My first tandem flight in 1988 was on a mountain in Southern Calif called Kagel. I started flying hang glider solo in 1990. Since then hang gliding has been my primary interest.
Cliffside was soarable in a very light conditions from 2pm through sunset. I got over 2 hrs air times from 2:35 to 4:45pm, counted 18 paragliders and one hang (myself).I just done packing up. Mark Rabe and other hangs couldn't make it.
Two hangs (Tim B / Rick L) and about a 10 pgs had a nice soaring flights at Cliffside today. The air stagnation was exist this morning therefore launch was socked in badly until noon. It turned on around 2 and lifts was keep improving. I launched at2pm right after Tim and landed 1.5 hours later.
It was like no gravity exist at Cliffside today. Super buoyant conditions 1.5 hour before sunset.
Report: Cliffside was awesome today with extremely smooth thermals mixed with plenty of ridge lifts kind of day. I launched at 1:30 and landed at 4:30pm. Thermals went up to 2,200 ft AGL. Six hangs (Tim B, Tim C, Tim B, new H2 Tom, Mark R, Rob A, Rick L) + approx 30 + PGs all had unlimited soaring flights. Tomorrow's forecast looks a bit lighter than today, but I think it'll continue being another awesome day. After 3 hrs of flying today, I'll be heading home tonight.
Lift line over the Columbia river that allow me fly to Oregon side.
Cliffside weather alerts: Air stagnation advisory remains in effect from today to Wednesday... which means winds will be stay light and cloudy skies with low ceiling. It's flyable but hard to tell how much soarable windows (or none). High chance of getting a sledders.
Day 1: Thanks to Mark Rabe give me a ride up to 3K launch
Day 2:
Although Cliffside was soarable on Nov 12, it wasn't good enough to bench up to the wind turbines, as the wind direction was too east. Eight hangs showed up (2 didn't fly) and 30- 40 PGs (maybe more) all shared the smooth ridge lifts together. The sight of air traffic appeared intimidating, but ultimately it worked out for everyone. I punched off first at 1:30 and flew for almost 3 hrs. Neil Clark landed on top and re-launched again for a second flight. Ray Berger got maybe over 2 hrs, while Kory McEniry sky out on his Rigid wing, Gabe Dinu & Nick Fulmor flew their Power Paraglider in the morning..... .etc. We all landed by the river nearly 30 mins before sunset. I'm sure there will be reports, pics & videos posted on Cascade Paragliding FB or CPC Google group later group later.
I'd planned on flying Area B till sunset but after 6 hours ( from 8am- 2pm, excluding 9 am ) of continuous flying ( w/a small snack break) my body started feeling achy and stiff, so I've decided to call it a day and head home early. The dunes were still soarable during my time of departure at 3:30 pm with wind speed of approx 8-11 mph on top of dunes all day, and near zero winds at the beach. Fortunately, there weren't any cross winds, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to soar.
Area B report 1 of 2
I arrived Fort Steven State Park at 7:30am and punched off at 9am, soaring back and forth the dunes till 12:30. Windspeed was less than 10 mph where I’d launched (Area A shallow dune) , but once I reached further north to the steeper dune area it was easy to maintain 80-100 ft. There was almost zero winds at the beach and plenty of space for landing even during high tide at 9:30 am. Also, a PG showed up around 11am at the Area B. I'll post pics and videos later. Lunch break now.
