NY Times article
here.

It might be the weirdest part of the atmosphere, 15 miles above
the polar regions, where vast stratospheric clouds of nitric acid and water
vapor shimmer in iridescent pink while human-made chemicals play havoc with the
ozone layer. Scientists long to study the stratosphere at close range. But this
is almost the edge of space, far too high for a conventional airplane in level
flight.

How to get there? In a glider.

Without the weight of engines or fuel, a glider can be lifted by natural
atmospheric phenomena, engineers say. So a team of scientists, aviation buffs
and entrepreneurs is building a two-seat sailplane designed to withstand the
peculiar hazards of stratospheric flight. The journey is scheduled for August
2015.

The glider will be shipped by freighter to El Calafate, Argentina, where winds
from the Pacific Ocean are deflected by the Andes Mountains to create a standing
wave, like the waves of water that form over rocks in a mountain stream, with
updrafts of 30 feet per second.

“These mountain waves get so steep and energetic, they turn into white water,”
said Edward J. Warnock, an aerospace engineer who is chief executive of the
Perlan Project, the
nonprofit organization that is building the glider, Perlan II.

A single-engine plane, probably a crop duster, will tow the glider to meet these
waves, at about 10,000 feet. Where the waves weaken, at about 60,000 feet, the
glider is supposed to intercept another phenomenon, the polar vortex —
circulating winds that act like a giant cyclone during the austral winter,
delivering a strong uplift. If it can catch that current, the glider will soar
still higher, into the Perlan Clouds, and higher, into the ozone hole, where the
chemical reactions that disrupt the ozone layer take place. (Perlan is the
Icelandic word for “pearl,” describing the clouds’ sunlit glow.)

The aim is to go to 90,000 feet, or 17 miles up, and set a new altitude record
for a glider. The plane’s predecessor, Perlan I, set the record of 50,651 feet
on Aug. 30, 2006.