Zion Susano and Marcos Rosenkjer launched from Jujuy in northern Argentina on 16 October in an attempt to paraglide the Andes mountain range south to Chubut.
“The goal is to try and do 2,500km in one month,” said Zion. Their ground support crew includes fellow pilot Beth Sillince as well as an “epic RV” with driver.
Zion will be flying the Gin Bonanza 3 with his Genie X-Lite harness. “I made a choice to be on a really safe wing for this expedition,” he said. “I’d rather be on a really safe wing where I can be taking videos and being more relaxed than being on a high-aspect race glider and be more nervous. So I decided to fly the Bonanza 3.”
The Zonda wind – the Andes equivalent of Foehn – was their first real hurdle, causing them to take a pause at the end of October. Zion described it as “pretty scary!”
“No one has tried this route before,” Zion said. “I’m learning that it may be for a good reason. The unpredictable conditions have been really testing my decision-making. So far I’ve landed flying forwards on only two of all the flights we’ve made.”
Follow their progress at zionparagliding.com
