Posted on 02/17/2014 8:29:59 PM PST by NYer
Bingo, you got it. Especially because of the reports of high winds, it is likely that they encountered a rotor. While the mountain wave itself is smooth as glass, the rotors that accompany the wave are incredibly violent.
They're not that hard to avoid, though, because the rotors sit underneath the wave crests, indicated by lenticular clouds. Avoid flying directly below the lenticulars (or sometimes a little downwind of them), and you won't encounter a rotor.
I am a sailplane pilot, though not current these days. I used to fly at the old Black Forest Gliderport northeast of Colorado Springs. That place was really special and I miss it to this day. It was also known for high altitude flights in the Pikes Peak wave. In fact, the women's world altitude record was set there in the late 70's, a record that still stands today (over 41,000').
Sorry about the tangent. I still miss that place.
I got the glider add-on but, unfortunately, never went beyond the student training. Training was at Riggs, ID., just upwind from Grand Targhee ski resort. Here, in southeastern WA., we see wave clouds off the Cascades all the times much as Colorado.
Meant Driggs (in Teton County).
Picture the water racing over the rocks in a turbulant mountain stream. This violent motion is also present in the upper atmosphere as jet stream winds hurtle west to east over the Rockies. You rarely can see it and many times you can't climb above it. Sit down. Shut up. Fasten your seat belt and Hang on!
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