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Tiger Mountain

Tiger Mountain is a beautiful place to fly with majestic views of Mt. Rainier, the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, along with Puget Sound and the lakes and cities of the greater metropolitan area. The views, along with the easy access to launch, and great consistent flying have made Tiger Mountain one of the most popular flying sites in the United States.​

 

During peak season, Tiger Mt. provides prolific lift for beginner pilots to enjoy hour long flights. More advanced pilots will find ample cross-country potential at Tiger. Flights from Tiger have gone as far North as the Canadian border, South past Mt. Rainier, and East over Snoqualmie Pass.​​​

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Revised 3/26/2025

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1. General Information

  • Site Rating: P2+ or P1 under direct instructor supervision, H3, M2

  • Use Parameters: Winds below 12 MPH for PG and Mini Wings, 15 MPH for HG.  Wind direction N, NW, W, SW, S

  • Site Support: Site is paid for, managed and maintained by the Northwest Paragliding Club. Washington State DNR (Department of Natural Resources) expects that all pilots flying Tiger are NWPC members.  Visiting Pilot Memberships are available.

  • USHPA Membership required for all pilots flying Tiger Mountain

  • Best months to fly: April - August, but flyable all year.

  • Best times to fly: Given an 8:30 PM sunset, thermals are best from 1-4pm. Glass offs often run from 5 to 8:30 pm.

  • Pilots can hike up or use community shuttles.  There is no public drive-up access to the site.

  • Use extreme caution when East winds are present or possible.

  • Radio Frequency: 158.400.

  • School Channels (informational - stay off): 151.625 (Seattle PG), 151.505 (NW PG School)

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1.1. Warnings!

  • Ideal launching conditions at Tiger are in winds not exceeding 12-15mph with recommend top winds of 12mph.

  • Launching in East winds is not recommended due to the LZ and most of the mountain being in the lee.

  • The LZ can be very active in mid summer. Fly actively until landed.

  • West winds can cause issues in the landing zone where the wind can switch between North and South due to the presence of Squak Mtn opposite Tiger Mtn.

  • The valley between Squak Mtn and Tiger Mtn acts as a venturi in stronger winds. The wind can be stronger below launch. See figure to the left. 

  • Mini wings, speed wings and hang gliders fly at Tiger! The characteristics of each wing are different, and pilots should be aware of their needs.  Hang-gliders need to take a straight-in approach to land, so wings doing S turns on approach is difficult for them.  Mini wings and speed wings need a low, tight turn on approach.

Venturi

1.2. North Launch

  • Elevation: 1,830'.  GPS Coordinates: 47°29'58"N 122°0'30"W

  • North Launch Weather Station Updated Every 5min. Click Here

  • LZ Weather Station Updated Every 1min. Click Here

  • Glide ratio to LZ : 2:1

  • Wind Direction: Ideal N through NW. West through NNE OK

  • Wind Strength: Min: 0, Ideal: 7, Max: 12 MPH (Max 15 MPH for HG)​

  • Speed Wings and Mini Wings can be flown off North Launch

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1.3. South Launch

  • Elevation: 1,680'.  GPS Coordinates: 47°29'48"N 122°0'38"W

  • When launching from south, pilots must navigate out and around to the right to clear the southwest arm of Tiger in order to then fly north to the LZ.  

  • Glide ratio to LZ: 3:1 

  • Wind Direction: Ideal SSE to SW East winds in excess of 2 kts create hazardous conditions. 

  • Wind Strength: Min: 0, Ideal: 7, Max: 12 MPH (Max 15 MPH for HG)

  • Speed Wings and Mini Wings should not be flown off South Launch due to the challenge of clearing the trees below launch

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1.4. Tiger LZ

  • Elevation: 180'.  GPS Coordinates: 47°30'01.6"N 122°01'19.1"W

  • The LZ can be very active in mid summer. Fly actively until landed.

  • West winds can cause issues in the landing zone where the wind can switch between North and South due to the presence of Squak Mtn opposite Tiger Mtn.

  • East wind makes the landing zone unsafe due to lee side turbulence. 

  • The valley between Squak Mtn and Tiger Mtn acts as a venturi in stronger winds.​

  • Be aware of who is landing at the same time as you. Leave space for others if you are doing S turns.

  • Some speed fliers choose to land south even in north wind. Keep an eye out for this to avoid head on collisions.

North Wind Approach

North Wind Approach

South Wind Approach

South Wind Approach

2. Site Requirements   

  • Helmets are required.

  • Conditions at Tiger Mountain can be unpredictable and change rapidly. A site briefing is strongly advised. A NWPC visiting pilot membership includes a site briefing.

  • Use extreme caution when East winds are present or possible.

  • Pilots should follow all USHPA rules when flying at Tiger Mountain, including utilization of proper safety equipment (reserve parachute, radio, boots, back protection, speed bar, etc).

  • All pilots are required to follow USHPA right-of-way rules and to maintain adequate separation from other pilots.

  • Motorized paragliders and motorized hang gliders are not permitted in the LZ.

  • The minimum rating for hang pilots is H2 with instructor or H3 without.

  • Use of the upper north launch is prohibited when horses are present.

  • Pilots must follow FAA rules which include VFR separation from clouds. For more information, see Aeronautical Information Manual at www.faa.gov.​

3. Site Protocol

Standard ridge rules apply at Tiger:

  • Pilot with the ridge on the right has the right of way.

  • First one in the thermal determines direction.

  • Gliders on top yield to gliders below.

The Tiger LZ uses a standard aircraft approach of downwind to base leg to final. For safety, the downwind approach should be over the trees on the east side of the LZ. The west side of the LZ contains power lines, light poles and can distract traffic on the road.​

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3.1. Tiger North Launch Top Landing Protocol

  • Top landing may only be attempted when the area to be landed in is clear of pilots and spectators. 

  • Top landing must never interfere with launching pilots. If a pilot is set up to launch, you must stay completely clear of their launching operation.

  • When the launch is busy, top landings should be avoided.

  • When the launch is busy, it *may* be acceptable to side land on the west face but only if the landing pilot and wing does not interfere with activity on launch and only if the west face is clear of pilots and spectators.

  • Pilots and spectators are not expected to scramble out of the way for top landing pilots.

  • Top landing is expressly prohibited when horses are present. 

  • Top landing pilots must always yield to to launching traffic and people on the launch. 

  • Top landing pilots must never fly over the heads of pilots or spectators on launch, and especially never fly over a glider ready to be pulled up.

  • When students are launching, provide an even larger margin of safety over the above prescribed rules.

3.2 Airspace

  • DO NOT break airspace

  • Tiger sits under the Class B airspace of the SeaTac airport. At both North and South Launch the airspace restriction is 5000ft. This extends to 6000ft, 600ft East of launch

  • Low flying cargo jets can pass over Tiger Mtn sometimes as low as 4000ft. Be alert at all times

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3.3 No Landing Zones

 

Some folks around the Tiger area do not like us landing at their property. The google maps link shows you the no landing zones that the club is currently aware of near the sites that we fly.. please do not land in these area. The Openair text file allows you to load it into xcsoar, xctrack, FlyskyHy and SeeYou . These areas will then be displayed as restricted airspace at ground level on your flying instruments. You can visualize the file with this tool.

 

Openair Airspace text file

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