March 

3/3/2026   Gragareth

It looked and felt like the first day of spring.  Blue skies (completely), light winds and maybe some first thermals of the year. The ideal day for a Birthday treat.

I was torn between Whernside and Gragareth, but opted for Grag as the more interesting ridge - and  felt it was possible to avoid the full walk up by taking off near the bottom.  The earlier NE wind had come very much round to the SE as I prepared to launch ... sometimes light, then the odd decent blow. Thermic cycles?

I launched in a blow as the wind came more on again and initially went up ... but it was a struggle as this section of ridge is more ENE and being a SE wind with only thermals (as I discovered) allowing it to work. I gained 300' then landed higher to have a re think. At least it got me higher and nearer the more SSE section.

I re-launched and was soon above the top, discovering that it was mainly thermals and they often had a SSE drift along the ridge. I also found the ridge  lift was not that great and at one point sunk to part way down the ridge.  A fortunate thermal hoisted me back up.  I took things a bit more cautiously after that.

In total I had an hour and a half. The thermals at first were reasonable, slightly hard edged and I got up to 3300'.  I considered heading over to Barkin as Rob U showed (on FLARM) 3.8 k away and at over 3000'.  However, the thermals weakened gradually and were often broken.

Eventually, having had enough, I decided to call it a day and headed back to the car. The much lower limestone crags and edges above Kingsdale seemed to be working (easier than the main ridge) ... so I played about here for a spell. A nice smooth landing next to the car made for a decent enough day and a nice Birthday outing.