Cross Country April 2019

Our sports never stop evolving – that is part of what makes them so engaging. This issue shows that clearly. Talking to Aaron Durogati about his climbing and flying on the highest, steepest peaks of Patagonia was inspiring. The way that ultralight flying equipment can now, seriously, be packed in as part of a climber’s kit on a 15-hour big-wall climbing day just blows my mind. “How much did your flying gear weigh?” I asked. “About 2.2kg,” Aaron said. Our wings really can go with us anywhere and take us anywhere. Equally inspiring was hearing from Jeff Goin about his experience with the latest in electric-powered paramotoring. The dream of paramotoring for many pilots who are not “naturally mechanically sympathetic” as my paramotor instructor called it, has always been a plug-and-play paramotor. Switch it…

Rick and Leanne Brezina were on a flying holiday in Australia when Rick got sucked up and spun around by a social media vortex that saw a clip of him in a dust devil viewed millions of times. After the dust had settled he agreed to tell us his story. See page 48 Aaron Durogati needs little introduction but here goes: 3 x Red Bull X-Alps; twice winner of the PWC Superfinal; 500km Brazilian XC; extreme skier; big wall climber; speedrider; XC pilot; dad. At home in the Dolomites it was only natural that his next step took him south, to Patagonia. Go explore, p84 Ben Jordan has contributed regularly to these pages and whether it’s his most recent adventure trip, a new film, a project to create jobs from recycling paragliders…

Our sports never stop evolving – that is part of what makes them so engaging. This issue shows that clearly. Talking to Aaron Durogati about his climbing and flying on the highest, steepest peaks of Patagonia was inspiring. The way that ultralight flying equipment can now, seriously, be packed in as part of a climber’s kit on a 15-hour big-wall climbing day just blows my mind. “How much did your flying gear weigh?” I asked. “About 2.2kg,” Aaron said. Our wings really can go with us anywhere and take us anywhere. Equally inspiring was hearing from Jeff Goin about his experience with the latest in electric-powered paramotoring. The dream of paramotoring for many pilots who are not “naturally mechanically sympathetic” as my paramotor instructor called it, has always been a…

Manilla XC Camp Tudor Dorobantu from Romania had “an amazing finish to the Manilla XC Camp” on 2 February when he set a new site record for Manilla at 406km (436km with three turnpoints). “I wished for 300, but it turned out 400,” he said. His flight took him out west, through the Boggabri Gap, north west to Wee Waa, then west into the outback. He landed on a red dirt road northwest of Dubbo after 10 hours in the air. He was flying a UP Meru. Airie Merlin (AU, Flow XCRacer) also flew more than 400km on the same day. Tudor’s big flight gave him the best score for the eight-day Manilla XC Camp, which ran 26 Jan to 2 Feb. He came away with a total of 1,232 straight-line kilometres.…

Rick and Leanne Brezina were on a flying holiday in Australia when Rick got sucked up and spun around by a social media vortex that saw a clip of him in a dust devil viewed millions of times. After the dust had settled he agreed to tell us his story. See page 48 Aaron Durogati needs little introduction but here goes: 3 x Red Bull X-Alps; twice winner of the PWC Superfinal; 500km Brazilian XC; extreme skier; big wall climber; speedrider; XC pilot; dad. At home in the Dolomites it was only natural that his next step took him south, to Patagonia. Go explore, p84 Ben Jordan has contributed regularly to these pages and whether it’s his most recent adventure trip, a new film, a project to create jobs from…

The Paragliding World Cup Superfinal for the 2018 season takes place in Baixo Guandu, Brazil in the last two weeks of March, and promises to be even more accessible to spectators than ever. The PWCA mobile app has been updated and features profiles of some of the top pilots, photos and a new ‘like’ button as well as the essential live tracking. Follow your favourite pilot in real-time and like them all the way to the goal line. After that the 2019 Paragliding World Cup season starts in the final week of May. Coeur de Savoie, France, is hosting a PWC leg for the third time after successful comps in 2014 and 2017, and this year they are hoping to bring paragliding racing to the masses with live streaming from the…