Higher on the ground than in an airplane!

inav8r

inav8r

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
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600
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Indiana, US
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Display name:
Mike B.
Yep, that's right, it's official. During my training and my solo XC's I never really had a need to climb above 5500' MSL. (It's all pretty flat around here and the ground is mostly under 1000' MSL).

Last week on my vacation down to North Carolina my wife and I rode my motorcycle on the blue ridge parkway just north of Asheville, NC. We decided to stop at Mount Mitchell, NC where the peak is 6684' MSL - which officially put me higher while on the ground than I have been while flying!

It was a beautiful day. The clouds were at about peak level. They kept creeping up the leeward side of the slope until the winds would pick up and blow them back off the summit. During a couple of the breaks in the clouds we got some cool pictures.
 
AirBaker said:
Is that REALLY the highest peak East of the Mississippi?
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Sounds about right.

The eastern mountains are older, and have poorer posture.

Those upstart rockies get all the glory, but I tell ya the Appalachians are much older and more devious. :)
 
inav8r said:
We decided to stop at Mount Mitchell, NC where the peak is 6684' MSL - which officially put me higher while on the ground than I have been while flying!
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That's my home field's pattern altitude here in Colorado. :)
 
Go figure. I would have thought it was Mt. Washington in NH but that tops out at 6288'.
 
inav8r said:
It was a beautiful day. The clouds were at about peak level. They kept creeping up the leeward side of the slope until the winds would pick up and blow them back off the summit. During a couple of the breaks in the clouds we got some cool pictures.
Click to expand...

It is snowing `18 June, guess altitude...
 
NC19143 said:
It is snowing `18 June, guess altitude...
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When we went to the summit of Mt. Mitchell the temperature at the gift shop was 68 degrees. At my in-laws house about an hour south of there, near KFQD, it was 88 (IIRC).
 
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