Narrative:

I took off on a 270 heading with 26016g26kt on the 1 minute weather. That should put me just 10 degrees off runway 27 I was using. Taf indicated there are ws (wind shear) at 2000 AGL 40KTS. I used short field technique on take-off and encountered light turbulence during the initial climb out. I paid special attention for my initial climb out because of the 2000 AGL ws on taf. The terrain at the pass was 11030 MSL; I was planning on cruising with 12500 to clear the highest peak. Upon take off; it was obvious that my climb was not the 500ft/min I estimated even [though] I am the only sole on board. Did not pay attention to where I was going and focused only on choosing a heading with slowly rising terrain; I first turn into a heading of 209 to follow the slower rising terrain and then made the wrong turn to a heading of 135. This heading gave me the illusion of slowly rising terrain which shortly became a fast rising terrain in merely 4 miles; directly put me on a course to the highest peak of 12598 MSL. At this time; I hadn't looked at my track on foreflight once. I was navigating visually and luckily stayed on the windward side of the mountain. About 1 minute before the event; it was obvious to me that a 180 turn was inevitable once I can see the terrain is rising fast and a point of no return was about to come. I was waiting for the perfect place to start the turn. I attempted first 180 left turn about 30 sec after I decided to make the 180 turn; realizing the turn radius was much bigger than I expected because of the higher TAS; I broke off the turn and moved as close to the cliff on my right hand side (windward side) as I dare. 30 sec later; I made the 2nd attempt of 180 steep left turn upon encountering a wind shear of 850ft/min drop. I did not have much ground clearance left so I made the decision of immediately starting the left 180; I had a sink rate about 2000ft/min and 40 KTS airspeed loss; I pushed the nose way down to keep it stalling but I had to pull it all the way up with the stall warning horn when I was about 90 degrees into the turn to avoid trees. I barely miss the trees by probably 50-100 ft max. And I immediately pushed the nose down once I was clear the trees to save the airplane from an imminent stall.after reviewing the GPS track; (which is not accurate in the mountain region with a lot of discontinuing points) I found out that I started the 180 degree turn from the windward side of the mountain at 106 IAS and 10350 MSL with 850ft/min downwash. My power setting was max since I was still trying to do best-rate-climb. I reached a maximum 2400ft/min down drop shortly into the turn and reached 10080 MSL after 90 degrees and slowed the airspeed down to stalling speed; GPS track dictates my lowest IAS was 60KTS. I level the bank at 90 degrees and should be about 4KTS slower than my stalling speed at the time. While the stall horn does sound almost for a good 5-6 seconds; the wing did not drop or it was a coordinated turn. I did not pay attention to airspeed nor coordination after hearing the stall horn but instead focused on avoiding the trees 90 degrees into the turn by pulling on the yoke as hard as I could. The maneuver and obstacles were finished around 10250 MSL after rolling out around 180. After reporting the ws with the ATC; I temporarily put myself on an IFR flight plan after climbing along the route I came to 17000 MSL and later unable to maintain that altitude and canceled IFR and diverted instead. Before this incident; I flew twice in mountain passes; once as my high altitude checkout; once solo. I have attended 2 mountain flying seminars recently as part of the FAA safety program. The dangerous situation was caused mainly in my opinion for the following reason: bad adm [aeronautical decision making] for underestimating the gusting wind and wind shear in the mountain region. Turned into a valley without reaching a pre-determined altitude first. Did not pay attention to moving map while flyingmountain region. Sectional only offered very limited knowledge on the mountain pass; did not use satellite image to study the pass thoroughly.reasons that probably saved me were; flying on the windward side (albeit unintentionally). Flying as close to the cliff as possible; so that 180 became a feasible option. Knowing the lower terrain is behind me; so even a descending 180 degree turn might save me.reasons that could probably ended up in a fatal accident were underestimating the TAS/turn radius and a possible stall or spin (which did not happen fortunately).

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot reported extreme weather conditions in mountainous terrain that culminated in recovery from a stall condition and controlled flight toward terrain.

Narrative: I took off on a 270 heading with 26016G26KT on the 1 minute weather. That should put me just 10 degrees off RWY 27 I was using. TAF indicated there are WS (Wind Shear) at 2000 AGL 40KTS. I used short field technique on take-off and encountered light turbulence during the initial climb out. I paid special attention for my initial climb out because of the 2000 AGL WS on TAF. The terrain at the pass was 11030 MSL; I was planning on cruising with 12500 to clear the highest peak. Upon take off; it was obvious that my climb was not the 500ft/min I estimated even [though] I am the only sole on board. Did not pay attention to where I was going and focused only on choosing a heading with slowly rising terrain; I first turn into a heading of 209 to follow the slower rising terrain and then made the wrong turn to a heading of 135. This heading gave me the illusion of slowly rising terrain which shortly became a fast rising terrain in merely 4 miles; directly put me on a course to the highest peak of 12598 MSL. At this time; I hadn't looked at my track on Foreflight once. I was navigating visually and luckily stayed on the windward side of the mountain. About 1 minute before the event; it was obvious to me that a 180 turn was inevitable once I can see the terrain is rising fast and a point of no return was about to come. I was waiting for the perfect place to start the turn. I attempted first 180 left turn about 30 sec after I decided to make the 180 turn; realizing the turn radius was much bigger than I expected because of the higher TAS; I broke off the turn and moved as close to the cliff on my right hand side (windward side) as I dare. 30 sec later; I made the 2nd attempt of 180 steep left turn upon encountering a wind shear of 850ft/min drop. I did not have much ground clearance left so I made the decision of immediately starting the left 180; I had a sink rate about 2000ft/min and 40 KTS airspeed loss; I pushed the nose way down to keep it stalling but I had to pull it all the way up with the stall warning horn when I was about 90 degrees into the turn to avoid trees. I barely miss the trees by probably 50-100 ft max. And I immediately pushed the nose down once I was clear the trees to save the airplane from an imminent stall.After reviewing the GPS track; (which is not accurate in the mountain region with a lot of discontinuing points) I found out that I started the 180 degree turn from the windward side of the mountain at 106 IAS and 10350 MSL with 850ft/min downwash. My power setting was Max since I was still trying to do best-rate-climb. I reached a maximum 2400ft/min down drop shortly into the turn and reached 10080 MSL after 90 degrees and slowed the airspeed down to stalling speed; GPS track dictates my lowest IAS was 60KTS. I level the bank at 90 degrees and should be about 4KTS slower than my stalling speed at the time. While the stall horn does sound almost for a good 5-6 seconds; the wing did not drop or it was a coordinated turn. I did not pay attention to airspeed nor coordination after hearing the stall horn but instead focused on avoiding the trees 90 degrees into the turn by pulling on the yoke as hard as I could. The maneuver and obstacles were finished around 10250 MSL after rolling out around 180. After reporting the WS with the ATC; I temporarily put myself on an IFR flight plan after climbing along the route I came to 17000 MSL and later unable to maintain that altitude and canceled IFR and diverted instead. Before this incident; I flew twice in mountain passes; once as my high altitude checkout; once solo. I have attended 2 mountain flying seminars recently as part of the FAA Safety program. The dangerous situation was caused mainly in my opinion for the following reason: Bad ADM [aeronautical decision making] for underestimating the gusting wind and wind shear in the mountain region. Turned into a valley without reaching a pre-determined altitude first. Did not pay attention to moving map while flyingmountain region. Sectional only offered very limited knowledge on the mountain pass; did not use satellite image to study the pass thoroughly.Reasons that probably saved me were; flying on the windward side (albeit unintentionally). Flying as close to the cliff as possible; so that 180 became a feasible option. Knowing the lower terrain is behind me; so even a descending 180 degree turn might save me.Reasons that could probably ended up in a fatal accident were underestimating the TAS/turn radius and a possible stall or spin (which did not happen fortunately).

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.