Thermal, Ridge, and Wave

February at Talihina, Oklahoma. It sounds like the wrong month for a soaring trip, but the Kiamichi Ridge in winter can offer something the summer months can’t: wave. The weekend of February 16–17, 2013 was organized around that possibility, and it delivered.

Saturday: Thermal Day

I drove down with Jeff Beam and Andre de Baghy. Saturday turned out to be a cold thermal day—43°F on the surface, thermals reaching to around 4000 feet. Cold enough that Jeff decided the conditions weren’t right for him, but Andre and I flew. The sky wasn’t spectacular but it was workable: weak lift in a cold, clear air mass, the kind of flying that rewards patience.

I managed a couple of hours in the air, staying in the 1500–3000 foot AGL range, using the ridge and whatever thermals I could find. Not a record-breaking day but good stick time and a nice warm-up for Sunday.

Sunday: Ridge and Wave

Sunday brought reinforcements. Gerry Kieffer arrived, along with Doug Dutton, Dooley Rucker, and Rick Watters. The wind had shifted overnight and was coming from a better direction for ridge soaring. The forecast also showed wave potential.

Gerry and I launched and found the ridge on Buffalo Mountain almost immediately. The lift was solid along the spine—smooth and consistent, the kind of ridge running that lets you relax and simply enjoy the views of the Kiamichi Mountains below. We worked east and west along the ridge, finding the bands of lift and staying well above the terrain.

Then the wave appeared. South of the Indian Highway Bridge, we found the smooth, sustained climb characteristic of mountain wave: no turbulence, no thermal cycling, just steady upward motion. I climbed through 8000, 8200, and finally reached 8500 feet. Standing wave above a small Oklahoma airport in February—one of those moments that reminds you why winter soaring at Talihina is worth the drive from Kansas.

I logged 240 km on the OLC for the day. For a February weekend in the Ouachita foothills, that’s not bad at all. The drive home with Gerry was full of plans for the next trip.