Flying El Pinion

El Pinion launch, n19.0615°, w100.0905° at 7700'msl. It doesn't get much easier than this. Thanks to Jeff at flymexico.com for the shuttling and the glider loan. He makes flying a low stress enjoyable experience for everyone.

The El Pinion - a very photogenic rock.

It is the end of a very wet summer there, and many wildflowers are blooming. 

Here is the main landing zone. It's know as the piano LZ 19.0424°, -100.1046° The lush green grass lulls one into a false sense of sea level, but at 5850' msl and plenty of wind shadow you have to pay attention.

I took 4 flights over the course of our stay. 

One flight, I got into the famous convergence to 10.5k not bad for the middle of Dec. Of course it was better the days I wasn't there ;)

Lots of different angles on the rock, this one makes it look like a low orbiting moon.

Catching the sunset on this one, It's amazing how consistently soarable this place is.

I decided to try and make it back to to town this day. Conditions were the best I'd had and it was my last day. The water in the lake is way high this season, leaving a very small LZ.

But I'd left it too late in the day, or plain just picked the wrong day to try.

I'd easily have made it on a topless, and may have possibly made it on this freedom, but the risk was drowning in the lake. I pushed it as far as I could but eventually decided to turn back and bail into the last brown field to my right. So close !

And what a laughably terrible LZ I picked. Rotor behind the tall trees, tall prickly weeds soft lumpy rutty dirt under. Happy to be on a Freedom ! Great flight regardless.