Chehalem is a south-facing ridge. It has been used by hang glider pilots for many years, and paragliders started using it in 1992. Ridge soaring is possible at Chehalem primarily in south winds. Wind speed and direction at Salem as reported on NOAA weather radio are good predictors of conditions on the ridge. Salem winds south at 6-8 mph often mean soaring conditions here. Less than that and it's a sled ride, more than that and it's blown out. Often these winds will keep you at launch level but to get above launch, you will need to find thermals. Paragliders must be extremely careful when the wind is strong, as there are trees on both sides of launch and powerlines behind launch. The wind usually is stronger 20 feet above your wind meter. Many days here are hang gliding only days, due to wind strength. Soaring flights of over an hour have been recorded here, and they seem to happen most frequently in prefrontal and postfrontal conditions. We have better flying sites. This site's main virtue is being close to town so that if you're skunked, you feel only half as bad. The main disadvantages of flying here are: 1) the ridge is shallow, so you need a lot of wind to soar, which doesn't leave much margin of safety if the wind picks up; 2) the main LZ is a long glide out from launch and there are times when a paraglider will not be able to glide all the way there forcing a landing at the smaller, sloping (and illegal) alternate LZ; and 3) there are powerlines to cross on the way to both the main and alternate LZs and paragliders often have to cross them low.