Tag Archives: x-alps

#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...

#241- Tom De Dorlodot and Resilience

by

A year ago almost to the day professional Red Bull adventure athlete, 9 time Red Bull-Alps competitor, brainchild of “The Search” projects, professional speaker, loving father and husband Tom De Dorlodot was learning how to kite-ski in Norway for a future planned expedition across the length of Greenland when things went horribly, horribly wrong. This wasn’t Tom’s first major injury, but this one has forced Tom into some scary places both mentally and physically. Tom’s year has been a blur of darkness and light: nine major surgeries, months of antibiotics, at times a real risk of losing his leg pulling against optimism, hope, love of family and beautiful lessons.

Read More...

#238 Acro, Test flying, SIV, Instruction, Meteo and Comps with Karlis Jaunpetrovics

by

In this episode we talk about his journey to becoming an instructor, the challenges and intricacies of test piloting, his passion for acrobatics, his experiences flying in Taiwan, and the vibrant paragliding community he has encountered along the way. Karlis shares his passion for cross-country flying and the importance of mentorship in paragliding. He discusses the significance of finding the right instructor and community, as well as his transition into teaching SIV training, the 4 fundamentals of SIV, and how progression works when it works well.

Read More...

Episode 75- Dominic Rohner and Chasing the Dream

by

Dominic has been flying for 21 years, recently sold his share of a very successful school (Paraworld) in Zurich and has been living the dream- traveling the world in the pursuit of the skycrack. From Tanzania and Kenya to Brazil to Colombia Dominic takes us on a journey that only a paraglider can do. This one is filled with great advice, many laughs, a few solid warnings, fantastic travel stories, the heuristic decision making process, and does what any good free flight talk should do- get you STOKED to go flying!

Read More...

Episode 69- Armin Harich and Sending Flatlands and Flying accident free

by

Armin Harich is the co-founder of Skywalk Paragliders, started flying in 1989 and has never had an accident, and is the first person to fly over 300km in Germany, and he did it on a EN B wing (the Skywalk Tequila). I was told by many people before speaking to Armin that he’s a flatlands “SkyGod” so we focused much of this show on flatlands flying techniques and how people started flying the flatlands, dealing with airspace, how to assess weather in advance of a potentially good day, and a lot more.

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 30- Michael “Micky” Sigel and building greatness

by

Michael “Micky” Sigel began flying before most people learn how to drive a car. His early talent and passion got him on the Advance team when he was just sixteen years old. These days Micky makes a living as a test pilot for Gin Gliders and has been a dominant force in the Swiss League and the World Cup for nearly a decade. In this episode we catch up on what went down with the Gin factory last year in Northern Korea; what a test pilot actually does; how the Swiss League turns out so much incredible talent; the importance of mentors and how where you fly affects the pilot you can become; the local advantage and the traps of flying the unknown vs the known; what separates the best from the good; the importance of mental strength and believing in yourself; the importance of a glider in a competition and the importance of choosing a glider that suits the task- and a LOT more.

Read More...

Episode 5 Nate Scales and Staying in the Game

by

Nate “Papa” Scales got his first flight in 1991 on a glider that had 11 cells in Sun Valley, Idaho. The next day he moved to Utah to learn how to fly and hasn’t looked back since. I’ve never met anyone as passionate as Nate is about flying nylon and string and he’s even more psyched today to go big than ever. We cover a LOT of ground in this hysterical episode. Nate discusses the value of competitions; his only (and very wild) reserve toss; risk and safety; his recent decision to step down to an ENC glider after flying comp gliders for more than 15 years; his “dream” line; learning from failure; and we go way back in time and talk about the days of taking pictures of waypoints before there was GPS; his 2007 X-Alps campaign and much more.

Read More...

A life uncomplicated

by

I answered immediately: “Fuck No!” Training for what is billed as the hardest adventure race on Earth has consumed my every move and thought for the last 7 months, and I’m sure will only get exponentially worse until the race starts July 5th. And I mean CONSUMED. I eat; I train; I eat and eat and eat; train and train and train; make lists that have no end; and sleep whenever possible. This is my life. Unless you have competed in this race, or are a rookie like me this year I promise you can’t possibly imagine what goes into this kind of campaign.

Read More...

6 Months and Counting to the Red Bull X-Alps

by

Niviuk pilot Gavin McClurg is having an amazing year. He is one of the 2015 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year for his ground-breaking vol-biv across the Canadian Rockies with the legend mountain athlete Will Gadd, and he’s been selected to compete in this years edition of the hardest adventure race on Earth, the Red Bull X-Alps. We sat down with Gavin recently to find out how his training is going, here’s what he had to say.

Read More...