Originally Posted by
ProfChrisReed
<snip>
3. Hill or flatland? If it's windy (in the right direction) then hilltop sites are great. If the wind's in the wrong direction, the cloudbase can be so low over the hill that it's not really flyable. <snip>
Cloudbase is rather more to do with dew point & temperature than wind direction. In a SW (prevailing) wind some days our ridge is booming & flyable, other days (the days when we have problems with canopies misting on the ground) it's got it's own personal bit of cloud.
Maybe what kind of site depends on what time of year and what bit of the country.
The other thought is that all the debate about the trickyness of landing at various sites is a bit surpurlous. If they don't get solo they will always have an instructor in the back seat, if they do the instructor will have seen to it they know the local 'wrinkles'.
I don't think the OP has said anything about the experience of his group of friends. I sort of assumed that since he was asking advice they are all ab initios.