Hey all, I'm headed to COS, and waffling on whether to fly myself or commercial. I've flown to Boulder & Greeley before, following a route that was vaguely following I80 but a little more direct (thanks to advice from folks here). For COS, it doesn't look like flying further south makes it any better. So for those that do it regularly, any specific routing advice? Plane is an M20J (no turbo, no anti-ice). I can fly IFR or VFR, and 13,5 or 14 is fine. I haven't really gone higher, so I don't know how well she'll fly above that. I have supplemental O2. Will be close to max gross, and I can leave very early to avoid weather. I've done a fair bit of flying in & over mountains, so not particularly worried about that. Mostly looking for a good route. I appreciate any advice.
IFR flight plan, avoid the rocks. You can always head north from Rifle to the CO-WY border, follow it to the east side of the hills, then south to KCOS. No need to go over 10.5K Or, from Grand Junction -Montrose-Gunnison-Marshall Pass (avoid Monarch Pass) - Salida - a bit north to Leadville (you do want to get your certificate, right?) backtrack a bit south to Buena Vista then over Wilkerson Pass right into KCOS, watch out for the zoomies (May 31 TFR for the Tbirds then June 1 - POTUS TFR for USAFA graduation) If I can do Gunnison to COS in my cherokee 180, never getting over 13.5, you got no problems in a Mooney. Use the O2 system, you'll feel better.
