Paiute
Some of the area’s biggest thermals live in this zone, and many pilots have been boosted to the moon from this amazing White Mountains launch. Much bigger than Flynn’s, this is the premier flying site for the entire eastern side of the Owen’s Valley. The only site more committing than Paiute is Walt’s.
Very high over the Whites, headed north from Paiute-
To arrive at the LZ-
From Bishop, take highway 6 north towards Benton. Go 11.8 miles north of Bishop, then take a right (east) turn onto Chalfant Loop road. Drive another 3/4 of a mile, and this is your LZ. Not the best LZ, but most do not have to use it anyway! Making it into Nevada or back to Bishop is pretty common!
Getting to launch-
From the LZ, head east up the obvious dirt road heading for the mountains. This road is called Paiute Creek road, but is usually unmarked. After 2.1 miles up this dirt road, you will make a left (north) turn onto the switchbacks. Take this to the 8,000 ft level, and launch is two hundred feet off to the left (west) on a small dirt turn out/little road. This launch is the classic one and is best for SW to WNW. If it is NW or NNW, then head 1/4 mile further up the switchback road, and off to the left (west) is another launch which accepts NW wind a bit better.
Setting up at launch for a comp-
Looking down at launch-
Looking out to the LZ from above the Paiute launch-
Launch site: Paiute
Aspect: SW, W, NW
Vertical descent: 3,800 ft
Launch elevation: 8,030 ft
Best for: PG, HG
Approach: 4X4
Time to launch from the LZ: 50 min
Glide ratio to primary LZ: kind of long
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