Innholdsfortegnelse for Adventure Guide 2022 i Adventure Guide 2022

EDITORIAL THE CROSS COUNTRY ADVENTURE GUIDE Whatever and wherever you fly, we all share the spirit of adventure Photo: Tobias Dimmler “OK, let’s focus on what we’re doing, we can chat later!” In a polite way I was trying to tell my buddy that really, now was the time to be paying attention, not talking. We were climbing on a steep mountain ridge on a perfect blue-sky day. It was a long way down and we still had a long way to go ahead. Yes, it was amazing to be up there, and I knew why he was elated, but we needed to bring all our attention to the business in hand. In searching for a definition of what “Adventure” is, that’s what I came up with, that feeling of…

ENVIRONMENT THE LAST GLACIERS Malcolm Wood has spent five years making The Last Glaciers, a new film that tells the story of climate change through flying and mountain adventure. By Ed Ewing Photo: Cody Tuttle “We filmed for four years, then a year of Covid, and now it will be released in IMAX on 22 March, World Water Day.” Malcolm Wood, 40, has been working on The Last Glaciers film for five years and is explaining that a 40-minute version is being distributed in IMAX cinemas later this year. One of the people behind the award-winning film A Plastic Ocean, Malcolm divides his time between Hong Kong, where he has a restaurant business, and Chamonix, where he lives with his family. Alongside those, his passions are mountain sports and environmental…

BIG DAY OUT THE JOY OF COMBO “It’s so rare, that’s what makes it so special.” Professional pilot and filmmaker  Antoine Boisselier loves nothing better than combining paragliding and skiing in the mountains.  By Bastienne Wentzel “When a good combo day comes up, I call my friends and we just go!” Antoine Boisselier loves those rare days when the mountains around his home in St Hilaire du Touvet are still snowcovered, but the thermals are strong enough to take him and his friends up high. On these days, they pack their XC-gliders, stuff a speedwing in the bag and don their ski gear. From the grassy launch at 1,000m AMSL they thermal up and cross the valley to the ski resort on the other side. There they top-land on skis…

RISK ANALYSIS KEEPING IT REAL “How do we deal with risk?” Cedar Wright has spent a lifetime in the mountains climbing, mountaineering and now flying, threading the line between risk and reward Photo: Gabriel Mann Much like the air we fly in, the line between being a badass and a dumbass, between adventure and catastrophe, is amorphous and invisible. I’ve spent the better part of my life threading that esoteric line, first as a climber and alpinist, and more recently as a paraglider pilot. I’m happy to look back on a wild life of accidentfree adventure. (I didn’t say incident free…ha!) I’ve often joked that, “it’s better to be lucky than good,” but beyond the self-deprecating humour, there is a general philosophy I have developed that has allowed me to…

FLYING VOL-BIV HIKE, FLY, SLEEP, REPEAT Want to give vol-bivouac flying a try but don’t know where to start? All you need is a sleeping bag, a bit of food and an adventure mindset to experience this ultimate freedom, writes Tarquin Cooper Photo: Marcus King Photo: Jérôme Maupoint There are few of us who haven’t flicked through these pages or scrolled down the latest social feeds and been inspired to give vol-biv a go after seeing the latest epic journey. The appeal is obvious. “It’s the purest form of travelling and flying,” says vol-biv master Tom de Dorlodot. “It’s always a little adventure, to hike, take a glider and not know where you’re going to end up – this is the whole magic of it. We feel like an explorer.”…

GREENLAND ALONG THE ARCTIC TRAIL Brothers Olivier and Nicolas Cochet wanted to share their love of adventure and wild places with their sons. So they headed to the vastness of Western Greenland to hike, kayak, fly and explore. Words: Mathilde Chivet Photography: Nicolas Cochet “I expected it to be wild before leaving, but during this trip I really discovered a place where nature still has its full rights and where Man is nothing.” Fourteen-year-old Jules Cochet is talking about his family trip last year, when he, his cousin, father and uncle all travelled together to Greenland, for a family holiday with a big difference. “What struck me most was really, that once we left the International airport, we were alone,” he says. “The nearest village was tens of kilometres away,…

GEAR GUIDE HOW TO CAPTURE THE MOMENT Whether you are heading out for the day or a month, the key to taking great flying pictures is to think about what you want to create before you leave the ground. We asked adventure photographer Guy Bolton how to get the best images possible All photos: Guy Bolton Composition in the air is unique. From a paraglider, the composition is constantly evolving so you only get one chance at any one shot. You also don’t have the luxury of hitting pause to change lenses, so everything needs to be tested on the ground first. Safety can not be overstated. Having clear boundaries on when the camera needs to be put away is important, as is being mindful of other airspace users. Shooting from the…

XC FLYING GOING BIG IN BRAZIL Serena Ronchi won last year’s Women’s XContest after flying more than 10,000km in a year. She explains how she learnt to fly cross country so quickly, and why she has her eye on the new Swiss hike-and-fly league. By Ed Ewing How did you start flying? As a child I always dreamed of flying. The feeling of levitation and liberty is addictive. I did two tandems in 2013 and 2015 but I only clicked in 2018 when I saw two guys flying down the mountain after a via ferrata. That was magical. I called a paragliding school near where I live in the Pre-Alps in Switzerland and started flying. How was your progression? From the start I always liked to stay in the air…

MOUNTAINS FLYING FROM GIANTS Lightweight gear has opened up new adventures in the mountains and is once again attracting alpinists to the adventure of paragliding. Sebastian Brutscher took it to the extreme with a climb-and-fly of the north face of the Matterhorn. By Tarquin Cooper Photo: Sebastian Brutscher On 23 October last year, German mountain guide Sebastian Brutscher stood on the summit of the Matterhorn (4,478m), cobra launched his wing and flew off one of the world’s most iconic summits. Sebastian isn’t the first to have flown from the Matterhorn (Red Bull X-Alps champion Chrigel Maurer and free-ride skier Sam Anthamatten also belong to that club), but he is the first to have done it after climbing the north face, one of the classic hard climbs of the Alps. “The…

STAYING LOCAL NO PLACE LIKE HOME Photographer Adi Geisegger slows down and rediscovers the joy of exploring the incredible flying in his own backyard By Adi Geisegger, as told to Matt Warren Photography: Adi Geisegger I was on Madeira when the pandemic’s grip on the world began to tighten in March 2020 and countries around the globe were going into lockdown. The crisis still seemed a long way from us while we were filming on this remote Portuguese island in the Atlantic. But when a friend phoned, warning me that my home country of Germany was beginning to close its borders, it became clear that Covid-19 was about to impact all our lives. Faced with the prospect of being stuck on Madeira, my team and I threw everything into the…

PROFILE “IT’S A VERY INTENSE EXPERIENCE” Sylvestre Campe is a Brazilian filmmaker who has turned his eye to the Amazon, exploring and filming the 4,000km long Trans-Amazonia Highway from the air. By Ed Ewing Photo: Xenia Ivanoff-Erb “I’ve been living in Brazil for the past 30 years, and Brazil has given me an amazing life,” says Emmy award-winning cinematographer Sylvestre Campe from his home in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. “An interesting film career, amazing family, everything. And I always want to defend Brazil. So I wanted to go up to the Transamazônica to see, is it really that bad, the way people say? “I went there with a mission, hopefully to be able to defend it. But to be quite honest, I just couldn’t be positive about it.…

WHAT’S ON ADVENTURE CALENDAR 2022 From paramotoring in Rio to hike-and-fly in Switzerland, here’s what’s on the agenda this year Photo: Matias Nombarasco Just Fly Festival, Brazil, 20-23 January Immerse yourself in a Brazilian party with this fly-in for paramotors. Hosted by Escola Rio Paramotor at their new location close to Rio de Janeiro, enjoy a guided flight to the island of Farol das Ilhas Maricás, safety measures covered. tinyurl.com/ppginrio, facebook.com/escolarioparamotor Photo: MK Las Candelas Paramotores, Spain, 29-30 January A paramotor festival and competition all in one to kick off the new season. Finally celebrating the 25th edition after a year off, the festival includes a Coupe Icare-like carnival with costumed-flying prizes to win. lascandelasparamotores.com, facebook.com/Lascandelasparamotores Photo: Ben Horton Salton Sea, California, USA, 2-6 February This big US fly-in attracts…

BUCKET LIST KILIMANJARO CALLING Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the world’s biggest top-to-bottom – a 90-minute glide with 5,000m (17,000ft) descent. And although 35,000 trekkers a year make the summit, only a handful ever fly off it. Peter Fay did it last year Photo: iStockPhoto Why Kilimanjaro? When Covid hit, my flight school in Hawaii, Paraglide Maui, was forced to stop running the school van. So a friend and I started to hike the 300m to launch instead. At the same time I saw a film online about flying from Kili and that triggered the idea. I went with my brother and his wife, who hiked up and down, and my wife, Emma, who flew down tandem with our guide, Pierre Carter. What’s the hike up like? We took the Rongai…

PARAMOTORING THE DREAM OF THE FLYING CAR From James Bond to drone-taxis over Manhattan the idea of a flying car has always captured imaginations. Gilo Cardozo’s new Parajet Xplorer is designed as the ultimate adventure vehicle “This is the first car in the world that is road legal, flight legal and a brilliant off-roader. It really is the ultimate tool for adventure.” Gilo Cardozo, the engineer and pilot behind Parajet and a host of other engineering businesses has been here, or at least somewhere that looks like it, before. In 2009 he and a team set off from their base in the UK with their original concept ‘flying car’ for a road and air expedition to Timbuktu in West Africa. However, things didn’t go quite to plan, because the car…

BIKEPACKING BY BIKE TO BARRA Kieran Campbell spent two weeks cycling through the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Of course, he took his paraglider with him. First stop? The remote island of Barra, famed for its beautiful Atlantic beaches Photos: Kieran Campbell / Helen Smith Barra is an island at the southern tip of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. For much of the year it’s blasted by Atlantic storms, but last summer my partner, Helen Smith, and I spent two weeks cycling through the islands here. We first drove to Fort William, which is in mainland north west Scotland, then hopped on the bikes. Over the next 14 days we took six ferries, visited eight islands and cycled 540km. Of course, I had to take my glider with me. I carried…

TANDEM FLYING SHARING THE JOY The adventure of cross-country flying is more than doubled when it is shared. “Distance flying is what drives us, what makes us tick.  But only in tandem!” say Clarisse Vallet and Timothée Manaud. Photo: Clarisse Vallet Every moment we spend in the air, we share in tandem. And each flight is a great adventure, right on our doorstep, in the Alps. Our first XC flights were one-way from St Hilaire du Touvet, trying to go as far as possible. We started with an Ozone Magnum 1, size 38m2, then an Advance Bi-Beta 5, 40m2. With light harnesses we were able to distribute the total weight in two backpacks (2 x 8kg). Weight was important because getting home was often just as much of an adventure…

STAYING LOCAL ADI’S BACKYARD 1 Grünten, 1,738m Take-off: 1,200m AMSL Height difference: 470m Launch direction: WNW, W, WSW Info: An easy, one-hour hike up or go by car and park five minutes from the take-off. With a west wind, there are nice soaring conditions all year. In spring, good thermal flights are possible with connections to the flatlands. Check the flying rules at take-off. 2 Mittag Berg, 1,451m Take-off: 1,382m AMSL Height difference: 723m Launch directions: S, W, NNW, N, NE Info: Easily reached by cable car or a 1.5 hour hike from the landing field. April to June offers the best XC potential. Great soaring flights in the evening when the valley wind system is on. 3 Spießer Take-off: 1,611m AMSL Height difference: 850m Launch directions: S, SW, E…

GEAR GUIDE GEARING UP FOR ADVENTURE Choosing the right equipment for adventure flying can become a trade-off between light weight and comfort. Bastienne Wentzel explores the options Photos: Kinga Mastalerz / Karine Dupureur Lightweight paragliders, 3-4kg Nearly every manufacturer now has at least one lightweight wing in their range, and some make virtually every glider, from EN A to EN D, in lightweight as well as standard versions. They can be same design as basically the equivalent full-fat designing a completely new wing. but made using lightweight cloth, unsheathed lines and light Dyneema risers. For the manufacturer this is the easiest option and requires less certification than the wing As the demand for lightweight wings rises, we are also now seeing more specially-designed lightweight wings that are optimised for a…

GEAR GUIDE SHOULD YOU TAKE A TENT OR NOT? With the boom in ultralight backpacking kit there is a host of equipment choices for pilots: from sleeping wrapped up in your wing through to tarps and full-on fourseason mountain tents. CREATURE COMFORTS Before deciding what’s right for you, you should look at the environment and weather you are likely to encounter. Is your trip short enough that you can choose a good weather window? If so, you may not need to bring a tent. “If it’s just a night or two with a good weather forecast, I’ll go for a lightweight tarp,” says adventure pilot Kinga Masztalerz. “I set it up on a trekking pole. It can also double as a poncho.” For longer trips and more protection you’ll want…

GEAR GUIDE TECH FOR ADVENTURES Weight is important whatever you have planned. From smartphones to specialist lightweight flight instruments Marcus King takes a look at what’s out there Photo: Marcus King Basic beepers There is a whole range of instruments aimed at the adventure-flying market, from simple audio-only devices to full-spec but lightweight instruments. If you’re flying without instruments, then you can still keep track of your flight using your phone or even your smartwatch. Of course, this has limits, so you may still want to use a small audio vario. Both battery- and solar-powered models exist. They just beep when you go up and make a sad noise in sink. Examples include LeBipBip, SkyBean, MipBip and the Compass Beeper. GPS-varios The next level of instrument adds a GPS, so…

FINAL GLIDE THE VAGABOND OF THE SKIES Didier Favre was the original thinker behind the first long-distance Alpine vol-bivouacs. Thirty years ago he set off to fly 1,111km from Monaco to Slovenia. By Ed Ewing Photos: Nicolas Faure Swiss hang glider pilot Didier Favre can be thanked for giving us the idea of vol-bivouac as we understand it today. Because while the idea of flying migration is not new – the barnstormers and aviation pioneers of 1920s and 1930s USA adopted it as a lifestyle – it was Didier who brought it to hang gliding and the Alps some 30 years ago. A Swiss hang gliding champion and businessman, in the early 1990s he launched himself into a series of well-publicised hang-gliding migrations through the Alps. He first went for 444km…