Would'nt it be fantastic to get some experienced mountain flyers to pass on basic their experience on this subject.
I have flown in the french alps in both r22 and r44 with an experienced mountain pilot and alone. We landed an r22 Beta 2 at 9000ft +20'c half fuel zero wind. We also climbed to 11000ft up the glacier on Mont Blanc. Part of this guys training in the GB army was to spend a full month on the ground with the Austrian army studying the wind patterns. I probally learned more in 5 days than in eight years of flying.