Guide Bios

Luis Rosenkjer with Atlanta Paragliding Enterprises and Todd Weigand with Wallowa Paragliding organize international paragliding tours as a joint effort. They are both seasoned international pilots, competition pilots, instructors, and have an incredible amount of experience leading tours to Chile, France and Turkey. For 2011, Kari Castle will also be joining the team with her 30 years of flying experience!.

Luis Rosenkjer

Luis is the founder of Atlanta Paragliding Enterprises, and has been flying paragliders for over 24 years with no injuries. He has been a paragliding instructor for over 21 years, having instructed over 480 students and conducted over 650 tandem flights. He has been leading tours to Chile for 10 years and the European Alps for 11 years, plus many other international destinations.

Luis has a long list of competition victories and finishing 4th at the Rat Race 2005, 5th at the US Nationals 2005, 1st at the Tater Hill Open in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and 1st at the Florida XC Challenge 2009 are just a few of his competition successes. As an Argentinean native, Luis has been the Argentinian Paragliding champion several times, and held the Argentinian Open Distance Record for many years. He is also a USHPA certified Advanced Instructor, a Tandem Instructor, Instructor Program Administrator, Surface Tow Administrator, and Tandem Administrator.

Luis first flew in Iquique, Chile in 1993 when he won the Iquique Open by flying further than any other pilot. In 2008, Luis again proved his flying skills and stamina by flying 207 km in 9 hours to claim the Chilean Open Distance Record! To see his tracks and read about this record flight click the link below:

Luis’s Chilean Record Flight Report
Luis’s Chilean Record Flight Tracks


Todd Weigand

Todd is the creator of Wallowa Paragliding and has over 15 years of paragiding experience. Although he still claims Oregon as home, Todd has a hard time staying in one location for more than a few months. He spends a normal year traveling between New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and Chile while flying tandems, competing, instructing, or leading paragliding trips. When he isn’t traveling, which isn’t very often, he can be found at his local site in the beautiful Wallowa Mountains.

With a year around flying schedule, Todd has flown nearly 3,000 tandem flights, competes internationally in both XC and Aerobatics, and enjoys adventure flying such as high altitude flights off 19,000 foot Peruvian Volcanoes! Recently, he finished 1st in the Iquique Open 05 & 08, 2nd and 3rd in the New Zealand AcroFest 09 & 10, 1st in the New Zealand AcroFest Accuracy tip touch raft landing 10 & 11, 2nd at the Pre Paragliding World Cup Colombia 07, 3rd at the Canadian Nationals 05, 1st at Miraflores Peru 05, 1st at La Serena Acro 05, 1st at Patchacamac Peru 05, and 2nd at Tater Hill 06.

Todd learned Spanish while living and working as a tandem pilot and local guide in Iquique for 4 seasons. He held the Chilean Open distance Record with a 193 km flight until Luis flew further! He is also a USHPA certified Tandem Instructor, Instructor, and Tow Technician. And if you go to Iquique, you will probably see him skiing across the sand with his paraglider and mini skis! He likes to play with his glider more than anything! And, you might even get the master kiter to flip your wing upside down and clean all the sand out of it!

Iquique Open 2005
Iquique Open 2008


Kari Castle

Kari Castle started her hang gliding career in 1981. She entered and won her first competition in 1983. There was no stopping her from then on. She always said, “If there is any way to be in the air, why would you be on the ground?.

She loves sharing her experience with others. She became a certified Hang gliding Instructor in 1988 the same year she learned to fly paragliders. Kari was one of the first Paragliding Instructors as well as one of the first Tandem Instructors in the US when the sport was still in its infancy.

Kari led her first Owens Valley XC Clinic in 1993 and has been guiding ever since. She specializes in High Altitude Mountain Flying, Cross Country, Competitions, Thermalling techniques, Safety, Equipment use etc, but her roots are “dune-gooning” on the beaches of Northern California where she spent her early years playing and learning to fly. She loves it all and stresses the importance of having a “bag of tricks” for each flying occasion!

  • 3X Women’s Hang gliding World Champion
  • Multiple Women’s US Paragliding and HG National Champion
  • 1993 OVERALL 1st Place Sandia Classic HG Championships
  • 1995 OVERALL Canadian National HG Champion
  • US National Hang gliding and Paragliding Team Member
  • 18 years of guiding internationally and within the US
  • Advanced USHPA Tandem HG / PG Instructor
  • 30 years of flying experience
  • Australian PG Tandem Distance Record Holder 227km
  • Multiple World Record Holder – Open Distance, Declared Goal, Dog Leg


Vancouver Acro Paragliding from Todd Weigand on Vimeo.


Todd Weigand D Bag over Queenstown NZ from Todd Weigand on Vimeo.