Cross Country July 2021

The call of the wild is a special thing – “the tidal wave of being,” as Jack London put it in his classic 1903 adventure novel of the same name. We all know it: the pull of the mountains, the lure of the sea. It’s the energy inside that makes us look outside, to the horizon and beyond. It’s what makes us go travelling, climb a mountain, plan an expedition, take off and fly. It’s what pushes us to pack a bag and take the first step of many. June sees the tenth edition of the Red Bull X-Alps, that classic adventure turned adventure-race that grips the paragliding world every two years. Sure, it’s not everyone’s thing, the flying is either incredible or insane, depending on your point of view, and…

Nick Greece started flying in 2001 aged 24 and it quickly became a passion. A US paragliding champion he’s flown world championships, PWCs and chased distance from Brazil to Mongolia. He edited USHPA’s Pilot magazine for several years. This issue he introduces us to Chelan, out west – p26 Charles Cazaux is one of France’s best known competition pilots. A former world champion (2011) and PWC Superfinal champion (2009) he started flying when he was 15. He lives near Chambéry in the French Alps and teaches XC and SIV in Annecy. He’s the perfect guide to this classic site – p34 Jacques Paul-Stefani has been paragliding for decades and photographing the sport for just as long – his images have adorned covers of numerous flying magazines over the years. A TV journalist,…

Monte San Simeone in Italy is the location for the FAI Acro World Championships, which are due to take place in July. All things being equal the competition will take place 9-17 July, with a three-day Aerobatic World Tour (AWT) AcroMax competition directly before it acting as a training comp. Solo and synchro pairs will battle it out for individual and national team medals. Hosted by the Aero Club Italia and the Volo Libero Friuli paragliding club this will be only the third Acro World Championships ever held. The last one was held in Annecy in 2016 and was won by France’s François Ragolski overall while Christina Kolb from Austria won the women’s gold medal. Neither of those pilots will be back to defend their gold medals, but around 45 pilots from…

Maxime Pinot has claimed a new world record for speed-over-a-300km-course for his huge 319km triangle he flew in April. The French pilot flew the massive 11-hour flight from St Hilaire on 23 April and averaged 28.6km/h around the route, which took him through a big chunk of the French Alps. The record is the first in the 300km category, and breaks an 18-year-old record held by the legendary Pierre Bouilloux who claimed a record for a 237km triangle flight in 2003. Maxime told the FAI he and the French team had been watching the weather-window set up for a week and he knew that “D-Day” could be arriving. French team leader Julien Garcia “did all the paperwork” and then the gaggle of top French pilots flew, including Jonathan Marin, Honorin Hamard,…

“Things are fine in [North] Macedonia...” Davis Straub posted drily on Oz Report when the news was announced that the FAI Hang Gliding World Championships will go ahead as planned in July this year. The competition will take place in Krushevo, North Macedonia from 18-30 July and has around 90 pilots signed up. CIVL said: “After much deliberation and consideration of the input received from international teams, pilots, and the hang gliding committee, [we] support the decision of the organisers to go forward with the competition.” They added: “We recognise that the situation is not ideal and that the burden for some pilots to participate could be significant. However, the majority of countries/teams have indicated that they would send pilots if the event takes place. With this in mind, we…

The Red Bull X-Alps starts on 20 June and we will be gripped as always, following the live tracking from dawn to dusk and hanging on every Instagram post from the pilots and their teams as they fly, hike and run to glory. This year, the tenth edition, will see 33 pilots gunning for it over a 1,238km out-and-return course that will take them from Salzburg to Mont Blanc and back again. The one to beat of course is Chrigel Maurer who has now won this race an incredible six times. These are the 13 bright-and-shining rookies who are lined up to take a shot at bringing down the champion, and who knows, one of them might well do it. THOMAS FRIEDRICH, 20 Supporter: Amo Flitsch Wing: Skywalk X-Alps 5 The youngest X-Alps athlete…