I flew my 235 Alpha from Crestline on Sunday and had also done so a few days earlier.   I got out to the front ridge both times but it took some thermalling up before I got there to feel real comfortable about the glide.  On both days there was no real ridge lift, just thermals.  So you needed some luck with your launch timing and some thermal skills or you could find yourself relatively low fairly quickly.  I launch from Marshall more often and likely will do so in the future on the Alpha.  It’s just more comfortable doing so as you avoid having to make that glide out.  The “nuclear reactor” in the canyon gave me nice saving thermals on both flights but I would have to have to count on it every time.  On Sunday, a Sport 2 was well below me rounding the corner at last chance so it was obvious to me that there was a lot of sink going on and it was just a tough day for the glide out.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how to predict the non-sinky days so be careful up there.  On both days, I launched around 3:30 to 4:00 so it was still quite active air.  Early flights or late flights are likely to provide you with much better gliding opportunities.  So the question isn’t just how high you should be before you head out from Crestline but also should include consideration of whether you will even get above Crestline ridge to gain some altitude for your glide.