Take-off – Potato Hill
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- Direction
- NNEESESSWWNW
- Coordinates
- 39.3410, -122.6850
- Altitude
- 1036 m
- Region
- California, US
Take-off description
Takeoff is small, allowing just one person to launch at a time. There is plenty of standing room, and enough room to set up a few hang gliders. There are bushes and short trees in front. The launch faces east, and the valley creates its own east wind on most summer days, regardless of the prevailing direction.
Getting there
Take highway 5 to Maxwell, then drive west for about an hour to Stonyford, and then on to Fout Springs.
Weather
Westerly winds are blocked by local conditions on most days. However the wind can switch later in the day, creating lee-side and/or convergence conditions in the Fout Springs valley.
Comments
Potato Hill offers entry-level thermalling near the launch and landing. For intermediates there are short XC glides to Snow Mountain and then on to Mt St John. The air can be quite turbulent over St John, but getting high there (over 8500 feet) makes 40-mile trips possible along the range to the north.