Tag Archives: New Zealand

#248 The art of being Bold with Antoine Girard

by

French pilot and serious adventurer Antoine Girard has laid down some of the boldest lines on Earth, and he’s been doing it for a long time. Antoine competed in the Red Bull X-Alps four times, starting in 2013 where he found himself on the podium (3rd), again in 2015 (4th), 2017 (badly injured), and 2019 (retired due to continued trouble with the injury sustained in 2017). He’s pulled off some of the most extreme expeditions in paragliding and mountaineering in Pakistan on 6 different trips, flew from west to east across the Andes, was nearly killed in Eritrea (by people, not flying), flew the length of the south island of New Zealand, and is currently traversing the United States from the Mexico border to the Northern Canadian Rockies.

Read More...

#245 The 100 Peaks Challenge with Nathan Longhurst

by

In this conversation, US based climber and relatively new paragliding pilot Nathan Longhurst shares his incredible journey of completing the 100 Peaks Challenge in New Zealand, combining his passion for climbing and flying. He began on 17 November 2024 and ran, rock climbed, ice climbed, bushwhacked, kayaked, cycled and paraglided his way through the list and incredibly- knocked it out in just 103 days.

Read More...

#242 Stoic, Solo Adventuring with Juraj Koreň

by

Juraj Koreň is an expert alpine climber and pilot from Slovakia who has been chasing some very extreme (often solo) adventures around the world for the last decade, including his 7 “virgin summits” attempt to climb and fly off the world’s highest peaks. We begin this conversation discussing his experience in the 2019 Red Bull X-Alps and how mistakes in his first race have guided his last five years of preparations for his second race this June. They discuss the challenges of solo climbing and the importance of understanding mortality in adventure sports. Juraj reflects on his experiences, including a harrowing solo climb of the north face of the Eiger and the mental battles faced during the Red Bull X-Alps race. We discuss the addictive nature of extreme sports, the lessons learned from past experiences, and the importance and intrigue of solo missions for personal growth and reflection.

Read More...

Episode 170- Flying, Camping, and Cloudsurfing with Benjamin Kellett

by

I’m not sure if I introduce Benjamin with “film maker” or “pilot” as he does both in spades. Benjamin makes amazing films about his flying and bivvy adventures in New Zealand and takes the viewer directly into his cockpit, talking the audience through his decision making with some of the most infectious stoke on flying I’ve ever witnessed. Come along for the ride with Benjamin as he takes us into the clouds to surf the possibilities.

Read More...

Episode 122- Storytime with James “Kiwi” Oroc

by

James “Kiwi” Oroc is a journalist, photographer, artist and pilot born in the small South Pacific nation of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Since 1998 he has been pursuing and reporting on the cutting edge of extreme sports in more than 40 countries around the globe and has written three books- the non-fiction cult classic Tryptamine Palace, The New Psychedelic Revolution and the just-published fictional Under the Influence, 20 Tales of Psychedelic Noir and has been flying paragliders since the mid 80’s, when gliders had 7 cells!

Read More...

Episode 36- Nick Neynens and the art of Vol Biv

by

“If the conditions are too gnarly, don’t land, climb and get to better air!” Thoughts like this from Nick Neynens are what allowed him to finish the 2015 Red Bull X-Alps in 10th place. Nick has an untraditional approach and it works- he’s flown vol-biv all over the world and has competed in the X-Pyr and X-Berg as well. In this episode we learn more about his untraditional approach and talk about risk justification, progression, meteorology, and using sandals in the hardest race on Earth. A special episode with a special pilot.

Read More...

Episode 9- Thomas de Dorlodot and the Endless SEARCH

by

Thomas de Dorlodot is probably the most enviable pilot in the world. He’s made a living out of traveling the world and documenting his expeditions. A 5 time Red Bull X-Alps competitor and Red Bull Athlete Tom started flying when he was 15 years old. He’s flown above 7,000 meters in Pakistan, paramotored over the Marquesas in French Polynesia, glided over volcanoes in Guatemala and Tanzania, hucked acro over Victoria Falls and is currently working on sailing around the world. His accolades and accomplishments are too many to even list here, but it hasn’t all been a rosy romp through la-la land and in this episode we dive into his two accidents this year, one a major accident during his Adriatic expedition with Paul Guschlbauer and the other that ended his X-Alps campaign on day 7; we talk about how Tom approaches risk; how he plays the sponsorship game; how he prepares mentally and a lot more.

Read More...