It is the third last day of the Red Bull X-Alps 2021 and slowly the euphoria and the speed of the events are dying down a bit. Therefore, in this post we want to turn our attention to a few basic things - apart from the rather overseeable ups and downs in the ranking. Let’s have a look at the performance of the athletes, what can go wrong and why.…

A little devil would have taken Chrigel's paraglider away from him yesterday on the Schmittenhöhe, packed a few rocks in his backpack and sent him on foot down to the lake for a swim. It's a mockery that the X-Alps are still going on for three days, but the winner and his closest pursuers seem to have taken advantage of the beautiful weather. They…

HE has closed the bag: The Eagle has landed! This time not on the moon, but on the raft on the Zeller See. The alien, the one and only Chrigel Maurer has won the Red Bull X-Alps for the seventh time in a row. We congratulate and bow our heads in deepest respect to the King of the X-Alps. When HE crossed the finish line, HE was about 130 km ahead of…

For those who did not follow the live tracking today: this was probably the day of the seventh X-Alps victory for Chrigel Maurer. You don't have to be a prophet to make this prediction. The eagle flies and flies and flies – while his closest pursuers can't quite make headway in worse aerological conditions. The “Eagle from Adelboden” easily…

Wow, what an exciting and eventful day! The weather did not promise record conditions, it was supposed to be a bit too windy and the base a bit too low for that. But it should have been well possible to fly around Mont Blanc, the turnpoint 9 so feared by all athletes, on its west side. Because if that didn't succeed, "very nasty hiking" would be…

Today, the leading group was on its way from Turnpoint 7 Fiesch to Turnpoint 8 Dent d'Oche. The weather forecast did not promise a great day, but paraglidable.com displayed “green”. So, it should have been reasonably flyable. In the morning, however, the cloud base lay on the mountains for a long time. Would it open up? And if so, when and where…

A short review about Wednesday evening up front: Of the top guys, Paul Guschlbauer still managed a glide over Lake Walen, didn't make it or wouldn't make it into Glarnerland. The others flew into the valley. Chrigel Maurer flew the farthest in much shade and climbed to the Klausen pass. Close on his heels were a host of competitors, including…

Today's route: The leading group is already on its way from Lermoos towards Säntis. On this leg - unlike between the Achental and Lermoos - there are two clear and obvious route options:

• Further north through the valley of River Lech, passing Schröcken (famous ski area) then through the Walsertal valley to Feldkirch to cross the wide Rhine…

Ken Oguma (JPN) – literally – won many hearts in flight during his X-Alps adventure, which unfortunately lasted only three days. Even in this short time we have come to appreciate him not only as a pilot, but also through his likeable and warm manner, his laughter and his humor.