The last day meant fantastic flights for some, and all day on foot for others. The winner, Antoine Giraud, completed the entire tour and flew into goal with five minutes to spare.
After yesterday’s disappointing and frustrating day, I’d hoped today would be extra good. The morning was sunny and cloudless, except for the pileus hat on Mont Blanc
āMy day has gone from bad to worse. Wish Iād done what Iād wanted to. Now set myself back hours and hours of walking ā¹ not fun any moreā
Day three is over, so we are halfway through the Airtour, timewise if not distance-wise. The car is doubling up as a fairly ineffective drying room after last night’s downpour soaked everything, and is starting to smell like a cheese factory
We woke to a grey sky with the odd shower coming through but still the hope it would be flyable from the top of Colombier…
‘One out of two isn’t bad.’ A 14-minute film of trying to paraglide on top of the world
Charlie King flies and walks 36km on her first day of the 289km adventure race.
Bleary eyed competitors gathered on the north launch at St Hilaire this morning for the start of the 2011 St Hil’Airtour.
Charlie King reports from the start of the 289km adventure race
The car’s packed and we’re off up to St Hilaire for the start of the Airtour.
Charlie King blogs from the Airtour, mini-X-Alps style adventure race that starts in St Hilaire du Touvet, France, on 21 June.
The IQ5 is U-Turn’s reversible harness / rucksack, designed to meet the needs of cross country paraglider pilots who walk long distances with their kit.
The St Hil AirTour is a 289km hike-and-fly race that starts and finishes at the French hotspot of free-flight that is St Hilaire du Touvet
Applications for the 2011 Red Bull X-Alps paragliding adventure race, have opened and athletes have until 30 September 2010 to apply.
Developed for the X-Alps, Advance’s Lightness is a pod-style racing paraglider harness and rucksack duo, designed to offer maximum performance and comfort for minimum weight.
Winner of the 2009 Red Bull X-Alps, Chrigel Maurer, has also won the first Biotech Bordairline competition of the year, finishing ahead of Austrians Robert Heim and Martin Steinbichler.
The Energy Cross is a reversible paraglider harness from Icaro. It is designed to be comfortable to walk and fly long distances, and despite being lightweight has plenty of storage space for vol-biv kit.
The winner of the 2010 Transdromoise hike and fly race through the Drome department of France was Michel Guichard, whose prize was a brand new Dudek Zako Speed mountain paraglider.
The Gin Verso is a lightweight reversible paraglider harness/rucksack with an airbag and integrated rescue container, designed to be light and compact yet comfortable for long XC flights.
French paragliding school Esprit Parapente are organising two hike-and-fly events in the French Alps for autumn 2010.
