During the first part of the flight, Martin climbed to 5,000 m with his MAKALU 5 and had the opportunity to fly over Mt. Whitney (4,421 m), one of the highest mountains in the USA.
His Dad aka UP Team Pilot Honza Rejmanek sent us this update of their latest XC adventure:
"Last weekend I took my boys on a flying trip to the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We flew near Mono lake and Owens Valley. The plan was that Martin would fly solo and I would fly tandem with his little brother Tomas. We will be in the Alps later this summer and we plan to do a three day hike and fly in this format. In the Sierras I flew with Tomas and landed near the car and then chased Martin. On Saturday, July 12, in Owens Valley, Martin had his first 60km flight. He launched early, at 10:30am, and landed by 1:30pm. I chased him by car giving wind reports from the valley floor. In the first part of the flight Martin thermaled to 5,000m and had a chance to overfly Mt. Whitney 4,421m which is our tallest mountain if you do not count Alaska."
Martin said: "Flying above Mt. Whitney at 5,000 meters on the MAKALU 5 was amazing. This wing did a great job handling the midsummer funk of Owens Valley. With a smooth climb and a steady wing, it gave me the freedom to fly high and safe with confidence over the Sierra Nevada mountains."
It should be noted that winds aloft were very light from the southeast and Martin landed in a large open field before the valley wind got strong. He kept respectable terrain clerance. We're very proud of Martin's progress - the Thursday before his - so far - biggest XC flight, he even did an SIV refresher with Let Fly over lake Berryessa.