Mayhem – CLOUDBASE MAYHEM

New to the flying game? Here’s a selection of our best podcasts aimed at newbies.

Gavin McClurg — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:08:09 +0000

It's finally here! Our curated selection of the best Cloudbase Mayhem podcasts over the years for anyone early on in the sport. Head on over to Patreon where I've gone through every episode to date and gathered every show tailored to learning and early-stoke. Enjoy!

Thinking about competing in the Red Bull X-Alps? Read this first.

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 04:00:22 +0000

Tomorrow, October 14th the world finds out who's going to compete in the 10th edition of the Red Bull X-Alps, which kicks off June 20th, 2021. We'll find out which 33 athletes from around the globe get to spend most of their waking hours over the next 9 months getting physically and mentally prepared for what's billed as the toughest adventure race on Earth.

Chasing Fool’s Gold in Texas

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 02:32:10 +0000

You don't come for the views. You don't come for the cultural experience. You're going to suffer quite a bit. You're going to wait around a lot. You better like meat. And be able to deal with extreme heat. And you better have a smooth tongue when confronted with big dudes with big guns. Like David Prentice says "chasing records in Texas will drive you crazy." He's right. Is it fun? That isn't the right word. But it's...compelling, in a weird sort of way. And for some reason that I can't articulate...I'm excited to go back.

The Flying Gear Post

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 19:47:39 +0000

As 2019 comes to a close I'm trying to wrap up some loose ends. One of them is to fulfill a request from many of our podcast listeners to review and talk about the flying gear I use and why.

The Breakdown: 2019 Red Bull X-Alps

Gavin McClurg — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 20:37:31 +0000

The Red Bull X-Alps is a year of serious endeavor. Physical training. Flying as much as possible, especially in tricky conditions. Tightening up the game. Packing fast, moving fast, thinking fast. Assembling the team, getting all the tech dialed (this is endless in itself), the preparation and planning never ends. And then FINALLY 11 am arrives on the first day of the race in Salzburg and all of that is behind you and for the next 11+ days you have an adventure that is nearly impossible to articulate. It's heaven a lot of the time and it's also hell some of the time. And it's everything inbetween.

Want to Learn Acro? Start with the right kit.

Gavin McClurg — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 15:37:15 +0000

In summary- if you're like me and keen to learn some of the more technical acro moves and also like me and have a limited playground, do yourself a favor and get the right kit. It's sexy getting a bad ass acro wing, but you'll pay the price trying to tame it. Everyone I've spoken with who has helis dialed says it takes hundreds and hundreds of attempts just to get close. You can get lucky every once in awhile, but to really nail it you've got to have a lot of time, a lot of patience and the right tool.

Into the Lightness- Review of the Niviuk Skin 2 P and the Roamer 2

Gavin McClurg — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:42:12 +0000

After 30+ years of testing and innovation I imagine the climbing community is getting pretty giddy. I recently received Niviuk's new Skin 2 P single surface wing. At a measly 1.9 kg I figured it was going to feel and fly pretty weird but when I learned from Fabien Blanco at Flyeo during a recent podcast that pilots were doing 100k triangles on these certified wings I was pretty excited to give it a try.

Garmin InReach Best Practices for Adventurers

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 17:33:59 +0000

In the past couple years it's been really heartening to see pretty much every pilot on launch use an InReach or a SPOT satellite tracking device. And I'm seeing them more and more in the backcountry with skiers, mountain bikers, climbers and people playing in remote areas. This is a very good thing. What isn't great is that many people are not really familiar with their device and not utilizing them properly for messaging, maps, and hardly know how powerful they are, and this can become a serious problem when things go wrong, which is when an InReach immediately becomes the most valuable thing you own.

Countdown to the 2017 Red Bull X-Alps

Gavin McClurg — Thu, 25 May 2017 19:27:28 +0000

Today is the day. With less than 40 days to go until the gun goes off in Salzburg it's time to pack the bags and head to Europe, where I'll have a full month to keep up the physical training and fly as much of the course as possible with Bruce Marks, my air-support guru in the race. I've got a quick stop at the Mountain Film Fest in Telluride this weekend with a couple screenings of North of Known, then Monday I'm on a plane. The flying in Europe all spring has been epic which has frankly been tortuous to watch. Sun Valley has been kind to us after a massive winter with a lot of flyable days, but we haven't had a big day or an easy day yet. Ratty thermals, lots of wind, low base- ie perfect training!

Countdown to the The Red Bull X-Alps, Training Anyone?

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:46:57 +0000

I've been getting a lot of questions about what the physical training looks like for what is known as the "toughest adventure race on Earth", the Red Bull X-Alps. As it says on the X-Alps website: It's a bold claim – but one it surely deserves. It's difficult to think of another race that demands such a high level of fitness and technical skill – or lasts so long. The combination of trekking and paragliding is one of the most exciting hybrids to emerge from the ongoing convergence of mountain sports.

Unscrambling Insurance- Are you covered?

Gavin McClurg — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 02:44:20 +0000

If you go in hard paragliding, hangliding, speedflying or skydiving are you covered? Many, many people find this a very murky subject. Traveling abroad? What about medivac? What if you need a heli rescue? Repatriation to your home country for care? This article should help you out.

Behind the scenes- Preparing for the Red Bull X-Alps

Gavin McClurg — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 19:34:05 +0000

This post is about some of the random but critical things that go into the lead-up to the event. Obviously you fly as much as you can and when you aren't flying you're pounding your body. I'm not going to talk about that aspect as that should be pretty obvious, and the physical training I do would be five blog posts just to touch the surface and probably of very little use for 99.9% of pilots so we'll leave that a mystery. And lets face it, you would have to be pretty twisted to want to do it! What I thought might be interesting is all the side stuff that is so critical when it comes to having a successful campaign.

Pounding gear- A look at what we carried in Alaska

Gavin McClurg — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 14:15:09 +0000

The Alaska Traverse took 37 days to complete. Bashing for days through dense alders, slipping on talus and hurtling down glaciers, and living in the dirt for nearly 800 kilometers put our gear through the test. Here's what worked, what didn't, and where we went wrong.

The Alaska Traverse- Thoughts on Expeditions

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 20:34:26 +0000

Doing it unsupported was appealing, but daunting. There isn't a single village or store on the entire route- some 480 miles as the crow flies, from the north end of the Lake Clark National Park across the Kichatna spires, Foraker and Denali and on to Highway 1, which marks the end of the Alaska range and the beginning of the Wrangells. I estimated it would take at least 4- 6 weeks to complete the route (based on nothing but pure optimism), and given I can only carry about 5 days of food (due to space and weight), that meant hunting.

Killing Complacency- Making sure the luck jar doesn’t run dry

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 18:21:40 +0000

And then I pounded. My second reserve didn't have time to deploy, it was laid out right beside me in a unfolded line. I bounced a bit and thankfully the dirt was really soft. My body made a horrible thudding noise but I was certainly alive. I got up slowly and realized with some amazement that I seemed to be unhurt. I called Cody on the radio and said the same. "NO YOU AREN'T OK, that's the adrenaline, you are definitely not ok, lay back down!" But I was in fact ok. Soreness would kick in as the adrenaline wore off, but I'd done nothing more than bruises. To both my ego and my body.

Bivvy Flying- What’s on your back?

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 19:19:52 +0000

This post is a follow up to an earlier gear post I wrote about the kit Will Gadd and I carried on the Rockies Traverse, "the things we carried" and hopefully answers many questions I've been getting about what's critical and what's not. I actually haven't changed much but it has been refined and I've been able to cut more than 10 pounds of weight which is considerable.

Chinks in the Armor- The Red Bull X-Alps Reality

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 12:19:32 +0000

Every morning I head out and my head says no but my body says yes. The sweating starts, the cursing follows but the body just does the work. "Shut the fuck up head!" I keep saying, but it keeps grunting relentlessly. "I'll shut up when you take a break!" But I don't feel like I can afford a break. Just a few more weeks and that gun goes off in Salzburg and there won't be any more time to prepare.

A life uncomplicated

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 22:29:32 +0000

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.

6 Months and Counting to the Red Bull X-Alps

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 19:34:58 +0000

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.

And so the Training Goes. Countdown to the Red Bull X-Alps

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:11:17 +0000

2015. An absolutely terrifying combination of 4 unique digits. Two reasons. It is a reminder that is bigger than any billboard of how fast time keeps skipping along at an ever faster pace; and it is the year that in just over 6 months time the Red Bull X-Alps will take place. If all goes well between now and then I will be one of 32 international competitors standing at the starting line in Salzburg, heart beating like a snare drum, thrilled and terrified at what is before each of us- quite likely the most grueling adventure race on Earth. My only question now, and my only question at the start will be the same: have I got what it takes?

The things we carried

Gavin McClurg — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 00:47:38 +0000

Will Gadd and I just completed what we believe to be the longest connected track log that has ever been flown. About 650 kilometers across the Canadian Rockies to the US border. One rule: all forward progress was made in the air. Most of the line had never been flown. All up it took us 35 days to complete, with two long bouts of bad weather that shut us down completely for more than a week at a time. A great deal of media will be out shortly documenting the journey, that is not what this essay is all about. I'm still too frazzled, thrilled, shocked, and exhausted to put into words what the expedition meant. I haven't even begun to look back and process the risks, the rewards, and ultimately what comes down to a lesson in humility.

Defining Adventure with Will Gadd across the Canadian Rockies

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:13:45 +0000

Vol Bivouac (fly camp) style adventures seem to be all the recent rage in this rather off-route, deeply addicting fringe sport that a friend recently pointed out quite eloquently as "ridiculous". Flying plastic and strings hundreds of miles without an engine, everything needed to survive on your back. People keep going farther and farther.

Stupid Lines in the Stupidly Pretty

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 23:28:05 +0000

I was very tempted to call this post "Balls Deep" in honor of Tony Lang, who started this rather genital based thread after watching my Spot page and noticing that the flight track did in fact have quite a phallic outline. Of course that was not exactly what I set out to do. Coming off 7 straight days of flying some incredibly awesome tasks (including a 204 km send into the Palouse region of Eastern Washington, a place I've always wanted to see), but hardly crushing the US Nationals in Chelan I was in a bit of a funk.

Pushing Hard in the Alps

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 23:41:50 +0000

21 spring days in the Alps chasing it. Here are the results.

Freefall

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:49:39 +0000

We're talking about all of this and George says, "hey do you want to go skydiving?". He had purchased a parachute on ebay this winter. It arrived in the mail packed and he got his buddy Jake to take him up to 10,000 feet in his plane and he jumped out and free fell 6,000 feet. He'd never done any skydiving before. It went well so he and his son packed it that night with the help of YouTube and he jumped again the next day. That also went well. Are you getting an idea of who George is?

EXPERT: How to Avoid a Storm

Gavin McClurg — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 23:51:57 +0000

A little shared knowledge of storm avoidance if you're wandering around by sea or air, as featured on the Red Bull Adventure Channel. Check it out!

An amazing year. A look back at 2013

Gavin McClurg — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:10:02 +0000

My mom writes a Christmas letter every year and always asks my sister and I to write a paragraph of what we did. For the last 13 years mine has been a discourse on wherever the boat had gone that year. Caribbean, South Pacific, Melanesia, Australasia, Africa, etc. Needless to say, it hasn't been very dull. As I started writing this years recap I fully expected a somewhat more toned-down account.

The Higher You Get, The Higher You Get

Gavin McClurg — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:00:41 +0000

We got home to Sun Valley exhausted but in good spirits. Cool fall nights and shorter days had already set in, the Aspens were already going golden, the tourists had left town. In my opinion Sun Valley has the best big air flying on Earth. A number of recent distance records, including my own world mountain record this summer of 240 miles confirms this opinion, but what we don't often get to do is fly here in the absence of fear. Flying in Sun Valley is usually a pretty full-on affair.

500 Miles to Nowhere

Gavin McClurg — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 20:42:23 +0000

We were four pilots in total: Nick Greece, myself, Nate Scales and Matt Beechinor; each of whom have held the foot launch record in North America for some period over the last 13 months, all but Nick's set from Bald Mountain, Sun Valley. The route chosen was once again an incredibly aesthetic line of about 500 miles, and we'd learn quite a bit more technical and difficult than what we did in the Sierras, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Flying the Apocalypse

Gavin McClurg — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 20:41:26 +0000

On the 8th of August a little lightning caused fire took off near Beaver Creek, sw of Hailey just a few miles; and just north of two much larger fires that had already torn through over 200,000 acres of scrub and pine forests. At that stage there were just over 100 crew on the Beaver Creek fire and the TFR (temporary flight restriction) was just inside our launch on Baldy, so we headed up the hill for what would end up being one of the last flying days of August.

We’re going to Jackson Hole!

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 20:21:19 +0000

Since the big day Sun Valley has been testing my patience. And the town has been winning. I'd been riding my mountain bike way, way too much. Throwing acro hucks in the morning and evenings. Both very fun activities. Yeah, the town is great too; not even that busy for a bitchin' ski town. Luckily most of the yahoos prefer to engulf Jackson Hole (Tetons and Yellowstone) and leave us alone.

A North American Record Falls! 240 Miles deep

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 19:58:28 +0000

Gavin McClurg goes farther than anyone has off a mountain, breaking the world record in a wild 240 mile flight that takes 7 1/2 hours from Bald Mountain, Sun Valley deep into Montana near Helena, Montana. Here is the account on how it went down.

Hypoxic Magic Lines

Gavin McClurg — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 19:58:06 +0000

It's kind of hard to write this log knowing what happens on the day after this flight went down (wait wait, don't fast forward yet!), but it was a magnificent day and deserves it's own place in the Mayhem blog. Things looked...ok, but not great for a big flight. The wind looked once again right on the edge and given it's July I thought things would be a bit hairy up in the sky. I was up the hill first, knowing we've got a short launch window on Baldy and I feel like we've been leaving a lot of distance on the table launching too late.

Flying the Continental Divide

Gavin McClurg — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 19:24:28 +0000

After my last flight that ended up in a big OD (overdevelopment) Sun Valley has been flushed with serious wind. Beautiful for long mountain bike rides, swimming in the river, enjoying this insanely beautiful town, but totally shit for flying. The tandem boys have been jumping off the hill every morning and sneaking in some super nice evening flights, but going for distance in the daytime hasn't been possible. I got to toss the new Niviuk F-Gravity around which was RAD, but this is XC season and I moved here first and foremost for the flying potential and going deep, so a little acro was nice- but I needed more.

Rat Race

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:59:50 +0000

From Zurich I flew back across the pond to try my hand at my first Rat Race, an annual comp and fiesta held in Ruch, Oregon off Woodrat mountain by Mike and Gail Haley. This was the 11th year of the event and nearly all the best pilots in the US as well as global superstar Michael (Mickey) Sigel were in attendance. I flew to Portland, rented a car and drove to Redmond, Oregon where I found Nate Scales sitting on a bench outside the airport. He'd just driven in from Sun Valley with his motor home and had arrived about 3 minutes before I did.

5 for 5 in Speikboden

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:46:48 +0000

On Monday, the morning after our flight from Scuol we aired out Bruce’s reserve and got it packed back up and came up with a plan. Much of the eastern Alps were now looking possibly very good for Tuesday, even “Hammertag” good, depending on what forecast you were using. A big heat wave was moving in from North Africa which meant the air might be more stable, but with the summer solstice only a couple days away, we had very long days to work with.

Niviuk Peak 3 Review

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:34:11 +0000

We had two super windy days after the Riederalp/Interlaken flight so I trained down to Verbier to pick up my bags, spent a night with Mike and Stu and celebrated with their graduating group of new pilots, who were all pretty thrilled with their new-found sky skills. Then the next day I carried on to Geneva to meet with Patrick Roser, the Swiss Niviuk dealer who had a couple very special presents for me- the new F-Gravity 2 acro wing, and the Peak 3 X-Alps (ie light weight version). I tried to control myself from just ripping open the bags right at the train station.

Globetrotting

Gavin McClurg — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:14:36 +0000

I'm going to hell for my carbon footprint, of that I am sure. After our two days in Bassano and more rain in the forecast Bruce and I broke 8 straight nights of culinary extraordinaire at the Abbazia and headed for the Dolomites. Figured we might as well take some walks if we couldn't fly.

Chasing Chocolates Part II

Gavin McClurg — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:09:00 +0000

When Bruce and I got to launch on Monday at Bassano we were encouraged to have Nicole Fedele and Damiano Zanocco on launch. A good sign that we were in the right place on this most difficult of springs in Europe for finding decent weather. A lot more cloud was showing early, but things looked like they would work.

Chasing Chocolates Part I

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 28 May 2013 06:54:48 +0000

Yesterday we finally got a chance. Bruce and I are about as hungry as you can get. And not for food, the Abazzia restaurant continues to blow our minds. Hungry for distance. It didn't look like it would be a great day. Too much wind, too early over-development and rain. All of which were true, but maybe, just maybe we could squeak a chocolate (100 km flight).

Rain, Wind, Pizza and Dicey Landings

Gavin McClurg — Sat, 25 May 2013 06:53:43 +0000

After one short flight in Fiesch and a continued blurry forecast we hit the road in the Niviuk mobile for the only place in Europe that held any promise- Bassano, Italy. Many people are saying this is the wettest (ie worst) spring in history. Whatever the case may be, it has been dismal. But the flying forecast was for two good, maybe even great cross country days.

What to Do, What to Do?

Gavin McClurg — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:26:17 +0000

Arrived Paris two weeks ago with Nate Scales, my Sun Valley flying buddy with huge plans of massive triangles in the Alps. Spring flying in Europe is spicy, strong and when you get the days completely RAD, but the days don't come often. Patience is the key. My flying partner Bruce Marks arrived in the middle of April, got three back to back days of 8 hours+ in the air in the Wallis area (Fiesch, Riederalp, Zermatt, etc.) but since then it's been...challenging.

The Mayhem Begins!

Gavin McClurg — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:31:00 +0000

Been thinking about getting a flying blog going for some time now. I'm sitting in Fiesch, Switzerland with my good friend and flying partner slash fellow addict Bruce Marks. It's raining non-stop, it's nearly June, the mountains are getting buckets of snow...and we can't fly. So I can dream about things like our trip last fall across the Sierra Mountains. Hope you enjoy.