#206- A Walk (and Fly) down Memory Lane with Paul Guschlbauer

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Paul competes in the 2011 Red Bull X-Alps
Paul in the 2023 Red Bull X-Alps

Paul Guschlbauer has been on the podium more than anyone in the Red Bull X-Alps other than of course Chrigel. He began his X-Alps journey back in 2011 when by his own account, he was a pretty beginner pilot. But that year the weather was horrific and he is a beast on the ground and he managed to nab 3rd place. This result lead to becoming a Red Bull athlete, a spot in that year’s Dolomitimann, and the rest is…well at least history in the making as Paul is far from done! This year’s Red Bull X-Alps was Paul’s 7th edition of the incredible race and a lot has happened over the more than a decade since. Paul now has two children; he’s flown his supercub from Alaska to Argentina; crossed the Alps not only 7 times in the race but twice more (once with Tom De Dorlodot during their ill-fated “Adriatic” expedition”); and he and Aaron Durogati have their own hike and fly series, the Wanderbird. In this episode Paul and I dive into his races and get into the stuff that fans probably haven’t heard. His huge mental struggles during the 2013 race; being in “flow” in 2015; his amazing run through the Lakes in Italy in 2017; what led to the very cool finish with Benoit in 2019; some very funny moments in 2021; and finally some thoughts on the outrageous pace in 2023.

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#205- Chasing the Monster with Gordon Boettger

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On June 19th this year in the blackness of night Gordon Boettger and his copilot Bruce Campbell donned expedition clothing mountaineers use to climb the highest peaks in the world, stepped into a specialized high performance sailplane, put on their night vision goggles and took to the skies of the Sierra mountain chain at 0230. They didn’t know it yet, but they would be in the air flying “wave” (aka the “monster”) for over 17 hours and go farther than anyone ever has in a glider, ultimately ticking up 3055 kilometers, or 1898 miles. Gordon has been chasing the monster for years. It’s his specialty. It’s a little more tame than his day job, flying commercially for FedEx…and it certainly isn’t tame. Flying in the lee of mountains with winds that border on hurricane strength isn’t for the feint of heart. When you get it right you fly straight for huge distances, the vario beeping consistently and you can enjoy the view, which is pretty astonishing at heights that can reach well over 30,000 feet. But when you get it wrong it’s a pretty serious game of holding on and trying desperately to find an out. Rotor is extreme, the sink is alarming and it’s like trying to stay on a very pissed off bucking bronco. As the saying goes, when you’re high you’re high, when you’re low you’re low.

The pilots approach Mt Whitney at 0500 on second leg northbound

In this episode Gordon takes us through his history of flying gliders since he was a teenager and we crescendo with the record flight. He discusses a very close call on a previous flight in the Sierras where he missed the wave and found himself battling obscene sink. And we discuss what’s possible looking ahead. On a day Gordon called at best a 5 out of 10, what could pilots who chase the monster pull off?

“Watching with the (goggles) it was amazing to see the sky,” he said. “The Milky Way was blowing up, there were shooting stars all over the place — it was absolutely breathtaking. We were at 23,000 feet in the middle of nowhere. It really kind of opened a whole new door.”

Buckle up, this one will blow your mind.

The conditions at high altitude can be pretty extreme, even in a protected cockpit
Over Lee Vining looking east over Mono Lake on 2nd leg northbound
Looking south into the Owens at 1400 12 hours into the flight
Crossing 3,000 kilometers…
1915 hours S of Alturas looking NE trying for the 3,000 km barrier. Where to go?
16.000′ vertical velocity at 0800 over course line

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#204 – Flying High with Martin Jovanoski

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Martin wins the PWC in Aksaray, Turkey 2022

Martin Jovanoski has been flying his entire life. Sailplanes, Hang gliders, Paragliders- in any and all forms. He got started in accuracy, moved into cross country competitions and pretty much does it all when it comes to free-flight. He’s one of the big reasons Krushevo, Macedonia has become such a mecca for competitions, and he instructs, guides, flies tandems, designs wings, consults and more. I’ve been lucky enough to compete with Martin many times in World Cups and hands down Martin is the cream of the crop when it comes to unabashed love for our sport. He’s always got the biggest smile on launch. He’s the pilot who seems to have retained that first flight wonder of flying we all have throughout his long and very storied career. In this episode we dive into his history, how he turned accuracy flying into sponsorship and a means to pursue flying full time, competition flying and how to become successful at the highest end of the sport, how to fly safely, and a lot more. Enjoy!

Launching Aksarary, Turkey

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#203- The French Domination with Julien Garcia

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The French own the podium at the Targassone PWC. Maxime Pinot, Honorin Hamard, Baptiste Lambert

It’s no secret that the French are operating on a very different level. If you’re French and into flying and lucky enough you can start young at the Polisport (the French Olympic training center) which aims to develop pilots into the future French team members. The objective is simple- be the best in the world, and win championships. In other words- you can go to University to paraglide! Charles Cazaux, Luc Armont, Pierre Remy, Honorin Hamard, Meryl Delferriere, and Maxime Pinot are all products of the French training program and Julien Garcia, our guest on today’s show is their coach. For years he was the coach of the junior team and is now the coach of maybe the most elite team the world of paragliding has ever seen. 5 of the top 10 pilots in the WPRS ranking are French right now. In last week’s PWC in Targassone, home of the Polisport training center all three top spots went to French pilots. In this episode I grill Julien on the secret sauce of winning. What are the steps the team takes; what does it take to get on the podium with consistency; how do you strategize winning with such different talents; should you focus on strengths or weaknesses; flying “defensively vs offensively”; the “three rules” of paragliding and a lot more. We also dive into Julien’s remote navigational and weather support of Maxime Pinot and Eli Egger in the Red Bull X-Alps. A fascinating talk with a generous individual. Enjoy!

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#202- “The Flying Yogi” Jim Mallinson

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Jim Mallinson has a lot of titles. Baronet, Sir, Professor, Doctor, Mahant, and of course Pilot. Jim is the world’s leading expert on Hatha yoga and Sanskrit. He has translated texts that go back thousands of years. Jim became fascinated with India on a trip there when he was 18 years old and for every year since other than during Covid he has spent 6 months of every year there living as a Sadhu, or “one who has renounced worldly life”- basically a vagabond, but then during the other 6 months has achieved an unbelievable resume in academia, mostly through Oxford University. He’s the author of nine books and scores of academic articles. Described as “perhaps the only baronet with dreadlocks” Jim is one of the most fascinating individuals in our sport. He was one of the Sky Safaris founders who guided XC trips in the Himalaya with legendary pilots Eddie Colfox, John Silvester, Debu Choudery, and Antoine Laurens for over a decade. In this episode we discuss Jim’s views on western and eastern culture, the concept of “dissolving the mind”, his recent amazing flight across the Solent, finding the balance between stillness and achievement, losing his dreadlocks, language extinction, guiding, racing, and what he would do differently if he could rewind the clock. A fascinating talk with a fascinating individual. Enjoy!

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If you like what you hear, please consider becoming a subscriber to ensure our high-quality content continues. You can also help contribute to a healthier, greener planet through our partnership with Our Forest. See our donation and subscription options here.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:39 — 86.7MB)

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Bonus Episode! Leaving the Nest with Calef Letorney

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Right after Calef and I recorded the #201 Podcast he reached out to say he thought he'd missed an opportunity to talk about instruction, namely that very fragile time in a pilot's career when they first get their license and are sent off on their own to figure it out. So here it is, a veritable primer on leaving the nest.

This content is only available to Members of the Cloudbase Mayhem. If you have subscribed to our newsletter or have supported us in the past through PayPal, Patreon or another way you should have an account all set up with us and you can login below (username is typically your email). If you aren't a member, all we've ever asked for is a buck a show so please if you can join now! Can't afford a buck a show? We want all our content to be available to the flying community regardless of your financial position, so just send us an email and we'll sort you out.

#201- Calef Letorney and Community, Confidence, and Cloudwhispering

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Calef Letorney was a professional whitewater kayaker back in the early 2000’s who made the switch to paragliding and has never looked back. When you think of places to fly, you don’t often put the North East US on the list. The mountains are relatively small and flat, there’s a lot of trees, cloudbase is low, and the weather is fickle. But after a few seasons in the Colorado Rockies, Calef moved home to Vermont, and soon realized that to continue enjoying paragliding he needed to build a community to fly with. So he learned to be an instructor, then a tour guide, then an SIV instructor, and finally started training other instructors to help the cause… and the rest fell into place. Where a few years back you’d be lucky to have two paragliders on launch in Vermont, these days when the weather cooperates there’s often 40+ and a solid crew chasing cross country flights. In this fun episode Calef discusses his own approach to SIV (no scary stories, it should be “anticlimactic”), a few  “code brown” mishaps from his  early days (including standing on speedbar while taking a pee, oops!), the psychology of decision making, the Dunning Kruger effect, the low probability / high consequence nature of accidents, how losing a close friend early in the sport affected his approach to flying and a lot more. Enjoy!

Check out Calef’s school, Paraglide New England

To hear the bonus episode we did with Calef about “leaving the nest” click here.

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#200- Going pear shaped in Pakistan

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Welcome to the 200th show of the Cloudbase Mayhem! And this week we’ve got one heck of a story that honors that number. Pilots and friends Pierre Carter, Jeremy Holdcroft, Scott Baker, Richard “Barbs” Barber and legendary mountaineer Andy De Klerk set off this June to attempt to break the altitude record by flying up the Baltoro Glacier to K2 in Pakistan. Everything was going well…until it wasn’t. Andy suffers a heart attack (in the air!), and Scott breaks the rule of not making a tricky situation worse by blowing a landing on the wrong side of the river and suffers a broken ankle and leg, which turns into an epic on its own. A wild story from a wild part of the world and we break it down into everything that went right, everything that went wrong, and lessons we can all take on board to help our community be safer and more prepared in the mountains. This is also a great primer on best-use practices for the Garmin InReach. Mandatory and entertaining listening!

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If you like what you hear, please consider becoming a subscriber to ensure our high-quality content continues. You can also help contribute to a healthier, greener planet through our partnership with Our Forest. See our donation and subscription options here.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:55:59 — 79.7MB)

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Episode 199- A story of avoiding inconvenience with Alejandro Barañac

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We have a saying in our sport, “never avoid inconvenience.” But it’s easier said than done. An easy field a kilometer away from the train station, or a really tricky field right next to it? Landing in strong wind across a river that means a long walk, or landing in strong wind near a road that will have rotor? In the 21′ Vercofly a number of pilots were injured and the race was cancelled due the unusual level of carnage. Some were due to rowdy conditions, but several were just because of pilots making poor decisions. This is one of the latter stories from a first-time hike and fly competitor, Alejandro Barañac. We originally recorded this show as a bonus episode for subscribers, but the lesson here is so important we’re releasing it as a regular show. Alejandro touches on a number or great subjects, including fear injuries. Enjoy!

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Episode 198- Going Big in…Israel? A flight to remember with Eliya Zemmour

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UPDATE to this podcast: Cross Country magazine has just (July 2nd, 2025) broke an incredible story that Eliya Zemmour, featured in this episode has been regularly faking his flights on XContest, using other pilot’s flights as his own. As Cross Country wrote, it is both sad and shocking in equal measure. This remains an interesting and exciting show, but we have no idea what is truth and fiction…

Eliya Zemmour is an Isreali-born climber, endurance athlete, hike and fly guidebook author and…formerly incarcerated conman, but that’s another story to be told soon on the podcast! In this show we take a deep dive into his recent 228km flight from the southern tip of Israel past Jerusalem, which broke the country record. Flying in Israel isn’t without it’s difficulties (tricky borders, sea breeze, no fly zones) but for the adventurous conditions can be amazing and the scenery mind-blowing. Come along for the ride!

Here is Eliya’s record breaking flight on XContest: https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:Eliya/11.03.2023/07:04

Support the Podcast

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If you like what you hear, please consider becoming a subscriber to ensure our high-quality content continues. You can also help contribute to a healthier, greener planet through our partnership with Our Forest. See our donation and subscription options here.

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