Places · California, USA
OWENS VALLEY
Walt's Point to Bishop: the cross-country ground under the Sierra
The place
The first 100- and 200-mile flights in the United States, on hang gliders and paragliders, started at Walt's Point above Lone Pine. In 2013 Dave Turner launched there, climbed out over the Sierra crest and landed by an orange grove east of Visalia. Bishop hosts the Owens Valley XC Classic, an FAI Category 2 race to goal.
Is it legal? Free flight is legal on the BLM and Inyo National Forest land the launches stand on (USHPA). Paragliders mostly stay off Walt's Point from June to early September: the midday air is too strong.
- 2exits to start
- 7cross-country goals
- 3race tasks
The exits and launches
Every exit here, with how hard it is.
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Walt's Point
■■■■■The pull-off 18.3 miles up Horseshoe Meadows Road, by the Wonoga Peak trailhead, 2,871 m [E]: a flat slope to a cliff — the ground falls 330 m in the first 600 — east over the Owens Valley, Mount Whitney behind.
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Gunter
■■■■■The White Mountains' launch east of Bishop, 2,215 m — up US 6 and Jean Blanc Road, 45 minutes to the top in a 4×4 — facing west over the valley to the Sierra.
Cross-country goals
Walt's Point to Lone Pine Peak · Walt's Point to Mount Whitney · Gunter to Black Mountain · Walt's Point to Independence (Kearsarge Peak) · Walt's Point to Big Pine (Mount Tinemaha) · Walt's Point to Bishop: the length of the valley · Gunter south to Mazourka Peak
