Last Saturday the forecast was for west winds 14 knots gusting to 22. Didn't seem like it was a good idea to fly on the lee side of the Tetons so Bart had us head out to Heise Hotsprings east of Idaho Falls, Idaho to a Butte that faced into the wind and overlooked the vast flatlands of southern Idaho. The idea was to fly back to Jackson, which no one has ever done before from Heise (as far as we know).

Now, I had no intention of flying back to Jackson and going over the Teton in that wind, but you never know. This is the kind of flying that they often do in southern Idaho, launching into 20 mph winds at King Mountain (not that far west of the Heise launch) and then going over the back on the mountain range jumping further north/south mountain ranges that all peter out in the southern Idaho flatlands.

It wasn't that much of a drive from Wilson (eight miles west of Jackson), over the 10% grade of the Teton Pass, through Victor, Idaho in the Teton Valley, then over the next mountain range into Rainey Creek and the Swan valley. The southern fork of the Snake River runs through the Swan Valley mostly along the western edge of the Big Hole Mountains and just below the launch.

We got off the main highway (26) and passed the Heise Hotsprings where there was a scattering of RV parks set up for fisherman (and women) and those who just want to enjoy the volcanic waters in this active area (all of Idaho). After dropping off the second car not too far past the hotsprings at the alfalfa field which was the designated LZ, we headed up the highway that went up to the Kelly ski area.

We followed the forest service road that leads out of the ski area parking lot up the back side of the butte that is the launch. Right away it was clear that this road was in a sad state, with the previous winter's runoff cutting a wide channel right down its middle. No one had been around to bring in a bull dozer to get it repaired.

We were to find out later that the national forest service had closed the road to truck traffic (ATV's were okay), and that we shouldn't have been on it at all. The condition of the road should have made us aware of that, but Bart and Tiki had been there before when it was open and with more courage than brains Bart continued up the road as the rest of us (all five) walked up it and "helped" Bart navigate the ruts.

After the steep parts the road improved greatly and we quickly made our way to the obvious launch that was marked by a white streamer. The wind was blowing in out of the west at 25 mph on launch (accelerated due to compression). The whole of the Idaho wheat lands were spread out before us.

I'm not a big fan of the combination of winds and mountains, but it was flatlands upwind so I was pacified to some extent and quickly set up. Tiki decided to drive the truck down as it was clear that we wouldn't get another car up here to return a driver to the truck. She was also going to help us get off the hill.

I was ready to launch first, figuring I might as well test the waters and everyone else could see if things were as good as they looked. With Tiki on my nose wires I shuffled over to the clear area by the streamer, yelled clear and when Tiki moved to my left I ran off into the breeze that took me quickly to 500' over the top.

There was plenty of ridge lift from the winds and occasionally thermals would come through allowing me to get to 1000' over, but quickly drifting back behind launch to the northeast. Looking behind launch there was nothing but trees for a long time and then mountains and trees. I wasn't interested in being blown back there.

Daphne and Koos launched and we all played around in the ridge lift for a while taking the occasional thermal back but not getting higher than 7,500' (the launch was 6,500', and the main LZ was about 5,000'). The main LZ was next to the river, but further out to the west the flats were higher around 5,500'.

Finally I decided that I had to push south west out front a ways to find a thermal that would get me up before it would take me over the back. A mile out I hooked into a 300 fpm thermal heading east northeast and took it until it petered out at 2,000' over launch. Koos had joined me, but Daphne was way below us. I got on the radio to Koos and told him that I was heading southeast toward the flats of the Swan Valley west across the south fork of the Snake River, to find some nice lift in the flats. I was hoping that he would come with me and find a good spot to get high, if we could, to get over the Big Hole Mountains to Victor. But he stayed back waiting for Daphne and Bart who hadn't launched yet.

There was lift out on the flats and I climbed out to 8,700', about as high as the tops of the mountains to my east. The wind was about 17 mph out of the west and I was drifting quickly toward the mountains looking at the lack of landing areas next to them were the river was. Also the lack of access to this area. I was hoping for some company but I was out on my own with just a general idea of where to go (east - down wind) to get back to Jackson Hole (I could see the Grand Teton).

I headed cross wind again, trying to stay somewhat near the main highway going southeast down the Swan Valley. I was only 3,000' AGL, and the roads were sparse around the big harvested wheat fields. I wasn't sure how I'd get retrieved if necessary, and wasn't excited about climbing up the windward side of the mountains given what might be expected in the Teton Valley by Victor when I got over them.

Meanwhile Bart had launched but wasn't able to hook up with Koos, Daphne was high and headed out on her own southeast along the front of the range like me (but further east) looking at the landing zones along the river and not being all that excited about the possibilities. Koos in the meantime drifted back and up in a thermal and climbed up the mountains, set on making it back to Wilson.

As I drifted back I noticed that the river headed west to my south away from the mountains and I wasn't sure if I crossed the river again to the east toward the mountains (where I was drifting rather quickly) that I would have good access to the main highway off to my west. If I had paid attention during the drive to the launch I would have known that I was headed right for the highway to Victor, the one we had taken from Wilson and the pass over the mountains. I knew I was headed in the right direction to go to the pass, but I wasn't sure about this plateau on the west side of the mountains and east side of the river.

Finally I decided not to risk it and headed back upwind toward the main highway. The lift was streeted and once I got into a sink area it was 900 fpm to the ground, but close to a good road a few miles from the main highway, a mere ten miles out from launch.

As I broke down I heard from Daphne, she had landed over on the plateau across the river that I was concerned about going toward. It turned out that she landed very conveniently and we were able to pick her up easily on the way back.

We lost radio contact with Koos, but knew he was high enough to get over the Big Hole Mountains to Victor at least. As we were heading home, he called and told us that he was also able to climb back up from Victor and get over the Tetons and land at Bart and Tiki's place in Wilson. He said that he made it over the top by 200 meters and had quite a ride down in the rotor to 1,500' over the valley floor on the east side of the Tetons. He didn't think that he would do that again, but it was a record flight, the first crossing from Heise to Jackson Hole over two mountain ranges.

Tiki made it back down the butte with the kind help of two ATVer's. One of them drove the truck down over the rough patch and told us about the closure. So it looks like this wonderful site is off limits until say after the Iraq war and the restoration of funding to the NFS.

Take a look at this site on Google Maps or Google Earth and check out the mountains between it and Wilson. Unfortunately I was not able to get Koos' track log before he left.

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