Imagine flying hours through snowy Swiss alpine valleys hugging sheer mountain sides just meters from the rock and ice, effortlessly thermal up and over a high alpine pass with just meters of clearance and then cross a huge lake. Then push out into lush green spring farmland over picture perfect Bernese Oberland.
Get low, really low, but conveniently next to a main road with store and perfect landing place, then get a low save at tree-top height and climb out again. Dive back into the mountains flying up to 3000m again with a view of the Matterhorn, and casually cruise past the Eiger back to land in the local school soccer field in your home town.
I'm just amazed at this flight from Chrigel Maurer on so many levels - flying so close to huge mountain faces for so long, skimming for kilometers along mountain sides without seeming to lose height, then impeccable timing and height calculations on transitions to use every meter available. Then the comprehension defying low save after hours of flying, in sight of perfect retrieve road and cold beer....to go on to another 2 hrs flying through huge committing mountains. The man is a genius.
Here are some of Chrigels own photos, plus a few pictures I created from the Google Earth tracklog.
Who needs height to spare when crossing a high alpine pass...
Chrigels Tracklog looking downhill to the photo point going over the pass with meters to spare at 2900m
Casually rounding the Armighorn. See the later track in the top right of the screen close to the Eiger.
Low save in Emmental, with Google earth view from the other direction showing how low it was.
Cruising up the Lauterbrunnen valley (lower track), and back down in front of the Eiger north face (upper track). Notice how he is flying so close the mountain the tracklog appears to dissappear. The mountain in the middle of this view is the Eiger. I went orienteering through the wonderful mossy, rocky forest in the broad valley below the Eiger when was 17 years old training for the World Orienteering Championships.
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Get low, really low, but conveniently next to a main road with store and perfect landing place, then get a low save at tree-top height and climb out again. Dive back into the mountains flying up to 3000m again with a view of the Matterhorn, and casually cruise past the Eiger back to land in the local school soccer field in your home town.
I'm just amazed at this flight from Chrigel Maurer on so many levels - flying so close to huge mountain faces for so long, skimming for kilometers along mountain sides without seeming to lose height, then impeccable timing and height calculations on transitions to use every meter available. Then the comprehension defying low save after hours of flying, in sight of perfect retrieve road and cold beer....to go on to another 2 hrs flying through huge committing mountains. The man is a genius.
Here are some of Chrigels own photos, plus a few pictures I created from the Google Earth tracklog.
Who needs height to spare when crossing a high alpine pass...
Chrigels Tracklog looking downhill to the photo point going over the pass with meters to spare at 2900m
Casually rounding the Armighorn. See the later track in the top right of the screen close to the Eiger.
Low save in Emmental, with Google earth view from the other direction showing how low it was.
Cruising up the Lauterbrunnen valley (lower track), and back down in front of the Eiger north face (upper track). Notice how he is flying so close the mountain the tracklog appears to dissappear. The mountain in the middle of this view is the Eiger. I went orienteering through the wonderful mossy, rocky forest in the broad valley below the Eiger when was 17 years old training for the World Orienteering Championships.
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