ADVENTURE [4] An Audience with Her Majesty Up close and personal with the Queen of the Dolomites on a fine autumn day. The Ultimate Race The Red Bull X-Alps 2017 were the most demanding X-Alps in the history of the race. Skywalk‘s team pilots had unforgettable adventures and secured top rankings. Flying in the Boondocks: Helmut Blaim and Bernhard Beaury took their paragliders with them on their trip to the remote island. Our paragliders for beginners, XC cracks, adventurers and alpinists. skywalk kicks off the 2018 season with 4 new models. Comfortable in the air: our harnesses for beginners,...

For many, DIGISITATION is the ultimate mega trend others find it merely a logical consequence of technological advances. It is clear that DIGISITATION affects all aspects of life, and will certianly result in changes to paragliding. We can already observe the worlds best pilots live over the internet as they compete in events like the Red Bull X-Alps, or plan clever new XC routes or even practice thermalling on our computers. The next generation of varios will communicate with each other and indicate in realtime where our friends have found lift, are crossing valleys or maybe are even in danger....

Feathered messengers and small white cotton puffs guide pilots through the breathtaking landscape in autumn.

Text: Christoph Kirsch, Photos: Tristan Shu If you want to pay your respects to a queen, you can’t just knock on the door of her palace. If you want an audience, you must approach humbly and choose the right time. The Queen of the Dolomites lets visitors from the air get close to her only on hand-picked days. hose who have visited the rock cathedrals of the Dolomites, will always return. The elegant towers of golden yellow lime have an almost magical attraction. At 3,343 meters, the Marmolada towers over all other massifs of the landscape created 250 million years ago by a whim of nature. That...

The 3343-meter-high Marmolada is considered the queen of the Dolomites. Her peak is often sheathed in clouds, forcing summit aspirants to turn back. The autumn, when the sun gradually loses its power, is the right time for paragliding pilots to ask the queen for an audience. ber and October have long since returned to the concrete silos of the big cities, and slowly calm returns to the Rosengarten, Sellastock and Langkofel massif. The often frightening up and down drafts that keep Marmolada‘s hang glider and paraglider pilots at bay in the summer turn into soft, even updrafts.

A good starting point to explore the Marmolada are the grassy slopes below the Grohmannspitze in the Langkofel massif. With lightweight equipment, the ascent from the valley takes less than two hours. If you reach the foot of the wall at lunchtime, then you are just in time to rise up over the steep rocks with the first warm air bubbles. In the Rosengarten to the right, you’ll get a first impression of whether the day is suitable for an audience with the queen. If the thermals on the six sharp-edged Vajolet towers reach 3000 meters by early afternoon, the attempt could be worth it. You’ll have...

Foto: zooom.at/Sebastian Marko

The Red Bull X-Alps 2017 were the most demanding X-Alps in the year history of the race. The route required athletes to cross the main ridge of the Alps three times and to cope like never before with the )ody Alpone weather. skywalks team pilots experienced unforgettable adventures and managed to secure four top rankings.

Text: Christoph Kirsch Photos: Red Bull Content Pool & skywalk Christian Maurer Platz 1 Paul Guschlbauer Platz 3 Ferdinand v. Schelven Platz 4 Simon Oberrauner Platz 5 Richard Brezina Platz 15 Jesse Williams Platz 18 Manuel Nübel verletzt ausgesch. Stephan Gruber verletzt ausgesch. Seven teams competed in the Red Bull X-Alps 2017 with skywalk‘s ultra lightweight X-ALPS3, developed especially for the race. Richard Brezina chose the POISON X-Alps. Top favorite Christian Maurer was once again most success navigator of the 1138 kilometer course. After ten days, 23 hours and 23 minutes, he was the...

The rainy start spoiled neither the excitement nor the motivation of the athletes. On the first day of the race, the paragliders remained in the athletes‘ packs, protected by waterproof covers. Only Paul Guschlbauer ventured a short glide through the clouds.

PPerfect conditions! After a rainy start, the pilots are rewarded over and over again with excellent XC days: Paul Guschlbauer follows Fotos re. u. li.: zooom.at/Harald Tauderer a cloud street near Meran. In the background the picturesque Rosengarten. After a few days, the strain is etched in the faces of the athletes. Pictured: Simon Oberrauner, Manuel Nübel and Christian Maurer. ... and Young Challengers While Christian Maurer flies his own race at the head of the pack - he circles the fourth turning point near the Zugspitze at around 2:00pm on the fourth day of the race and flies to Meran...

Spectacular launch! Simon Oberrauner kites his X-ALPS3 stretches of the race in a gaggle of other top athletes. Such cooperation is new in the Red Bull X-Alps. On the evening of day six he lands with a competitor near Bolzano at an alpine hut and, after a restful night, the two begin the seventh day of the race together. Shortly after, they reach the fifth turning point at Monte Baldo on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, where in the course of the day half a dozen athletes will shake hands. One of them is Ferdinand van Schelven, who, like Paul Guschlbauer, has already successfully finished the...

Photo: zooom.at/Vitek Ludvik Paul Guschlbauer, Ferdinand van Schelven, Manuel Nübel and the other skywalk team pilots now face one of the most challenging sections of the X-Alps 2017: the Canton of Ticino. Landing along the route from Lake Garda to the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland, is impossible in many places as restricted areas of civil aviation cover the ridges like spider webs. On 8 July the weather takes a turn for the worse, complicating matters even more. Gaspard Petiot, who has temporarily put Christian Maurer under pressure, becomes a victim of the limited landing possibilities....