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Wind and the Mountains

The wind has always been an agent of change in the mountains. The mountains make clouds by causing the ever-blowing wind --- the air --- to rise. Rain from these clouds is driven by the wind against the mountains, causing slow but constant erosion of their surfaces.

It is the wind that makes the area such a fine place for hang gliding. John Harris, the first man to make a glider flight from Grandfather Mountain, found that the high peaks facing the prevailing winds and the clear valleys that generate strong thermals made the Boone and Grandfather areas ideal for hang-gliding.

When the Department of Energy conducted a national search for a site to test the world's largest wind turbine, it chose Howard's Knob in Boone because of the wind quality there. The turbine, developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, had blades as long as the wing-span of a Boeing 747, and a control system automatically aligned the rotor with the wind. Interest in wind power as an alternative energy source declined and the turbine was dismantled in 1983.

Boone residents were never convinced of the turbine's value, and were upset because it disrupted television reception for those living nearby. One local merchant produced windmill-inspired toys for sale, as well as cans of "windmill air" that poked fun at the turbine.