CSS is located at one of the most spectacular soaring sites in the western United States. The favorable geography, excellent weather, and wide open areas give a glider pilot just the right conditions to explore the excitement of the soaring sport to its fullest extent.
The airport is at 1,250 feet elevation just
east of the Cascade range which rises to 10, 500 feet. The glider
club facilities are alongside the runway 25/07 at its eastern end
with direct access to the grass strip between the runway and
taxiway (seen in the upper right part of the picture). The
gliders take off from the runway and land on the grass strip. The
power plane traffic uses mostly the runway 30/12 and stays to the
west, while gliders operate to the east of the airport.
The mountains scrub the
Pacific air of most of its humidity, providing for superb
thermal-forming conditions in Eastern Washington with cloud bases
frequently above 10,000 feet. The airport is surrounded on three
sides by ridges rising 2,000 feet above the field. 
There are numerous safe outlanding areas, especially to the east, where a treeless plateau with plowed fields averaging 2,500 feet in elevation stretches for over one hundred miles. Running north and south is the majestic Columbia River, cutting a half-mile deep basalt canyon.
From the southwest to northwest, the
Cascade mountains offer thrills to any challenge-seeking mountain
soaring connoisseur. Glacier Peak (on left, view from the south
over the Stevens Pass area), is isolated deep in the middle of
the Cascade range. On days when thermals and sufficiently high
cloud bases extend far enough west, mountain soarers succeed in
reaching this ultimate mountain soaring destination (see below
right).
Mount Stuart is located in the middle of the spectacular Alpine Wilderness. It is the most frequently sought after and reached mountain soaring destination from Wentatchee.
There are several access routes to it for a glider taking off from Wenatchee. The most often used one is gaining sufficient altitude on the ridge east of the gliderport, crossing the Columbia River at the Aluminum Plant onto a ridge called Jumpoff, proceeding to its end, and then climbing to Mission Ridge. Once cloud bases are reached, the pilot can proceed to Blewett Pass, continue to a higher ridge south of the Enchantments, and then jump to the Alpine Wilderness Little Anapurna area. The view of Mount Stuart (seen above as the highest point of the ridge) is from the north from above Mt. Cashmere.
Talking about Cashmere, the following picture is taken from above the city of Cashmere looking northwest towards Leavenworth, with Glacier Peak on the horizon at the far right.
All the preceding photos were taken during one glider flight, on July 26, 1997.
And - then there is often a fabulous WAVE around here. See the following example:
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