It is November 5 2021 and a westerly wind across the Continental Divide has triggered mountain wave in the lee of the Rocky Mountains – excellent conditions for glider pilots to soar great distances in rapidly rising air – if they can tame the rotor turbulence and get there! Dry air is preventing the development of clouds which means that the areas of rising and sinking air and the potentially vicious rotors below are completely invisible. This video illustrates the conditions for mountain wave to set up as well as the challenges that glider pilots must overcome to reach it. Once I got established in wave, I flew a distance of more than 400 km without having to make a single turn to climb. On the longest leg of the flight – more than 175 km (110 miles) – I reached an average ground speed of 238 kilometers per hour. The maximum ground speed was 310 km/h. A lot more distance would have been possible on that day but my three layers of clothes were at least one too few and so I decided to come back to land early. The video covers the first leg of the flight through the rotor and into the wave. Special thanks to my friends CG, SVI (5K), and JC (TR) from the Soaring Society of Boulder (SSB) who shared the sky with me on this day and provided position reports via radio about the conditions ahead. Thanks also to SHR for competently towing us all into the sky. My glider is a Ventus 2cxT 18m high-performance sailplane from Schempp-Hirth. The flight originated and ended at Boulder Municipal Airport (KBDU) – an ideal location for exploring the wave systems along Colorado’s Front Range. All music is from Epidemic Sound. The full flight trace can be found here: https://weglide.org/flight/111785