Bingen, Wash skunked report 11/4/15

Today at Bingen, 3 paras (Michael C, Eric M and Sol)  and 2 hangs (Mark and myself) headed up at launch around 11:30am. Mark did most of the hiking carrying his glider this time with my help on some steep area. So it took us more time get to the west launch.   The winds were blowing about 8-12mph by the time Mark and I arrived launch at 1:00pm.  It was perfect soarable condition for hangs and bags.  3 paras launched quickly and got some good soaring flight before the wind picked up speed exceeding to unpleasant conditions.   By the time we were done setting up around 2:30pm, the winds continued to excel to approx 18 to 25+mph. Paraglider Eric reported that the LZ was blowing 15mph. I thought it was too strong for Mark, so we waited in hopes that the wind will decrease later. The conditions were tempting and I was offered by Mark to take the flight, however, doing that would leave him being alone at launch , so I decided to wait with him. Unfortunately the wind never die down. By around 4:00pm we decided to pack up.  Bingen is the worst place to get skunked having to hike back in the dark with the glider,  we have to walk back to the truck to pick up the Kayak carts first.......  but I do think that we made a wise decision. Thank God that we did not ask the para friends to drive Mark's ruck down to the LZ.   I'm exhausted right now and need to get some sleep ASAP.  

Rick Weber reported three hangs had a sled rides at lower Peterson today. 

1.5 hrs at Bingen on Oct 21,15

Bingen was awesome today. Three hangs (Mark R, Enrique and myself ) were patiently waiting for almost 3 hrs at launch until the nicely west wind finally arrived at 4:15pm. It was about 2-5 mph between this morning to 3:30pm so most of the paragliders flew during that time. The wind were pickup to 10-15mph around 4:15pm and it get even more stronger until after sunset. We launch around 4:15pm and all got above launch quickly. Enrique and I keep gaining more altitude by going back and forth the ridge. About 20 mins later we were at 1,000 ft above launch, 45 mins later we got almost 2,000 ft above and we flew a across the river to the Oregon site. The wind were getting much stronger and I notice that there were a lot of white capes on the river. So I decided to go for landing after 1.5 hrs of air times. The LZ condition was really windy and gusty (approx 20 to 30mph WSW wind) when I landed. It was definitely a roller coaster conditions and I will post video later. Enrique landed 20 mins after me and it got even more gusty. Fortunately he landed ok. What a beautiful day at Bingen and congratulation Mark got his first flight out of Bingen! Also, specially thanks to two nice paragliders Eric Miller and Ondrej who help Mark carry his hang glider to west launch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EodmYJs7C8w