Panoramic Photo - Description by Mike Kunitani
The image is a large panorama of the Owens Valley taken at sunrise from Mazourka Peak on May 28, 2002. It may take a little
while to download; it's about 600kb. The original was 30 megapixels or 90 mb in size.
This is a panorama of 15 shots (Canon G-1 with Olympus B300 teleconverter, RAW/TIFF) stitched with PanaView ImageAssembler
using substantial lens correction to deal with the inherent perspective distortion. You can clearly see the cars and trucks
on highway 395 in the lower center and right half. This caused me all kinds of stitching problems as there were no other
strong details to aid in the stitching of this area, and the trucks were in different positions for each shot.
I have made my best attempt to identify prominent landmarks using several detailed maps and 19 years experience flying there.
After launch at Walt's Point one first has to climb out above the saddle or the switchbacks of Horseshoe Meadows Rd to
above Wanoga Pk in order to scurry across the bowl to Owens Point. After the sheer granite face of Lone Pine Peak you
shoot over the Whitney Portal Rd ridge with Mt Whitney further back to the West on the Sierra Crest. Note the three large
"legs" of the prominent Mt Williamson, which sits behind the Manzanar relocation site North of the Alabama Hills. You can
make out the Manzanar air strip and renovated auditorium. It's a bit hard to make out Onion Valley from this angle. Just
follow the road out of Independence and note the switchbacks on the lower flanks of Kearsarge, a mountain creating the
Northern edge of Onion Valley. The diagonal ridge near Lookout Point is pointing straight towards you from Mt Baxter.
This has been a bail point for me when the westerlies kick in early, as highway 395 is quite close to the mountains here.
It is possible to make distance flying down the valley from the Rest Stop and North over the highway towards the town of
Big Pine. I have always found the rock spires between Goodale and Split Mts to remind me of large, fearsome granite
"teeth" awaiting the hapless flier! The top of Tinemaha is difficult to make out as from this angle it blends in with the
mountain behind it, and this is the traditional valley crossing point to Black Mt on the White Mt range. A few pilots fly
to Birch before crossing, but usually hit the Whites North of Black Mt. Typically this is 2.5-3.5 hrs of hang gliding
beauty from Walts point to Tinemaha! After getting up at Black Mt (or going around it!) the general flight plan is next
to fly down the White Mt range off Boundary Pk and over the Nevada desert towards Mina, Luning, Gabbs and Austin. This
is the general flight plan of Larry Tudor's original 220+ mi flight.
If the wind is from the Southeast, one can continue north past Birch Mt., along the Coyote Ridge to Round Mt., then West to
Mt. Tom and NW to Wheeler Crest in the distance. If you have LOTS of altitude and courage just stay on the Sierra crest all
the way around; there are no good LZs that way though. The usual goal for this flight plan is the Mammoth Lakes area.
Mike
Panoramic Photo - Print available from Mike
I have had several requests for prints so I am making them available as a service to the hang gliding community. The
original image is a 30 megapixel, 90 mb TIFF file and is quite detailed. I've decided to offer a print of two photos on the
same sheet of paper, one over the other; one labeled and one without labels. Each photo is roughly 5"x43" with the glossy
photo paper being 13"x46" in size. This is one looooooong print!
The cost for this standard print will be $65 plus shipping (if necessary). If this price seems like a lot to you, please be
aware that the ink and paper are expensive and my success rate at printing these very large prints is not high. The
quality of the print is quite good although the image size is smaller than on your computer screen. You have to get rather
close to see the fine details.
I will also offer to print a bigger size 11"x86" (or even larger) by special request and at a much higher price. This will
be a single, labeled image made by a commercial photo lab.
If you want a print, contact me at mkunitani@att.net.
Mike K