didn't walk up the hill north of the parking spot as it was almost dark, but it looks big and grassy by looking at the Google earth file, and I did see it from the road and it looks EPIC... but I will on Friday when some North winds are expected... This site is literally verticle. You could basically roll on the "brush tops" all the way to the canyon floor about 2000 feet down!!! LOL!!!

Both sites have DS capability also.... sweet...

Will report back soon with pics and hopefully video...

Killer....

Love that drive up access... How long of a ride is this from the Thousand Oaks area???

@lex

The only downside... E, NE and usually N winds are very uncommon in Santa Barbara...

This winter is notwithstanding, of course

Steve

Don,
I've flown both spots, and I know Glenn has too, Landings are OK, but there are some killer rock monsters lurking in the grass. I split an old SOS 42 in half at the 1st spot on a rock. Downside is the long drive out there to be possibly skunked. Has the Forest Service finished repaving the road?

Now if we can only get SB County to repave the rest of E Camino Cielo!

Andy

@lex,
Pretty long drive, about 1.5 hours, and would be a crapshoot if it was blowing right....

Steve,
I'm thinkin' Santa Ana's....but I know what you mean... It's strange though, as before my slopin' days started, I would be up that side of the mountain on a VERY regular basis, and seem to remember a pretty common flow coming RIGHT over the mointain toword town... As long as it's mostly North I think both these spots will crank. I may shoot up in the morning and see if I get a lucky gust. When I flew there Sunday nite you could have strapped a brick on an Alula...

Andy,
Dang what a nice drive with a PERFECT new road!!! I used to drive to the dirt twice a week practicing motocross at Divide Peak and this is a Niiiice change.... Anyway, the first spot I described I could not find ONE rock. I'll spend some more time there and get some pics to see if it's the same place. The landing area was a continuous blanket of fluffy little bushes... I walked around looking for rocks and couldn't find any...

Don,

Wish I could have gone out scouting with you, but work has kept me busy. Might be some good NW @Knapp's on Friday, but if it clocks to the right, it would be fun to try out your spot.

I love riding my XR up Gibraltor in the summer. Too bad we don't get N winds then!


Lance

Cool Lance..

It was a last min. deal for me yesterday.. I'm about 2min from Gibraltar, and I knocked out my work pretty fast, so at 3:30 I hopped in the car and just shot up there...

I can't wait to fly these spots some more... They are like being at the upper ruins and having the lift band be right in front of your face.... Instead of about 30 feet out...

Originally Posted by THUREN

They are like being at the upper ruins and having the lift band be right in front of your face.... Instead of about 30 feet out...

Sounds perfect for that solid aluminum plane you're working on.....


Seriously though, I'd love to cruise up there with you in the near future.

I don't have Earth installed (I did, but I found myself trapped behind the keyboard for days at a time, so I had to unplug it), so photos would be really appreciated!

I'm going up to the closer spot today....

Forecast says NNW so I'm hoping the south side of town will be MORE north like usual.... Probably going up about 2:00. Anyone wants a report or to head up there, call or reply here....

Don (805)886-9250

Pretty windy in town today ...

Let's see how the wind clocks this afternoon. 3pm is more my time.


Lance

Yeah.... Looks to saying more west now.... we'll keep an eye on it...

I'm planning to head to either ellwood or farren at about 12:30 today, depending on the wind... weatherchannel was predicting northwest, but the airport was claiming a 9mph south wind at 11:00. Guess I'll watch the flags!

-Rick (slope newb, escaping to the slope on his lunchbreak!)

Rick..... I wouldn't bother with Ellwood... Check out what Goleta is showing now!!! goleta airport wind 16mph-22mph gusts NNW... Still pretty north.. I want to try my new spot!!!

edit: Montecito is showing NE, goleta and Figueroa are showing NNW, my spot is in the middle.... I'm crossing my fingers....

I flew for a short while at Farren on my lunch break. Anemometer showed 15-22mph coming from about 320deg. Lot's o' wind, but the lift was pretty ghetto since you had to fly off that little hump there. The bowl wasn't hitting and it wasn't coming close enough to straight-on for that north-facing ridge.

Got a couple things to finish up here and them I'm heading for the Ruins. We'll see. I'll give you a call if it's hitting. I'll probably call you if it's NOT hitting, too, to see if you get some action over there.