Cross Country September 2022

Sitting around an outside table in the Spanish border town of Hondarribia with the US pilots who were taking part in this year’s X-Pyr, I was struck by the realisation that what we have is unique. US pilot Mike Lester had been talking about flying in Australia; Logan Walters had been telling us about the new hike-and-fly scene in the USA; while Cedar Wright, a pro climber turned paraglider pilot, had been regaling us with stories of Yosemite. All around us there were pilots from all over the world, supported by friends and family, about to take part in a crazy race – to hike and fly more than 600km across the Pyrenees. No one was being paid – everyone in the organisation at the X-Pyr is a volunteer and the whole…

Greg Hamerton was fresh back from the X-Pyr when we dropped him a line asking for his next instructional article. What came back? An insight into how to perfect the art of slope-landing. If you want to string together XC flights, or are just fed up of landing at the bottom, then read this, see p34 Steve Ham is a regular in these pages and is a paragliding guide in central Spain. Flying for decades, he was thrilled to be asked to illustrate the new edition of the classic weather book Understanding the Sky. He shares a glimpse of that with us in Thermal Lore, see p70 ‘THE IDEA OF TAKING DESIGN CUES AND INSPIRATION FROM NATURE IS CALLED BIOMICRY’ Tubercle Technology, p52 Jake Holland is a Chamonix-based filmmaker and photographer. He’s written for…

Sitting around an outside table in the Spanish border town of Hondarribia with the US pilots who were taking part in this year’s X-Pyr, I was struck by the realisation that what we have is unique. US pilot Mike Lester had been talking about flying in Australia; Logan Walters had been telling us about the new hike-and-fly scene in the USA; while Cedar Wright, a pro climber turned paraglider pilot, had been regaling us with stories of Yosemite. All around us there were pilots from all over the world, supported by friends and family, about to take part in a crazy race – to hike and fly more than 600km across the Pyrenees. No one was being paid – everyone in the organisation at the X-Pyr is a volunteer and…

Greg Hamerton was fresh back from the X-Pyr when we dropped him a line asking for his next instructional article. What came back? An insight into how to perfect the art of slope-landing. If you want to string together XC flights, or are just fed up of landing at the bottom, then read this, see p34 Steve Ham is a regular in these pages and is a paragliding guide in central Spain. Flying for decades, he was thrilled to be asked to illustrate the new edition of the classic weather book Understanding the Sky. He shares a glimpse of that with us in Thermal Lore, see p70 ‘THE IDEA OF TAKING DESIGN CUES AND INSPIRATION FROM NATURE IS CALLED BIOMICRY’ Tubercle Technology, p52 Jake Holland is a Chamonix-based filmmaker and photographer. He’s written…

Marie Mateos Marie Mateos won the French Paramotor Championships in Auch in July – beating husband and former PPG world champion Alex Mateos into second place. She is the first woman to win the title. “I am delighted!” she said afterwards. US Paragliding Open Nick Greece won the US Paragliding Open in Chelan in July. The competition saw six technical tasks, from 60-110km. Violetta Jimenez won the Women’s class. “Chelan is the best place in the world to race paragliders!” Nick said. airtribune.com Hang Gliding Europeans Alex Ploner had a strong lead at the European Hang Gliding Championships at time of press. But Primoz Gricar (DE) had the biggest smile after winning Task 4, a 200km five-hour epic through the Italian Alps. civlcomps.org UK PPG Open Dan Jones won the British Paramotor Championships in July in just his third…

Chrigel Maurer won the X-Pyr 2022 in July, making it his fourth win in a row. It brings his tally of X-Pyr and Red Bull X-Alps titles to a total of 11. Held every two years the X-Pyr is a 600km race west-to-east across the Pyrenees. Despite Chrigel being the favourite to win, it was not a done deal and it all came down to the wire on the last day. He, Maxime Pinot and hike-and-fly newcomer Pierre Rémy had to battle it out, switching positions in the air and on the ground. At one point it looked like Maxime was going to win and was in the lead after Pierre and Chrigel both landed on the north side of Canigó (2,785m). However, Chrigel put in a huge effort to make a…