Articles discussing the Soar Utah '95 event

Utah's scenic landscape includes the Salt Lake valley which is nestled between the Wasatch range to the east and the Oquirrh range to the west. Thanks to these mountains, winds are channeled north or south with few interruptions, except for a giant sandbar left behind from prehistoric Lake Bonneville called "The Point of the Mountain" that juts into the air flow.

In the morning, the winds usually blow from the south and often shift to a northern flow later in the day. The south side of the Point rises about 400' above the valley floor and levels off to a wide flat plain on top. The north side is quite different as it consists of two distinct ridges. The first ridge levels off at 300' with a bench that is several hundred feet wide then rises an additional 700' on the "rear" hill. Both sides offer super views, good lift, and ample room to launch and land.

Our club, the Intermountain Silent Flyers, often take for granted the superb soaring conditions that exist in our own backyard, yet visitors are always impressed. Although it would be easy to keep to ourselves and allow other glider pilots to believe that Salt Lake City is 750 miles from civilization, instead we decided to share our little secret. On July 21 - 23 we are hosting the Wasatch Mountain Scale Soaring Festival. We wanted to put on an event that was fun and relaxing; therefore, we chose to minimize the emphasis on "Scale" (no scale documentation required) and capitalize on "Soaring". Friday (July 21) will be open fun flying for scale, PSS, or anything else you may wish to fly. On Saturday there will be a scale event that will consist of flying a fixed scale pattern with static judging taking place later in the evening. On Sunday, we will hold a cross country event at a local full scale glider port (20 minutes west of the Point) with facilities to support aero towing as well as winch launching. Open flying times will be interspersed among all of the events. For those wishing to stay past Sunday, the slope is open to flying and some of the local members are planning to fly at Francis Peak (10,000'+) on Monday July 24th which is a state holiday.

We have already received a number of pre-paid entries among others, includes R/C magazine columnists and several big names in scale. Support from manufacturers and vendors includes: Windspiel Models (Pete Bechtel), JR Radio, RCSD (Jerry and Judy Slates), Viking Models, Slegers International, MRS Hobby, TLC Hobby, Sailplanes Unlimited, BČ Streamlines, and others. This an AMA sanctioned event and we will require proof of current AMA membership.