1/12 Point of the mt. 14m lit

[kip_whipperman]

I left my house in draper at 1:30 pm and arrived at 1:37. I was right about to get on the freeway at 146th and i 15 to head to strawberry but was deterred by the swaying bushes on the side of the road. I decided today was as good day as any to try out point of the mt. I made a quick left turn on the frontage road passing the geneva rock. Then passing all the sledders on the south side of the point right below the freeway. I pumped up 14m down in that large field. And was lit from 2:00-5:30. What a fun day! There was only anywhere from 4-6 inches of snow mostly all wind blown. No sage or anything to trip you up though. There must have been 50+ cars through the day drive over to the field and watch. I felt like I was advertising for slingshot since thousands of cars passing on the freeway inevitably had to look at my kite.

[David Kyle]

I'm not sure of your skill level or experience but the Point can be extremely dangerous.
I had a close call there a couple years ago. Ive had many close calls but none as heart attack serious
as at the point. If you are newer rider, try somewhere a little safer.

[Marty Lowe]

DK,
Curious why a field is so dangerous? Can you elaborate?

[Jacob Buzianis]

Marty- Huge UPDRAFT in that area. Lofting can be huge. Great for gliding. But it's depend on which field you were at. It's seem like Kip was doing just fine there. I'm stoked you shredded up and showing the fun of it.

[JakeWalker]

I was flying my paraglider on the other side from about the same time period. I looked over the back a few times at the South Side with the thought of kiting but the snow had all blown off the top.

Sounds like Kip had the right idea for both snow and safety and was riding the big field below the frontage road. With the North wind it would have a good venturi effect there without a hill behind to create the updraft.

[kip_whipperman]

David thanks for the heads up. I can see how an inexperienced kiter or even an experienced kiter could get into some trouble there. 1. Not a very forgiving landing in that hard packed wind blown field. 2. Making the mistake of jumping too close to hazards for instance the hill that leads up to the freeway. 3. For whatever reason If you had to eject from your kite that could go bad as it could go into traffic or hit a house or something. So yes I agree with you not a place for beginners. Like Jake said there is big updraft. I realized that at first I started with my depower line all the way out on lightwind setting and realized after my first jump I needed to adjust the trim grommet. I locked the depower line in about 5 inches up and that changed the situation from a more violent boost to smooth lofty jumps.

[David Kyle]

Yeah a couple years ago I parked at the bottom and was goin to ride the bottom flats
for a few minutes. Wind was barely strong enought to raise the 17M Waroo. As soon as
it went up the wind picked up to about 20 and the updraft from the ridgelift lofted me
up all the way to the top without touching the face. When I reached the top I was
thrown about 100 feet downwind. I was just a few seconds from ditching the kite when a hanglider
got controle of my downed kite. I'll never get anywhere near that hill with a kite again

[bordy]

Jake Walker you probably have the most experance there....I remember when Dave Kyle got worked there, Steve Mayer, and Marshell Miller mentioned how a kite may not be very safe there at the time. Do you think this is a place we should promote as a kite spot??? I would hate to see a kiter upset the flow of the Flying site and put us on the radar unless the chance of injury/incidant is low...

[David Kyle]

Hey Billy,
You dont remember anything about that day because you were not there.
I tried to be safe but some ignorance got me into alot of trouble.
I didnt plan on getting near the hill and the only thing your friends saw was me
in a despeate situation at the top of the hill. Just making sure you had a couple facts straight
Bill.

[JakeWalker]

To be clear, Kip is talking about a different field than the flight park or I would have mentioned that it is not a place to mix kites and gliders. The gliders will be pissed if they see a kite while they are even thinking about flying...and rightfully so. I flew my paraglider at Skyline with kites once and it was so hard to know where the kites were going to be. They move too fast to account for them while you are flying.

Kip, correct me if I am wrong, but you were riding the big flat field South/West of the frontage road adjacent to the freeway (below the groups of sledders that ride downhill from the frontage road). That field is not part of the flight park, (where Peter was) but still has a huge venturi effect (i.e. the potential to feel great setting up a 17M and then suddenly find yourself wishing you had a 7M) and there is no safety net from the freeway. That would be bad.

I believe Herriman or Lehi both have tons of similar fields that can be poached in similar conditions without the danger.

Seek forth and go ride a golf course.

[kip_whipperman]

Yup that is exactly where I was. Bluffdale was showing NW at 7 mph on the weather channel app. I weigh 180 and a 12 meter would have been ideal for me that day. Here's to more fields and golf courses

[Travis Cook]

I think a big problem there besides the wind is how rare the snow is. It is very exposed and low and even in the middle of the winter doesn't have any snowpack. Bare dirt. But this year with 5 degrees and lots of snow falling we're lucky. It probably won't last long.